Members of the media and prominent Democrats are calling on President Biden to engage more with the press after a disastrous debate that has many worried about the president’s chances of defeating Donald Trump.
“The only way for him and the campaign to respond is not to talk to senators or governors, because this is not a tell me situation. This is a show me situation. So he has to get involved in the hustle and bustle of the campaign, have open press conferences with people like you, communicate with voters that way, without a script,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., told CNN on Wednesday. “I think the response here would involve being in the public in a situation without a script, not doing some interview or conversation with governors.”
Biden, who Less formal interview Biden, who has held more press conferences and press conferences than any of his recent predecessors, joined ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, a former top aide to President Bill Clinton, for an interview on Friday. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that Biden also plans to hold a press conference during the upcoming NATO summit.
“An interview at this point would be like a Band-Aid on a giant, gaping bullet hole. President Biden’s body is covered in blood, and an interview is not going to change that. The news that has come out in the last few hours is even more damning for him,” former CNN media reporter Brian Stelter said during an interview on the network on Tuesday. The news came as Biden will sit down with ABC.
President Joe Biden stands on his podium during the first presidential debate of the 2024 elections between him and former President Donald Trump, at CNN’s studios in Atlanta, Georgia, Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Kevin D. Liles, The Washington Post, via Getty Images)
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“I think instead of just one interview, think about another debate. Think about a rematch between Trump and Biden. Think about a series of press conferences. Think about a series of town halls that might help a little bit more at this point, I think. But, one interview. It’s a bandage over a bullet hole,” he said, speaking to CNN’s Brianna Keilar.
Keilar questioned whether Biden needed anything like a debate without a teleprompter “for a long time.”
“And that raises the question of whether he could do that, in other words, if he could do that, would he have done that by now,” Stelter responded. “If he could do a primetime news conference, he probably would have done that.”
After ABC aired the interview on Friday, ABC correspondent Jon Karl said it did “nothing to calm the fears of nervous Democrats who fear Joe Biden is on his way to losing this race.”
He said, “In fact, for some of these people this interview is raising new concerns, particularly the fact that he seems reluctant or unaware of the fact that he’s in a dire position with respect to the campaign, that he’s losing, in the eyes of many Democrats and frankly according to the polls that you cited, that he’s losing to Donald Trump.”
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Former Obama adviser David Axelrod also said the ABC interview did little to calm Democratic jitters.
“Only ‘God Almighty’ can convince him to quit the race, the president said, as a growing chorus of Democrats, fearing electoral disaster, called on him to step down,” Axelrod wrote. “Denial. Confusion. Defiance.”
Republican strategist Doug Heye said on CNN on Wednesday that Biden needs to reinvent himself and answer reporters’ questions. He also referred to Biden’s decision not to sit down for a live interview on Super Bowl Sunday. Hay said the reason for that was because he didn’t want to politicize the day, according to the White House.
The President posted a video on social media, in which he said that The goal of “contracting inflation” During the Super Bowl.
President Biden and former President Trump will participate in the CNN Presidential Debate on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“So they wanted to politicize the day,” Hay said of the video. “But the message that was sent was that they don’t trust Biden to sit down and do an interview. It’s not going to be good for him. And I think now we know why, if we didn’t know it already.”
Former Biden White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said on CNN on Wednesday that the interview with Stephanopoulos may have been taped due to “scheduling” issues, but when asked by the CNN host if she would have pushed for a live interview, she explained a different issue with the strategy.
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“To be honest, when you’re attending an important network meeting, there’s not a huge difference live versus taped,” Bedingfield said. “I wanted him to come out earlier. There’s been a lag between the debate performance and when we’d see him answering questions again.”
“Put the president out there in different ways that he’ll shine. Again, I think town halls, working with voters, real people, where he’s answering questions from ordinary people, that will make a difference. I think the president can rise to that occasion,” MSNBC’s Symone Sanders Townsend said Tuesday.
Townsend, who worked for Vice President Harris before moving to MSNBC, said Biden is his own best political adviser.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a big supporter of the president, also urged him to do interviews with “serious” reporters. She said he should do more than one interview.
“My recommendation is that he should do some interviews with serious journalists, you’re one of those serious journalists, no holds barred, any question is legitimate, and just sit there and be yourself, show your value, show your knowledge, show your judgment, show your empathy for the American people. And I think that would be a great thing for him. Not one, maybe two, or something like that. I think it’s important. I think it’s important for him to do that,” he said.
Axios senior media reporter Sarah Fisher argued that Biden needs more unscripted public appearances to prove he can quickly communicate his point of view to the American public. (CNN)
Axios Senior Media Reporter Sarah FisherPresident Biden’s upcoming ABC interview will not be enough to fix his reputation with the American people, CNN’s senior media analyst argued Thursday.
“So one of the arguments the president is trying to make is, ‘Don’t watch this 90-minute debate. Look at my 3.5 years of experience,'” Fisher said. “Well, the challenge works the other way too, which is if you don’t want us to believe what we saw, give us multiple examples of being able to do live, unscripted interviews so we can see that this was just a one-time thing, if that’s what you claim.”
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said Friday that Biden needs to answer the question, “Is he able to move forward?”
“He knows he has to answer this question. He has to answer it in interviews, he has to answer it in press conferences, he has to answer it at the NATO summit. He has to answer it in everything he does,” Scarborough said.
President Biden and former President Donald Trump will debate on June 27, 2024, at the CNN studios in Atlanta. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Former Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan said Wednesday that Biden’s ABC interview isn’t going to help. “What’s happening is not encouraging,” he told CNN.
“It has to be more than that,” Ryan said, suggesting the president should conduct interviews and town halls in “hostile” environments.
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The president also spoke to two radio hosts from Pennsylvania and Wisconsin for interviews that aired on Thursday. Both hosts, Andrea Lawful Sanders and Earl Ingram, revealed that they Questions sent for a premature interview by the Biden campaign.
Sanders said she had received approval from the White House for four questions to be asked in the interview.
Several key Biden allies, including Pelosi and Clyburn, have stood by the president even after the debate. Many Democrats And liberal media outlets called on Biden to drop out.
