by Jason Cohen
CNN host Jake Tapper began his Monday show by railing against President Joe Biden for his widely-panned press appearances following a disastrous debate performance.
Since his late June debate with former President Donald Trump, Biden has appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” two black radio shows and participated in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. Tapper, on “The Lead With Jake Tapper,” argued that these appearances have not been reassuring to voters after the concerning debate.
WATCH:
“I’m getting frustrated by the elites – not you guys – the elites in the party, oh, they know so much more. Any of these guys that don’t think I should run, run against me. Announce for president. Challenge me at the convention,” the president said on “Morning Joe” Monday in a soundbite Tapper played.
“President Biden seems to be trying to frame what’s going on right now as the average voters who want him versus the elites of the Democratic Party, donors and lawmakers and opinion makers, many of whom have serious concerns about Biden’s ability to be the candidate and have called for him to step down after that debate performance … In reality, 72 percent of voters say that they believe President Biden is too old. That’s according to CNN’s most recent polling. Voters have been saying this for quite a long time. The reality is that the democratic elites are mostly late to acknowledge these age and ability issues compared to the rest of the public. The elites have been forced to reckon with it after the debate, just 11 days ago.”
Tapper then played another soundbite from the “Morning Joe” segment where Biden was incomprehensible, with the CNN host repeating what the president said.
“The fact of the matter is how can you assure you’re going to be out on, you know, on your way to go, you know, work tomorrow age age wasn’t, you know, the idea that I’m too old,” the host read, adding, “Keep in mind that soundbite is supposed to be reassuring to those Democratic supporters who have gone wobbly.”
Tapper also criticized Biden for not holding a press conference since the debate before scrutinizing one of his phone calls with a black radio station.
Biden told former Philadelphia radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders that he was the “first black woman to serve with a black president” in a segment Tapper played.
The CNN host repeated what Biden said, adding, “Not coherent.”
“And even then, we later found out later from the radio host that the Biden campaign had given her a list of questions to ask President Biden. That is a huge no-no in journalism and the host was fired for it, but it remains quite telling that in the Biden campaign‘s efforts to show that the president has not missed a step, his campaign felt the need to feed questions to the hosts for a call-in radio interview,” Tapper said.
Lawful-Sanders revealed to CNN that she received eight questions to ask the president, ultimately approving and asking four of them.
“And the president still even then failed to deliver in many of his answers. Now, many elected Democrats are expressing concern about this answer too, although it was quite coherent. George Stephanopoulos asking him how he would feel if he ultimately loses to Donald Trump, which polls have suggested he will,” Tapper said.
Biden told Stephanopoulos he would be okay with losing to Trump so long as he did “the goodest job” possible to beat him.
“The president has said that Donald Trump, his opponent, poses an existential threat to democracy in the United States. Is his giving it his all and doing the goodest job he can do enough?” Tapper asked.
Biden’s interview with Stephanopoulos appeared to be an effort to reassure voters that he is capable of running the country, with the president asserting the debate was just a “bad night” and that he is not in cognitive decline.
The president claimed he is not becoming increasingly “frail” and appeared to indicate he is unwilling to take a cognitive test during the interview.
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Jason Cohen is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Jake Tapper” by The Daily Caller.
