Do the White House press briefings even matter anymore?
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre never seems to have any answers about much of anything. When she does provide responses, she is full of crap — to put it lightly.
On Tuesday, the new year kicked off the same as ever — with Jean-Pierre seemingly making it up as she goes. For example, Jean-Pierre attempted to defend President Joe Biden’s record on gas prices, as well as the border. If you ask her, the president is doing a good job on both efforts and any problems can be explained by Republicans.
“We’ve made significant progress in lowering gas prices. Prices are down nearly two dollars per gallon, and are lower than they were one year ago today, this very day,” she claimed on Tuesday while explaining gas is ticking upward due to some recent bad weather that has caused supply disruptions.
When a reporter pushed back, pointing out that gas prices are still higher than when Biden came into office, Jean-Pierre continued to spin.
“I know, but I’m talking about one year ago and that was – one year ago was not when he came into office,” she stated.
Jean-Pierre: “We’ve made significant progress in lowering the [gas] prices.”
Reporter: “The price of gas when [Biden] came into office was $2.39 a gallon.”
Jean-Pierre: “I know, but I’m talking about one year ago and that was – one year ago was not when he came into office.” pic.twitter.com/cmneMLw96f
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 3, 2023
She’s correct — the high gas prices in January 2022 were after Biden came into office, but it was also before Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February.
Since the invasion occurred, Jean-Pierre has used her podium to continuously blame Putin for the increased cost of energy — while ignoring the rising prices prior to the war beginning.
Jean-Pierre can’t discuss that fact honestly because if she did, she’d have to admit that the Democrats’ anti-fossil fuel policies and rhetoric can be blamed for the higher energy prices. So she shovels out garbage knowing full well that the lapdog media won’t push back in any meaningful way.
Then there’s the matter of illegal immigration.
If you ask the White House, Biden has taken “historic” action to secure America’s southern border.
Fox News’ Peter Doocy pressed Jean-Pierre on the topic on Tuesday. It didn’t go so hot for the White House.
“Does anybody around here think that the southern border is secure?” Doocy asked.
She couldn’t answer the question directly and instead blamed Republicans for the crisis.
“What I can tell you is: This is a president who has been working since day one to work on border security, to make immigration a priority,” she responded.
On day one, Biden actually repealed or paused virtually all of former President Donald J. Trump’s measures to secure the border. Nonetheless, Jean-Pierre says that the record number of illegal aliens under Biden is the GOP’s fault.
“And here’s the thing, as the president is coming forward and trying to come up with solutions, the difference here is that you have Republicans, as you know, who are doing political stunts,” she added.
Doocy: "Does anybody around here think that the southern border is secure?"
Jean-Pierre: "This is a president who has been working since day 1 to work on border security…" pic.twitter.com/pWQGNrINKU
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) January 3, 2023
Jean-Pierre also claimed that as evidenced by the president’s commitment of 23,000 agents to the U.S. border, Biden is taking this issue very seriously.
What she neglected to mention is that more than a thousand Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been reassigned to the border to assist with the thousands per day. In turn, deportations continue to lag under Biden.
Jean-Pierre also implied that it is somehow improper and beneficial to drug cartels to claim that the border is open.
“We have to be very careful … on how we talk about this because if we talk about it in way that is misinformation, then it helps the smugglers,” she stated, echoing ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, who also recently blamed GOP rhetoric for the crisis.
"Karine Jean-Pierre says Biden "has taken historic actions" to secure the southern border.
Then she says "we have to be very careful…on how we talk about this because if we talk about it in way that is misinformation, then it helps the smugglers." pic.twitter.com/7KJ36hoyOc"
— Republican Women of Mercer County 💪🇺🇸 (@RWOMC) January 3, 2023
Of course, it’s nonsense to claim that Republicans pointing out that the border is not secure is the cause of the crisis.
If the border were actually secure, smugglers and their preyed-upon clients would be turned away once they tried to enter the country — thus disincentivizing the traffickers from being paid.
GOP talking points wouldn’t matter.
Instead, illegal aliens are essentially allowed to waltz right in and declare asylum where they are then released into the country. Had the Biden administration kept Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy in place, that wouldn’t happen.
It should be noted that there’s always been a fair amount of BS in White House Press briefings. Every person who has held the job has been tasked with making the president and his administration look as good as possible.
Most of the time, though, the job has been done in a competent way while not insulting the intelligence of the American people and providing some useful information. Jean-Pierre fails on both fronts.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.