Biden ‘fears’ docile press corps: why?
June 14, 2021
As Joe Biden basks in the glory of sharing 500 million doses of a vaccine made possible by the Trump administration, the media continues to make Biden’s G7 European vacation a success.
That’s why one has to wonder why the President continues to worry about facing the American media on his own, as reported by the New York Post.
“Biden cracked that he’d get ‘in trouble’ with his handlers if he failed to take questions from just the pre-planned list of reporters at his news conference at the end of the three-day G-7 summit of world leaders in Britain on Sunday — or if he took one too many,” writes the New York Post.
“I’m sorry, I’m going to get in trouble with staff if I don’t do this the right way,” Biden said after calling on Bloomberg News reporter Jennifer Jacobs.
Why is the White House staff afraid? Why is Biden afraid? That docile journalists that make up the Biden Press Corps will ask him if he prefers one scoop or two on his ice cream cone?
The bigger question is how Biden is going to face down a tough guy like Vladimir Putin. Or China’s Chairman Xi?
Putin once brought a Labrador Retriever to a meeting with Germany’s Angela Merkel because he knew that she’s afraid of dogs.
“Merkel, reportedly fearful of dogs since one attacked her in 1995,” says CNN, “was photographed looking distinctly uncomfortable when Putin brought his large black Labrador Koni into a meeting at his summer residence in Sochi, Russia, in January 2007. The Russian leader appeared to smirk as he watched his pet approach his uneasy VIP guest.”
But more important is what the press isn’t saying.
While the press concentrates on style points by the Biden administration—“AMERICA IS BACK!”—they aren’t asking if the foreign policy and defense objectives that Biden is pursuing in contrast to Trump have made the G7 nations safer.
As the summit takes place in an atmosphere of cooperation on free trade, American and European vessels are steaming in the South China Sea on war warnings against China. At the same time, Moscow is seriously threatening Ukraine, again. Not to mention that North Korea and Iran have both accelerated development of their nuclear and missile programs.
A world that was peaceful outside of Twitter under Trump suddenly looks a lot more hostile to the U.S. and to Europe.
Maybe Biden, and Europe, are worried someone from the press will notice—again.