The Washington Post’s editorial board on Monday published an op-ed saying it was “past time” for President Joe Biden to hold a news conference, but spent most of the article bashing his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
The gentle nudging of Biden for not holding a press conference, even though he now holds the record for most number of days since a new president has held one, was all the Post could muster against the Democrat commander-in-chief. By the second paragraph, the Post changed its attention to targeting Trump, writing that Biden “has shown galaxies more respect for the free press and the people’s right to know than his predecessor did.”
“He reinstated daily news briefings, which are led by Ms. [Jen] Psaki and often feature Cabinet members and other senior administration officials. Those briefings are informative, not forums for White House lackeys to attack journalists. Daily briefings are back at the State Department, too,” the Post wrote. “Mr. Biden has also given several TV and print interviews since his swearing in. He does not lie constantly and brazenly, and he does not tweet incendiary nonsense to distract from his failings. Last month, a senior Biden press aide had to resign for berating a journalist, the sort of behavior that Mr. Trump would have rewarded.”
The only true claim in the Post’s Biden praise was that the current president doesn’t tweet mean things.
The only reason the Post doesn’t think Biden lies “constantly and brazenly” is because they believe and agree with what he says. That, and they refuse to properly fact check him while they bend over backwards to claim Republicans lie. As The Daily Wire’s Ian Haworth previously reported, Biden has lied. Some might even want to say “constantly and brazenly.” At a CNN town hall event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on February 16, Biden made multiple false claims about the COVID-19 vaccine, saying at one point there were only 50 million doses when he took office and at another point claiming there was no vaccine when he was inaugurated. Biden and his administration have also repeatedly — falsely — claimed that the Trump administration left them no vaccine distribution plan.
Biden has told numerous lies since becoming president, but the media ignores them or tries to discount them. That’s not the same as him telling the truth more often.
As to the Post’s claim that press briefings are “informative,” that also isn’t true. Psaki regularly dodges questions and refuses to answer press questions. And about that press aide who resigned for “berating a journalist,” it took several days for him to resign, after the Biden administration initially defended him even though Biden pledged to fire anyone who was disrespectful. And the aide didn’t simply “berate” a journalist, he threatened to “destroy” her and reportedly made derogatory and misogynistic comments toward her, claiming she was just jealous that a man she used to like preferred the press aide’s girlfriend.
Finally, the TV and print interviews Biden has given have been to friendly media outlets that don’t push him on the issues or try to correct his lies.