KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- President Biden called his performance at the debate a “bad episode,” attributing it to his exhaustion and lack of preparation.
- Biden’s attempt to influence media coverage drew criticism and comparisons with previous dictators, raising concerns about press freedom.
- The President limited the list of questions during the briefing and made it a point to avoid discussions on foreign policy.
“I told you that you would have a soft landing … my policy works. Start writing like that, OK?” said the American president Joe Biden to the media in attendance at one of his briefings. On July 5, President Joe Biden stressed that his poor performance in the debate against former President Donald Trump was merely due to a “bad night” and was not a sign of a more serious medical problem.
“I was exhausted,” Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos during his first in-person television interview since his shrill and disjointed debate the previous week. Biden described his performance as a “bad episode,” explaining, “I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparation and I had a bad night.”
However, Biden’s apparent dictation to the media what to write did not go down well with viewers. People mocked Joe and said, “You can’t even make this stuff up.”
Another commenter wrote: “Control the narrative”
Other commentators also spoke up and commented in several comments that Joe Biden was trying to influence the media. One of them raised questions about press freedom –
Another person suggested that Biden should not harbor negative feelings because his party has pushed him aside because his brain is his mush –
Some even compared Biden to dictators of the past –
During the event, Biden also said, “If anyone from the – you’re not in the press – wants to ask me a question, you can ask me. I may answer it, I may not. I want to stay on topic. I don’t want to talk about what’s going on right now in foreign policy and things like that.”
