Karine Jean-Pierre’s tenure as President Biden’s new White House press secretary got off to a rough start Monday.
SO WHAT
Americans are increasingly questioning whether the Biden administration has real answers for the country’s problems.
HOW IT STARTED
Jean-Pierre, who took over for Jen Psaki, kicked off her first news briefing in the role by citing her identity as a “black, gay immigrant woman.”
The mainstream press has heralded Jean-Pierre’s hiring as a milestone for black and LGBT Americans.
- “I would not be here today if it were not for generations of barrier-breaking people before me,” she said.
- Jean-Pierre also touted the Biden administration as “the most diverse in history,” before rattling off a list of officials and positions to support her point.
HOW IT ENDED
Jean-Pierre looked nervous throughout the press conference, stumbling over words and awkwardly dodging questions, but the low point came when Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked her to explain the president’s recent assertion that his plan to raise corporate tax rates would combat record-high inflation.
The press secretary replied with a rambling non-sequitur that touched on economic inequality, climate change and unions — and never came close to answering the question.
- “But look, it is, you know, by not, without having a fairer tax code, which is what I’m talking about, then, like manufacturing workers, cops, it’s not fair to them to have to pay higher taxes than the folks who are not paying taxes at all,” she concluded.
At another point, Jean-Pierre deflected Doocy’s query about why the president had yet to visit Waukesha, Wisconsin – the site of a 2021 Christmas parade massacre – but was planning to visit Buffalo, New York, Tuesday following a mass shooting there.
- “I mean, he’s visited many communities,” she said.
HOW IT’S GOING
A bipartisan near-consensus has emerged that the Biden administration is trying, and failing, to govern America with the power of progressive virtue signaling.
- “One year in, there’s a growing sense that the Biden presidency has lost its way. An Administration that pledged to restore competence and normalcy seems overmatched and reactive,” Molly Ball and Brian Bennett wrote in a Time profile in January.
- “The White House’s plan to fix the baby-formula shortage has all the hallmarks of the Biden administration: It’s a late response to a crisis that caught it by surprise; it’s based on bad economics; and it’s calibrated to look like Doing Something rather than addressing the actual problems,” Dominic Pino wrote Friday for National Review. “Now’s the time to reduce government involvement so that we aren’t dependent on incompetent presidential administrations to get formula to hungry babies.”
