On Wednesday, I reported how Democratic lawmakers and political operatives are whistleblowing on how bad it is dealing with the White House and how they feel that things are “rudderless, aimless and hopeless,” that Joe Biden is missing in action when it comes to what needs to be done.
On top of that, Biden has yet another significant person fleeing for the exits — an aide who has been with him for a while, Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director. As we noted, they issued this unintentionally humorous statement to the Wall Street Journal, “Ms. Bedingfield is expected to depart the White House in late July and ‘help support the president and administration from the outside,’ a White House official said.” From far outside the White House where the fallout can’t hit her.
Biden seems to believe that messaging is the root problem. They can simply change up their messaging to make things better. They don’t get that the real problem is the bad policies and the incompetent leader at the top of the pile. The White House must have one of the worst teams, and the results are so disappointing in the polls.
But that said, yes, messaging is a big problem too, along with everything else, and because it is so bad, they’re losing even the liberal media.
Multiple media outlets now complain about the White House handling of Kate Bedingfield’s story.
Alex Thompson, Politico’s reporter, said that the White House had been rude to him when he tried to contact them. But instead, they put Thompson off and asked for some more time. They were granted the time that they requested and the story was relayed to the WSJ with a statement by Ron Klain, White House Chief Of Staff.
At 2:53 PM, I called the White House to request comment. They told me that we are running it.
They requested more time to talk with them.
It was my gift to them.
WSJ pubbed with a Klain statement at 3:11pm— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 6, 2022
He then dropped them with a snarky comment, “Good luck to the White House staffer who gets a 2 minute long deadline next time.”
Good luck to the White House staffer that gets a 2-minute deadline for next time. https://t.co/sgI8ZT4fA1
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 6, 2022
The Biden can’t even deal honestly with reporters and they’re supposed to be running the country? And if they’re double-dealing with you guys, why would you ever trust anything else they say? The comms director is leaving. One has to wonder if Thompson got the shaft in part because Politico hasn’t been shy of late in breaking criticism of the Administration.
But other reporters echoed the complaints from Thompson, indicating that this wasn’t just a one-time thing, but that this was a continuing issue dealing with the Biden team.
“This sounds so familiar!” Washington Post White House reporter Tyler Pager tweeted.
Alex Ward, Politico national security reporter, confirmed, “The White House does this All. The. Time.”
“Bad form,” tweeted CNN White House correspondent Kate Bennett.
NBC News senior reporter Ben Collins wrote, “Sounds like they need a new Comms director.”
Fellow Politico White House reporter Max Tani tweeted, “if you’re a comms person, it’s not your job to run interference for news outlets that you prefer or that you’ve given the exclusive to…”
Thompson’s tweet was also shared by Politico reporters Marianne LeVine and Betsy Woodruff Swan, The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, NPR’s Scott Detrow and The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona.
The problem is not just messaging but the Biden team shows that they make things even worse, when they can’t even get that right. They might replace Bedingfield. But the problem isn’t just her, the problem flows from the top. The reason they’re not dealing honestly with people — reporters or the American people — is that what they’re trying to sell — a competent Joe Biden — just isn’t there.
It sounds like the house is falling.
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