President Joe Biden took questions from the press pool on Thursday as he walked toward the waiting Marine Force 1 helicopter, with what he probably hoped would be an easy exchange that made him look at least a bit better turning into an awkward fight with Fox News Channel White House Correspondent Peter Doocy.
It began when Doocy, as part of the press pool to which the president was speaking, prepared to ask President Biden a question and was rudely cut off by Biden who patted him on the shoulder and asked, “Why do you think I’ll always take your questions?” Doocy. playing along with his reply, said, “It’s a good one! I’ve got two good ones!”
Doocy then asked his question, which was “Why do you think it is that you’re trailing Trump in all these swing state polls?” Biden went from somewhat jovial and patting Doocy on the shoulder to testy and snapping at him near-immediately, obviously angry about the question and implications.
Biden snapped, “Because you don’t read the polls [inaudible]. There’s ten polls, eight of them I’m beating him in those states. Eight of them. You guys [Fox News] only do two, CNN and New York Times. Check it out. Check it out. We will get you copies of all those polls, okay?”
Watch the awkward exchange here:
Another reporter asked President Biden about the issue as well during the president’s Thursday interaction with the press. That reporter, building on Doocy’s exchange with President Biden, asked, “You don’t believe you’re trailing in battleground states?” Biden responded by saying, “No.”
Despite Biden’s bombastic self-assurance, some of his allies are worried about the situation, particularly polling showing that the president is trailing former President Trump in certain, key swing states that have been up in the air since 2016.
For example, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a Democrat, told the Washington Post: “I am concerned. I was concerned before these numbers. I am concerned by the inexplicable credibility that Donald Trump seems to have despite all of the indictments, the lies, the incredible wrongdoing.”
Former President Trump recently tore into President Biden as being totally incompetent during a campaign rally in Hialeh, a predominantly Cuban suburb of Miami, saying, “This is the closest, and I hope that one’s wrong and that it’s not a prediction because I would never make that prediction. It’s too horrible a thing to say. But we have never been closer to World War Three and only for one reason. We have incompetent people talking on our behalf.”
Continuing, he contrasted Biden’s incompetence with his thoughtful dealings with world leaders, particularly those with whom America has a contentious relationship, saying, “You know, when you deal with China, President Xi and North Korea, Kim Jong Un and Russia, Putin, you deal with all these people. The press hates when I say they’re smart. ‘He said they were smart!’. Well, what am I supposed to say? They’re stupid people?”
Featured image credit: a screengrab from the embedded video
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