In a very funny moment, at least for conservatives, during the broadcast of Thursday, July 11’s, “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC, MSNBC host and former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki appeared very frustrated with Democratic strategist Basil Smikle. That is because Smilke was questioning President Biden’s mental fitness, much to her displeasure.
Particularly, Smikle, speaking after Biden’s disaster of a “Big Boy” press conference, questioned whether President Biden has it together enough to not even make it through a possible second term, but even finish this one given his seemingly obvious cognitive decline.
He said, speaking about what it means to say that Biden isn’t fit for office, “My issue is this: If you’re standing up, if you’re a Democrat right now and you’re standing up and you’re saying Joe Biden is not fit to run for office and therefore should not be in office in January, you’re also saying he’s not fit to be president right now. What the hell are you doing?”
Continuing, Smikle said, as Psaki tried to interrupt him, that if Biden is unfit to be president in a few months, then he is similarly unfit for it now, telling her.“That is what you’re saying. Because you’re saying he does not have the chops to be president for the next four years starting in January, and I have a huge problem with that.”
Those comments came slightly after Psaki described the current situation as “purgatory.” Agreeing, Smikle told her, “I actually absolutely agree with you. This is a purgatory. This is a terrible, terrible moment, and we cannot have another week of this because we’re done. We’re lost. We’re done. It’s insurmountable. We don’t have a, we don’t, but, but, no—”
He continued, “I think it’s insurmountable if we have another week like this.” He then said, speaking about the unwillingness to honestly deal with the situation, “So, my feeling is, and I absolutely agree with you that this, this hand-wringing. This outward sort of conversation about whether or not he’s fit for office. Has created the situation that we’re in. But my issue is—”
Psaki, who was obviously frustrated with Smikle and made a frustrated face showing as much, pushed back somewhat on his claims and said, “I actually think a lot of the Democrats who’ve been out there and a lot of the people who’ve been voicing concern are about whether he can defeat Donald Trump. They’re looking at the states, they’re looking at their districts, they’re looking at concerns about voters and whether he is up to the job. I have not heard a Democrat say, aside from maybe one in Washington State, that he should step down or he is not up to the job now.
“We’re having this conversation because Donald Trump in part is not Mitt Romney, right? Donald Trump is an existential threat to our democracy. So it’s a question, and a debate, and it’s important to have, and that’s how I feel. But I think a lot of people who are bringing forward questions are being very, very thoughtful about it. It does need to be resolved, and I agree with you on that, but it’s a question about how to be resolved,” she added.
Watch them here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
"*" indicates required fields