Over the course of the last four years, MSNBC has stood alone as the exemplar of what it means to be “Regime Media” during the Biden administration- no one comes close. In the waning days of President Joe Biden’s term, we get one last example of the network’s sycophancy.
Lawrence O’Donnell, host of the 10 P.M. hour, sat down with Biden in the Oval Office and had a broad-ranging discussion on a broad variety of issues. And by broad discussion, I mean that Biden would string together an assortment of incoherencies that had nothing to do with whatever O’Donnell may have asked at that time.
The interview opened with, as is the left’s custom, a “feelings” question. A layup, if you will. But Biden found a way. (Click “expand” to view transcript)
An amazing open to Biden's interview with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell. And by amazing I mean horrifying. A simple question, "how did you feel after the speech", is met with an addled word salad pic.twitter.com/R1g8LoE340
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 17, 2025
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: When you got up from that desk last night, that was really the final big public moment in a 50-year political career. Yeah, that's how long it was. The- you've served in government longer than any person who's ever served in this job. What did that feel like at the end of that- that speech? I- we were pushed out of the room as people were surrounding you, hugging you, and as that emotion was filling the room. But was there, was there a sense of the release of a burden getting up from that desk?
JOE BIDEN: No, but there was a sense that- of serious concern. You've known me a long time, I, I really am concerned about how fragile democracy is. That sounds corny, but I mean, I really- I really am concerned because you've heard me say it a hundred times. I really think we're at an inflection point in history here where, unrelated to any particular leader, things are going to change drastically, and that it occurs every 5 or 6 generations, and it usually is generated by technology, usually generated by- I mean, for example, if Gutenberg didn't invent the printing press, how would Europe ever have gotten united in any way to understand what each country is thinking? I mean, it sounds stupid, but it really matters. And what I realize is that…look. I got involved and then think about it this way, but I got involved in public life because of the abuse of power. I mean, my dad would say, “you know, the greatest sin of all is the abuse of power.” And I was raised in a circumstance where, like I used to always talk about how the worst thing that ever happened to me was I used to stutter when I was a kid. And you really get made fun of when you tt-t-t-t-t-t-t-talk like that. And but I realized that maybe it was the greatest gift I ever got, because there's so many people who are in circumstances where they have something dealing- that they're dealing with that's beyond their immediate control. And, and, and I watched how I was a runt when I was a kid. I was a small kid. I was a pretty good athlete all the time. But I was. And, you know, I learned how to fight when I didn't want to fight. But when you get made fun of, you learn to step up. But what it did was it made me realize that there's so damn many bullies around. And I now extrapolate that all the way to democracy, the reason for all the safeguards out there is, in a very trite way to say, keep the bullies from taking advantage of everybody else. There are basic guardrails. And I think that this concentration of enormous wealth and power, in a circumstance where everything is changing and the biggest thing is changin is how we communicate with one another. I mean, all kidding aside, did you ever think at the point where you weren't sure who the editors were? Who's out there saying, “no, you can't print that?” You can't say it's not true? I mean, it's like… And when- and when the mully(sic) and when people don't- aren't participating in paying their fair share. I have no problem with people making millions of dollars. But for God's sake, pay your fair share. And in taxes and participation. And so, I don't know, I just think things are at a point where it's awful hard to… I've had four of your colleagues the last four years tell me they're worried they're going to be in real- serious players like you. Not you, but your caliber. Worried about whether or not they're going to be held accountable for telling the truth. When the hell does that ever happen in America? I mean, a long time. So I guess what I'm worried about is that the thing that keeps it on track are the guardrails. That’s a good- that- there's a Supreme Court that's independent, but not but accountable. There is a Congress that you speak your mind, but you're held accountable to basic standards. There's a presidency that says you have really limited powers. I mean, you’re the top dog but you can’t dictate everything.
There was no followup or probing of any portion of this ramble, which hearkens back to some of Biden’s friendly interviews while he was still a candidate for re-election, where he’d make sure to get his talking point out regardless of what the question actually was. This is how we went from feelings to fragility to the Gutenberg Press to a stutter.
O’Donnell simply absorbed that and moved on to the next question. Sensing that there were certain set things that Biden wanted to get off his chest, O’Donnell asked the “Oligarchy” question. Here, again, Biden veers off topic and away from answering the question (click expand” to view transcript”):
Lawrence tees up the "oligarchy" and "tech-industrial complex" question for Biden, who goes off on another ramble tangent. pic.twitter.com/m6pJ1KlLrZ
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 17, 2025
O’DONNELL: Last night you issued the warning about the power of the tech-industrial complex, an echo of President Eisenhower in this very room. In his farewell address, the warning about the military-industrial complex. And you said that an oligarchy is taking shape that threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. How does this oligarchy affect people out there who've never used the word oligarchy? The people who you're saying might not get a fair shot because of the way this is going?
BIDEN: Well, look. If the decision is made that the multi-billionaires, the super, super wealthy, the wealthiest people in the world began to control all the apparatuses from the media to the economy. Then who do I get to fight back for me? Who do I get to? I mean, look, I think everybody deserves just a shot. Not not a guarantee, just a shot. How the hell can you make it in society today if you don't have access to an education, you don't have access to adequate health care. You don't have access to the opportunity to have a job that you can handle, where you can make- you can make ends meet? I mean, one of the things I think I there's two things I'm proud of so far. I know they'll last. We changed the basic formula of how to make an economy work. The trickle down stuff about, well, let the people go out and make a lot of money and the benefits will flow from that will trickle down to middle class and working class people. My dad, used say not a whole lot ever trickle down on his kitchen table. And so, you know, what I did was I when I got I admit to you, I didn't know. I, Pat Moynihan, been around. I could have just asked him. He could’ve told me. But that- back in the early 30s, when Roosevelt was trying to protect unions from being overrun by corporate America, they passed a law that said that when a president is given money by the Congress, he should spend that money hiring American people to do whatever is needed to be done and use American products. It's been honored in the breach. So we focused on that. That's why I worked so damn hard to give unions more power, to give. unions the ability to negotiate. And I think that what we did is we invested more in America. That's why the Chips and Science Act. Well, hell, we invented the damn things. We modernized them. We used to have 40% of the market. But what happened? Corporate America and a lot of politicians decided that. Let's find the cheapest labor we can find in the world to build these little chips. About the size of the tip of my finger and then import them. So we'll pay a hell of a lot less to have them made, and then we'll import them, and we import them. We make more money because we're paying a hell of a lot less for them. Well guess what? Now this thing called supply chains. When pandemic hit, it hit the whole world and hit it hit everyone from Taiwan to Asia to all all across the Japan. All the places where they make these chips are starting to make these chips. Korea. And guess what? We found out you need about 300in to build a new car. Well, you can't build new cars now. So guess what? The price of automobiles went through the roof. The cell phone you have, you know, needs a chip. You need a chip for a weapon. You need a chip for everything. And so I just thought we weren't fighting to get in the game again. To be the leader in the world on economic initiatives. And not that we weren't going to share with anybody, but that we were not going to allow people to cut us off. And so when that happened, everything I did, I made sure that we were making sure that we were spending the money hiring. If we're going to build a bridge, hire American workers. You're going to build a bridge, use American steel, use the things that grow the American economy. We weren't growing the economy. So when I talk about what's going on in terms of these, you know, what's the investments that are being made, the investments are made. Find the cheapest labor anywhere in the world, bring it home. Find the cheapest way to spend it to engage it and make the most money you can. Well guess what? It just it- really damages America’s- really, any country’s ability to compete.
There was nothing in what Biden offered that would’ve come close to answering the question. Nonetheless, O’Donnell moves on to the next series of questions on Ukraine, and on inflation.
Biden claims "inflation is down almost to 2%", while O'Donnell lovingly gazes at him. December CPI came in at 2.9% pic.twitter.com/xWIFDvy73D
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 17, 2025
BIDEN: Nothing works unless- if you conclude that the only way to deal with inflation is to create unemployment and another recession, because you had- to you had to make sure that we- that we lost jobs. That's the only way you're going to keep the inflation down. But guess what? I was absolutely convinced. Give the American people half a shot. They'll step up and get the job done. If you give them the opportunity. Look what they did. They stepped up in every major endeavor and the idea- and I never believed we couldn’t have a soft landing. We’re in a soft landing. Inflation.
In fact, inflation is not down to almost 2%. Per the latest CPI report, it’s at 2.9, which is a lot closer to 3 than to 2. But O’Donnell let that one go as well. So much for not spreading disinformation.
It would’ve been interesting were O’Donnell to have asked questions about Afghanistan, Iran, or any other number of issues that might have helped arrive at an honest accounting of the Biden presidency. But that appears to be too heavy of a lift. Instead, we get the pro-Biden host on the pro-Biden network doing pro-Biden things even as he’s three days away from leaving the presidency. Regime Media, indeed.