The White House clearly does not care what you think.
At a news briefing on Tuesday, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about President Joe Biden’s promiscuous use of the word “extremism” and whether it applied to anti-Israel protesters.
Jean-Pierre’s nonsensical, milquetoast reply made it obvious that no, in fact, it did not.
“What I can say, is what we’ve been very clear about this, when it comes to anti-Semitism, there is no place,” Jean-Pierre said.
The unimpressive press secretary then began reading platitudes from written notes.
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“We have to make sure that we speak against it, very loud, and be very clear about that,” she said.
Next came the obligatory reference to a tiny group of domestic neo-Nazis who held a rally six years ago in Virginia and whom literally everyone despises.
“Remember, what the president decided to — when the president decided to run for president — is what he saw in Charlottesville in 2017, when we — he saw neo-Nazis marching down the streets of Charlottesville with vile, anti-Semitic, just hatred, and he was very clear then, and he’s very clear now,” the press secretary said, implying that Biden courageously ran for president to save the country from neo-Nazis who probably could hold their annual meetings in a basement somewhere.
Then, without pausing, Jean-Pierre again extolled the president’s apparent clarity.
“He’s taken actions against this over the past two years. And he’s continued to be clear. There is no place — no place — for this type of vile and this — this kind of rhetoric,” she said.
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Doocy, of course, noticed that the press secretary had not answered his very straightforward question.
“We hear you guys, though, talk about extremists all the time. And it’s usually about ‘MAGA extremists.’ So what about these protesters who are making Jewish students feel unsafe on college campuses? Are they extremists?” he asked.
Once again, the press secretary praised the administration’s abundance of clarity, this time citing her own example.
“I’ve been very, very clear. We are calling out any form of hate — any form of hate. It is not acceptable. It should not be acceptable here. And we are gonna continue to call that out,” she said, again refusing to give a direct answer.
Then, Jean-Pierre promised more clarity before changing the subject altogether.
“And let me be very clear. This is a president that has continued to have that fight in his office — in this administration — you know, when he repealed Trump’s Muslim ban on his very first day in office. That is something that this president did,” she said.
Only in the Biden administration could a question about anti-Semitism produce a reference to the so-called Muslim ban under President Donald Trump.
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Alas, the press secretary kept speaking.
“He also established an inter-policy committee to counter Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and related forms of bias and discrimination. We’ve taken this very, very, very seriously, from the president all the way on down,” she said.
WATCH: White House refuses to call anti-Israel protestors “extremists” despite fear among Jewish students. https://t.co/AqlavU1mNo pic.twitter.com/vSWzhlYYXh
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 31, 2023
For those who did not keep score, Jean-Pierre used the word “clear” seven times without answering Doocy’s question. She also made references to Charlottesville neo-Nazis, Islamophobia and a the “Muslim ban.”
She did all this in lieu of labeling anti-Israel protesters “extremists.”
The double standard implied in Jean-Pierre’s evasive answer did not go unnoticed on social media.
“She danced around the question as usual. They were not treated the same as MAGA protesters, some [of whom] went to prison. Pro-Palestine Protesters were arrested and released. None of them will go to prison,” one X user posted, apparently referring to demonstrators who stormed the Cannon House Office Building on Oct. 18.
‘Are They Extremists?’: Doocy Asks KJP If Pro-Palestine Protesters Are Held To Same Standard As ‘MAGA’ Republicans
She danced around the question as usual. They were not treated the same as MAGA protesters, some went to prison. Pro-Palestine Protesters were arrested and…
— Reel Lady 🇺🇸 (@Cbaxter214) October 31, 2023
In a speech posted to X last week, Tucker Carlson described a White House press briefing as “a humiliation exercise because it’s administered by the dumbest person in public life.”
You can say you care about America, but if you’re sending $100 billion to foreign countries right now, you’re lying. pic.twitter.com/jFmBlAW3qG
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) October 25, 2023
Carlson, of course, had it right. Jean-Pierre spoke for nearly two minutes without saying anything remotely intelligent. We have come to expect that.
In fact, he explained what her mere presence tells us about establishment attitudes toward the American people.
“The whole point of her being the White House spokes-moron is to tell you that the people in charge have no respect for you,” Carlson said.
Indeed, when we hear the stilted way she talks — “That is something that this president did” — we cannot help dismissing the entire briefing as a farce.
As Carlson noted, however, those briefings have a purpose.
Every honest listener knew that Doocy did not ask Jean-Pierre about the general phenomenon of hatred. He asked her about the president’s application of the word “extremist.”
Her non-answer to the question of whether anti-Israel protesters qualified as “extremist” showed two important things.
It showed, first, that the Biden administration will continue to apply the “extremist” label to its domestic political opponents but not to those who might wish to re-enact the Holocaust.
Second, it showed that the administration’s leaders do not care what anyone thinks about it.
On that point, at least, Jean-Pierre provided ample clarity.
