Biden supporters are foaming at the mouth after questions about the president’s fitness to run for office came from an unexpected source—his former Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Psaki, now a talk-show host on MSNBC, was President Joe Biden’s White House Press Secretary from January 2021 to May 2022. Before that, she worked in the Obama White House's communications team.
Her appearance addressing the debate on Biden’s fitness came on a recent episode of the Pod Save America podcast, which is hosted by Jon Favreau, Tommy Vietor, Jon Lovett, and Dan Pfeiffer, all former staffers of former President Barack Obama.
On the show, Psaki talked about worries in the Democratic Party among House and Senate candidates that Biden might lose the presidential race and drag their campaigns down with him.
“I don’t know how this will end, regardless of people’s views on it,” Psaki said. She also emphasized that not all the calls for Biden to drop out were coming from people trying to save their own skin, referencing former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s Morning Joe appearance on Monday, where she obliquely opened the door to Biden making a decision to drop out of the race.
“She … is a political animal, machine, who wants to win the House,” Psaki said, saying that Pelosi may have kept her powder dry in case Biden does decide to stay in the race, in which case she doesn’t want to weaken him.
Psaki also discussed Biden alternatives, like Vice President Kamala Harris, whom she called a “fierce communicator” and said would make a “great president.”
Psaki’s appearance came on the heels of hosting Jon Favreau as a guest on her MSNBC show Inside with Jen Psaki on Monday.
“I really hope that Joe Biden and the people around him really look inside and look at the data and really think hard about whether Joe Biden really is the best person in America to beat Donald Trump,” Favreau said during that appearance.
Immediately after the debate, the Pod Save hosts went after Biden’s performance and entertained ideas of him dropping out, which prompted a rebuke from the campaign.
Those criticisms of Biden have provoked harsh backlash online from some Biden supporters, who have accused the Pod Save America hosts and Psaki of piling onto a media-driven narrative that weakens his candidacy and boosts Donald Trump’s chances of winning in November.
“I find this completely disrespectful. There’s nothing to figure out! He’s our nominee! He’s staying in. We voted! Our voice matters! That’s democracy! What happened to you?’ asked @Michelle4Hope after Favreau’s appearance on the podcast. “Biden has a ton of grassroots support too. I’m voting FOR Biden, not JUST against Trump. I trust him, especially with his new absolute immunity power. Notice no one is worried about that power in his hands. He’s the best to beat Trump too! From someone who knows.”
Some pro-Biden posters even said that they would stop supporting Psaki’s show and MSNBC if it kept up with the speculation.
“I stopped listening to her and MSNBC entirely because of this. I get a one or two day story, but FFS. Move on,” posted @gohogsgirl.
“I hope their ratings go into the toilet… I have been a loyal watcher since the network was formed. I’m done,” they added in a follow-up tweet.
And while some speculation swirled online that Obama might be making calls behind the scenes to force Biden out, others pushed back and said that the “Obama bros” were going rogue.
“I absolutely believe there are a bunch of Obama bros currently plotting against Biden - guys who got lucky exactly once in their lives by attaching themselves to the greatest candidate cycle of the last era: Obama '08,” posted @tomwatson. “But I do NOT think President Obama is behind it.”
“Someday, someone is going to do a deep dive regarding these bros. What privileges did the[y] attain from being tier-3 people in the Obama White House? What did they offer strategically that actually bore out, made any sense,” posted @maryangelaperna in a long tweet laying out their grievances where they complained about the “Obama Bros” appearances on cable news, said they were a liability, and called them a “fifth column to democracy.”
“Unintentionally *helping* the illiberal Trump campaign, the very person who nominated the 3 justices that enabled Dobbs to happen, giving my daughters less rights that I have—they’re my enemy,” they said.
On the left, some posters were bemused by former Democratic staffers being so heavily villainized by Democratic activists.
“Say what you will about this election stuff, it's incredible to see the Hillary 2016 toxic bro playbook getting run against pod save guys and the NYT lol,” posted @allahliker.
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