If President Joe Biden says it, believe the opposite.
Speaking to the press outside the White House on Thursday, Biden encountered Fox News’ Peter Doocy, who asked about a report that Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris intends to distance herself from Biden’s economic record.
“She’s not going to,” Biden tersely replied in a clip posted to the social media platform X.
Doocy referred to an Axios report claiming that Harris plans a “highly choreographed” pivot away from Bidenomics.
In fact, the Fox News correspondent’s question sounded somewhat calculated to irk the irritable octogenarian president.
“How much does it bother you,” Doocy asked, “that Vice President Harris might soon, for political reasons, start to distance herself from your economic record?”
Biden quickly refuted the suggestion and then, with his trademark look of perpetual befuddlement, moved along to another reporter.
🚨 Biden confirms Kamala is tethered to his HIGHLY UNPOPULAR, INFLATION-INDUCING, MASSIVE FAILURE known as “Bidenomics” pic.twitter.com/BGP5hD15nt
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 15, 2024
Biden later joined Harris in Maryland for their first appearance together since Democratic Party elites staged a coup, forcing Biden out of the presidential race and installing the vice president as their nominee — all with no input from voters.
Thus, in public, the president played the good soldier — not the lying dog-faced pony soldier, but the good one.
Will Biden turn on Kamala Harris before November?
Yes: 87% (153 Votes)
No: 13% (23 Votes)
Behind the scenes, however, one wonders about possible tensions between the Biden and Harris camps.
For instance, at a press conference on Wednesday, Doocy asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the report that Harris would try to distance herself from Biden’s record.
Tellingly, Jean-Pierre reminded Doocy of Harris’ role as vice president in the Biden-Harris administration. The press secretary also explicitly connected Harris to Bidenomics.
One does not answer as Jean-Pierre did unless one a) committed a strategic error, or b) resents the vice president.
Furthermore, on social media and on the campaign trail, former President Donald Trump has repeatedly and perhaps half-jokingly tweaked the president by suggesting that Biden might crash next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago and demand the nomination.
Trump asks if Joe Biden is going to crash the DNC convention and try to take back the nomination and challenge him to another debate 🤣 pic.twitter.com/9BCebhGuwS
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 6, 2024
Here is a clip of Trump telling rally-goers the same thing last week:
Donald Trump on Joe Biden: “They forced him out — it was a coup… I hear he’s going to make a comeback at the Democrat Convention, he’s going to walk into the room and say ‘I want my presidency back I want another chance to debate Trump’.” pic.twitter.com/nw9o9qahBZ
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) August 10, 2024
Crashing the convention might sound a bit far-fetched. But Trump probably struck a nerve with his erstwhile rival.
After all, Biden has exposed himself as a bitter and unrepentant tyrant to his rotten core.
Thus, pay no attention to what the president says. The truth always lies elsewhere.
In this case, the truth is that Biden’s quiet animosity toward Democrats who torpedoed his campaign almost certainly will fester.