TMZ: ABC’s Stephanopoulos Doesn’t Think Biden Can Serve 4 More Years

July 9th, 2024 9:34 PM

Such is the state of the Regime Media that TMZ, more broadly known for celebrity gossip, is out there filling a void and doing journalism. A hidden cameraman caught ABC Senior Political Correspondent George Stephanopoulos in a candid admission: he doesn’t think President Joe Biden can serve a second full term.

Watch the stunning moment as it unfolds on the streets of New York:

RANDO ON THE STREET: Hey. Hey. Excuse me. How you doin’? 

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Good. How are you?

RANDO: What do you think? Do you think Biden should step down? You’ve talked to him more than anyone else has lately. And yo an he honest…

STEPHANOPOULOS: I don’t think he can serve four more years.

RANDO: You don’t think he can serve four more years? Allright. That’s an answer. 

Per TMZ:

George's comment is telling, given he had an exclusive sit-down with the Prez just 4 days ago. George pressed Biden on his mental acuity and his dismal debate performance. Outside the White House bubble, George has spent more one-on-one time with the President than just about anyone.

Telling, indeed, albeit perhaps for different reasons than those arrived at by the good folks at TMZ. That George Stephanopoulos has an opinion on things is not news. He airs them all the time on This Week. Take, for example, this screechy point of personal privilege he took in order to lecture everyone on the STAKES of this election (click “expand” for transcript): 

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning, and welcome to This Week. Until now, no American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election, or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation and sexual abuse. Until now, no American presidential race had been more defined on what's happening in courtrooms than what is happening on the campaign trail. Until now. The scale of the abnormality is so staggering that it can actually become numbing. It's all too easy to fall into reflective habits- to treat this as a normal campaign where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and the peaceful transfer of power. But that is not what's happening this election year. Those bedrock tenets of our democracy are being tested in a way we haven't seen since the Civil War. It's a test for the candidates, for those of us in the media, and for all of us as citizens.

The newsworthiness of Stephanopoulos’ statement is not the statement itself, but the venue in which he chooses to deliver it. Not during Friday’s funereal post-interview panel or to open This Week, but on the streets of New York. Not to the millions of Americans who choose to rely on him for political coverage, but to some rando on the street with a cellphone in his hand. 

And, of course, this begs more questions. Why did Stephanopoulos bite his tongue at this critical juncture? Was he muzzled by ABC News brass or did he self-censor on the air out of deference to a fellow Democrat?

Also, how many more within the Regime Media harbor these same reservations, but hold their tongues out of dutiful partisanship where they would otherwise speak and editorialize freely?

We shall soon find out.

UPDATE: Per Pucks; Dylan Byers, Stephanopoulos issues a statement of sort-of regret, and ABC News distances themselves from the remark. There's going to be an on-air struggle session, isn't there?