White House Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was interviewed by a radio show host in North Carolina on Tuesday. It did not go well.
Radio host Mark Garrison spoke with KJP on WBT Charlotte. He asked the press secretary if her boss, the president, has dementia. He said that “a number of people” he talked to before the interview wanted him to get an answer to that question.
“When I told a number of people that I was talking to you today, it was interesting, though, they all said: ‘Would you please just ask her: Does the president have dementia?’ And so before I move on from that, does he?” the WBT Charlotte host asked.
KJP huffed and puffed and said the question was highly insulting. She soon ended the interview by wishing Garrison an “amazing, amazing day” and then hung up on him.
Listen:
Wow. Karine Jean-Pierre just hung up on a North Carolina radio show after being asked whether Joe Biden has dementia and about the bad economy.
pic.twitter.com/jSUnAWkCvs— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) March 26, 2024
KJP said she couldn’t believe Garrison was asking that question and she called it an incredibly offensive question.
When Garrison interjected, “but you know people ask it,” Jean-Pierre added, “Wait, no, let me — no, no, no, no, no! Mark, you’re taking us down this rabbit hole.
“Let me be very clear about this: For the past several years, the president’s physician has laid out… in a comprehensive way the president’s health. This is a president, if you watch him every day, if you really pay attention to his record and what he has done, you will see exactly how focused he has been on the American people, how historic his actions have been,” she went on.
“And so I’m not even going to — truly, truly, really — you know, take the premise of your question. I think it is incredibly insulting. And so we can, you know, we can move on to the next question.”
Wow.
The reason KJP did the interview was because President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Governor Roy Cooper held a rally together to talk about healthcare. It was a rare joint appearance with the president and Kamala. KJP likely expected a friendly interview during which she could deliver some White House talking points written in her big answer book.
Nope. This guy asked about what most Americans see and hear from Biden – signs of an advancing case of dementia. The president is 81 years old. He is noticeably losing his mental acuity and he appears physically feeble. Asking a legitimate question about dementia may have been uncomfortable for the press secretary but it wasn’t some random question.
White House advisers tell Biden to joke about his age to move past concerns that he is too old for the job. At the event Tuesday, Biden joked that he is “only 40 years old, times two, plus one.”
Garrison asked about rising prices, like at the grocery store and rising gas prices. KJT said that Biden understands the struggle for families to make ends meet. It was the “Scranton Joe” narrative.
“He understands how difficult it is for Americans who are sitting around their kitchen table every month trying to figure out what they’re going to pay for. You have to remember when the president walked into this administration, multiple crises were happening: there was COVID, there was the economy that was in a tailspin because of the last administration, because of what President Trump left us with,” she said.
“Now you’re asking me about gas prices. The president took action on gas prices. Let’s not forget Russia’s invasion on Ukraine skyrocketed prices of gas and because the president took action, we see we are in a different place than we were in gas prices. Eggs milk, seafood products — all the important groceries, those costs have gone down because of what this president has been able to do.” “
Jean-Pierre quickly added: “And with that, thank you so much, Mark. Have an amazing, amazing day.”
She’s blowing smoke on Biden’s accomplishments but that’s her job. It is interesting listening to that audio because she goes from being surprised that the dementia question came up, then she’s insulted, and finally, she answers a question on the high cost of living in Biden’s America before rudely hanging up on Garrison. KJP’s level of arrogance is high.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates issued a statement that said her interview performance was just business as usual.
“As she often does when the President travels, Karine had multiple back-to-back interviews with radio stations who were each offered 7 minutes. Once the agreed-upon time was over, she called into the next interview so everyone could get their full-time. This particular station chose not to air the full interview and instead artificially attached a sound effect that our phones do not make when calls end.”
The event was held in North Carolina to focus on outreach to Nikki Haley voters. Team Biden thinks they can win some over to vote for Biden in November. Biden and Harris provided a contrast between the Democrat and Republican positions on Obamacare.
“Donald Trump and MAGA friends are nothing if not persistent. They’ve tried to repeal it 50 times, not a joke. Fifty times they’ve tried to repeal it. We stopped them every time now,” Biden said to the crowd at Chavis Community Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Kamala and I have come back to North Carolina to celebrate the ACA and to remind all of us, we can’t take anything for granted.”
Kamala is the abortion czar so that subject will be used in the campaign. Democrats will repeat their playbook move of accusing Republicans of wanting to deny Americans healthcare coverage. There isn’t anything new here. That’s the real problem for Biden – he has no success and little to tout as he seeks re-election. Democrats are trying to make North Carolina into a battleground state in November. Biden lost the state by 1.3 percent in 2020.