In yet another one of those infamous Biden moments where he reads the note or direction out loud, something he has become famous for when trying to read off of a teleprompter, President Joe Biden allegedly read off a note saying, “stay positive, you are sounding defensive” when on a call with the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Such is what Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman claimed in a shocking report on X on the afternoon of Saturday, July 13, saying, “During @JoeBiden’s call with the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the president said his staff passed him a note to “stay positive you are sounding defensive.” Biden read the note aloud to participants on the call.”
Later, Katie Rogers of the New York Times claimed, in a quote tweet of Sherman’s post, that the comment was intentional, saying, “Lawmaker on the call says president was “making fun of his staff” who passed him the note, and context was him acknowledging the note but then being the way he wanted to be on the call. “Not like he didn’t know what he was doing.”
A commenter on Rogers’s post argued that her claim was less than believable and wasn’t particularly good optics for Biden even if it was true, saying, “1. Not buying it. This is spin, not reporting. 2. A President “making fun of his staff” is deeply disrespectful to his staff. “It’s not dementia; he’s just a jerk” is not the defense you think it is.”
Similarly, others said, “The pretzel-like knots these people are willing to twist themselves into is unbelievable” and “Ah I see. He wasn’t confused, he was making a funny.” Another jumped in and asked Rogers, “If that had been Trump, would you be accepting that sort of excuse?”
Joining in and commenting on much the same matter was John Bresnahan, also of Punchbowl News, who, reporting the same call, said, “New: During call with New Democrats, Biden went from “rambling, sort of unfocused” to “defensive.” Jason Crow: ‘We need a major change or we will lose.’ Chrissy Houlahan: ‘You’re losing Pennsylvania by 4-5 points.'”
Additionally, Mica Soellner, also of Punchbowl News, reported, “News: Biden was defensive against Rep. Jason Crow in the New Dems call who questioned if his cognitive ability is a national security concern. I’m told he was about 10 mins late to the call and it lasted about 20-30 mins. Biden offered to directly call or get in touch with members who had remaining questions, per a source familiar.”
Adding credibility to Sherman’s rendition of events is that, during a recent press conference, Biden read off the teleprompter when speaking about climate change. He said, “More people die from extreme heat than floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes combined.” He continued, “These climate fueled extreme weather events don’t just affect people’s lives. They also cost money. They hurt the economy, and they have a significant negative psychological effect on people.”
That was around the time when he made the unfortunate and awkward gaffe, saying, “Say that again” when describing the relative number of deaths from “extreme heat” and other weather events like floods and hurricanes. Watch the gaffe here:
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