Being the White House press secretary — for any president, let alone arguably the most incompetent president in the history of the nation — can’t be easy.
But if you accept the position, you have to be able to perform it.
Karine Jean-Pierre clearly cannot.
The spokeswoman for the president refuses to call on certain reporters, dodges questions, and acts like the spoiled kid with the only ball at the playground who won’t let anyone she doesn’t like play.
On Tuesday, a reporter identified as the New York Post’s Steven Nelson called out Jean-Pierre as she wrapped up a news briefing.
“It’s anti-democratic to refuse questions from one of our country’s four largest newspapers, Karine!” Nelson called as Jean-Pierre walked away from the podium.
[embedded content]
This was not the first time Jean-Pierre has been called out by Nelson. Last month, the two sparred after Nelson told her she hadn’t called on him in “two seasons.”
“I’m not calling on you today!” Jean-Pierre responded with a petulant smirk.
KJP completely freezes out @NYPost‘s @StevenNelson10, stating with a smirk that “I’m not calling on you today!”
Nelson hit back: “You should be ashamed of that! That shows disrespect to a free and independent media! It’s blasphemous to one of our country’s largest & widely read… pic.twitter.com/5Ld1Awb2jU
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 11, 2023
“You should be ashamed of that!” Nelson shot back. “That shows disrespect to a free and independent media to blacklist one of our country’s largest and most widely read newspapers, Karine.”
It’s probably no coincidence that the reporters who have these issues with Jean-Pierre are all from right-leaning outlets.
Fox News’ Peter Doocy, another reporter who doesn’t lob softballs at the press secretary, often has to fight to get straight answers to his questions.
In September, Doocy asked Jean-Pierre what they call it at the White House when “10,000 people illegally cross the border in a single day.”
When Jean-Pierre’s attempt at deflection didn’t work, she lost her temper and moved on without answering the question.
JUST IN: Karine Jean-Pierre straight up refused to answer Peter Doocy’s question about how 10,000 illegals are entering our country every single day.
She tried to ignore the question and Doocy wasn’t having any of it.
This is so pathetic. pic.twitter.com/Y97P1SPEaz
— Christian Collins (@CollinsforTX) September 21, 2023
Jean-Pierre is fortunate that her boss is a Democrat. She would have to ignore and antagonize most of the press corps if he were a Republican.
A press secretary who runs away from tough questions is like a firefighter who runs away from a big fire.
She’s in the wrong job.