Setting the stage for another season of “basement Biden,” a sit-down with the first lady was announced as limited access to the president appeared increasingly “undemocratic.”
Friday, a day before President Joe Biden was seen getting led to and from the podium by his wife, Jill Biden, on stage for his first campaign event of 2024, MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski previewed an upcoming interview with the first lady.
Encouraging viewers to write-in with their questions, the co-host of “The Morning Joe” stated of the “Know Your Value” event, “We’ll be in the East Room, in front of a live audience, discussing the first lady’s life, career and the pivotal year ahead. It will be an impactful event and we would love for you to be a part of it.”
Next week, @morningmika will sit down with @FLOTUS at the White House for a special @KnowYourValue event to discuss the 2024 presidential campaign, her career and more.
What would you ask the First Lady? For a chance to have your questions featured, comment below! #AskFLOTUS pic.twitter.com/BEZtsnPAmn
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) January 5, 2024
Columnist and media studies professor at DePauw University Jeffrey McCall reacted to the announcement as a “miscalculation” for the president’s re-election bid as he spoke to Fox News Digital about the cloistered commander-in-chief.
“Voters can surely infer she is only doing the interviews because the president can’t or won’t,” the professor said as the outlet made note that Biden hadn’t conducted a news interview since October when he had spoke with Scott Pelley of CBS for “60 Minutes” in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel.
“It seems to me the press should start getting louder about lack of access to the president,” said McCall. “For all the talk about threats to democracy, having a president who is inaccessible to the press and the citizenry is also rather undemocratic.”
As suggested, there was no mystery around why media access to Biden has remained controlled. In fact, it was only days earlier when a segment was filmed for ABC’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve where the first lady appeared on high alert, poised to step in if her husband strayed from coherent commentary.
‘Fox & Friends’ pick up on Jill Biden’s ‘white knuckled’ demeanor during cringe interview with Joe https://t.co/oWhRsIDucf via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) January 1, 2024
In addition to the Dec. 31 appearance, the president had also done a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade call with NBC’s Al Roker and interviews with Conan O’Brien, CNN’s Anderson Cooper on his podcast and Spanish radio host Tony Arias.
The American Presidency Project from the University of California Santa Barbara had chronicled that Biden averaged only 11 press conferences per year compared to former President Donald Trump at 22 and former President Barack Obama at 20.
“Joe Biden appears ready to run the same campaign in 2024 that he ran in 2020 — the so-called ‘basement strategy’: Don’t interact at all in uncontrolled situations, limit yourself to subservient media, and make the election about Donald Trump,” Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson told Fox News Digital.
“Biden staying in the the ‘basement’ keeps the media focus on Trump,” he added. “Whatever downside there may be to the basement strategy, it’s the best strategy Biden has.”
Jacobson’s assertion didn’t detract from the reality that even that strategy was fraught with pitfalls as users chimed in on social media ridiculing the interview with suggested questions to ask that included, “Will she wear the sofa or recliner outfit for your softball interview…’What flavor ice cream did Joey have on vaca?'”
Will she wear the sofa or recliner outfit for your softball interview
“What flavor ice cream did Joey have on vaca?”— Sole deo gloria (@StephanieRuff3) January 5, 2024
Does she buy the upholstery fabric for her wardrobe by the bolt?
— Ms.Renay (@ellis_rena53104) January 5, 2024
Will you be a journalist, ask hard-hitting questions such why is public education failing our kids record number unable to read and perform math at grade level while teachers unions have unprecedented access to the WH and policy or will you simply ask her about her vacation
— topher (@66HUSKERS) January 5, 2024
How do you handle Joe when He’s confused and doesn’t know where he is.
— JC Howell (@AuthorJCHowell) January 6, 2024
Ask her about elderly abuse with Joe.
— Daenette Pohlman (@DaenetteP) January 5, 2024
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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