So it’s come to this: The Morning Joe crew on Friday were grumpy that Democrats aren’t doing enough to tout the accomplishments of Joe Biden. Hyping a Washington Post column calling for Democrats to get in line behind the very unpopular president, Joe Scarborough was baffled: “You just wonder why they're panicking the way they are. They certainly aren't helping themselves, and they're certainly not helping their president, they’re certainly not helping their party. And I'm just talking politics.”
The sad news of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination on Friday shocked the world, but that did not stop the MSNBC regulars from attempting to convince people that inflation is not Joe Biden’s fault, along with feeling sorry for him in general.
This conversation grew from Post opinion columnist Dana Milbank’s recent article: “Give Biden a Break,” which called on the Democratic Party to be a little kinder to Biden amid his disaster streak as president that really has been prevalent since the day he was sworn in. Milbank mentioned how Democrats go from saying “’whoa, whoa, whoa, that’s too hot, you're being too divisive.” And then turn around a few months later and say, “he's not forceful enough on the urgent threats to democracy that we’re facing.’”
Mike Barnicle then complained about how Biden never gets enough credit for the things he does such as apparently “convincing people like Abe to help with this effort, to help with trying to neutralize China.” Even though Abe was a strong supporter for Taiwan and combating the CCP way before Biden ever tried anything.
Plus, the United States is in China’s pockets enough as it is, meaning Taiwan is not high on the list for this administration. There will not be any strong neutralization of China coming from Biden any time soon.
Milbank gave Barnicle clarity as to why Biden is not getting enough credit. It is because “Americans don’t care that much about foreign policy.”
Scarborough and Donny Deutsch, host of On Brand with Donny Deutsch had their own opinions to add. Scarborough tried to downplay just how badly Biden is messing up the country. “Biden is about two years in, he's having some problems economically with inflation that of course,” he said, and “some problems” is quite the understatement.
He continued with “I saw Colin today talking about inflation being Joe Biden's fault, which is, of course, hilarious, considering Donald Trump had the biggest deficits, the biggest debt, the most bloated budgets in American history.”
In addition, Scarborough claimed that “among Western countries, our gas prices are lower than most of the rest of the world” and that we’re doing “much better than Great Britain and other countries in Europe.”
Looks like Joe forgot to mention that Trump’s biggest economic debts and deficits were during COVID when no one knew how to handle it, because the economy was great up until that point. In addition, we might be doing better than the U.K. regarding inflation; but even still, the U.S. is incredibly worse than a lot of the other G20 countries in that subject. Embarrassing.
Donny Deutsch then condescendingly said that “people feel a certain way right now” talking about “when you put together guns, when you put together the insurrection, when you put together Roe v. Wade.” He is clearly forgetting about the inflation that is turning American’s hair grey from financial stress.
Deutsch then added on to Scarborough’s comparison of Biden to Reagan and Obama. “It is interesting you brought up both Reagan and Obama and both of them, obviously, from different sides of the aisle, were fantastic at channeling the feelings of their voters and being able to react to them and being able to present in a certain way,” he observed.
It is interesting because the whole thing Biden promoted himself on was being able to effectively connect with voters. Looks like he’s losing momentum, even with his own media mouthpieces.
This example of media bias was made possible by Angi and Xfinity.
Click "expand" to see the full transcript.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
July 8, 2022
7:11:34 a.m. Eastern.
DANA MILBANK: Right, he's not getting any sort of consideration of that possibility and then when he does go out there and lights his hair on fire, you know, he compares potentially Manchin and Sinema and Republicans to Bull Connor and George Wallace, the Democrats step back and say, “whoa, whoa, whoa, that’s too hot, you're being too divisive.” And then turn around a few months later and say, “he's not forceful enough on the urgent threats to democracy that we’re facing.” So, he’s damned if and he does and he’s damned if he doesn't.
As I wrote in the piece, the problem is not Joe Biden, the problem is Joe Manchin. This is not meant as a full-throated defense of everything, every policy that Joe Biden is pursuing. Nor, as I said, does this mean you want to have been an 82-year-old guy being your nominee in 2024. But, on the other hand, they're sort of blaming him for things that he is simply not responsible for.
MIKE BARNICLE: You know, Dana—
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Mike Barnicle.
BARNICLE: -- One question I have about all of this is-- in addition to the fact that Joe Biden could literally change the last initial of his first name to “B”, “Job” Biden, given everything that has fallen upon his shoulders: inflation, a global war, global inflation.
But with regard to the left of the Democratic Party, how is it that the president of the United States, we're talking about the sad, the tragic news out of Japan, Abe being shot and killed, assassinated, how is it that a President of the United States who speaks quietly to world leaders around the globe, pulls them together in unifying-- in a unifying aspect to combat the Russians and the war in Ukraine, gets very little credit for convincing people like Abe to help with this effort, to help with trying to neutralize China, to help with going against Russia in terms of Ukraine? He gets no credit for the quiet successes that he's had—
MILBANK: Yeah.
BARNICLE: -- and the loudness overcomes everything.
MILBANK: Well, the short answer is, I think, Americans don't care that much about foreign policy, maybe in the brief, you know early days or weeks of a crisis, Mike. But I think it’s, you know, it is worth looking at. You know, think of the leaders of Canada, Britain now being replaced, France, Germany.
They're all in the same miserable place in the polls, more or less, that Joe Biden is now. So this is, you know, because of inflation and the other problems dragging them down, as well. So there is this sort of international malaise, to borrow a word from the 1970s, that's dragging everybody down, even if they are younger and even if they're more charismatic.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: You know, Donny Deutsch, it’s remarkable that there is so little institutional knowledge among some of the Democrats. I-- you know, I guess Republicans do the same thing. They all do the same thing, but, you know, Biden is about two years in, he's having some problems economically with inflation that of course, again, I saw Colin today talking about inflation being Joe Biden's fault, which is, of course, hilarious, considering Donald Trump had the biggest deficits, the biggest debt, the most bloated budgets in American history.
But you look though, at Reagan in '82. You know, people were saying he was too old, he-- Republicans got crushed two years in, Clinton in '94, you look at Barack Obama in 2010. This has happened even to the most popular of presidents. And I guess, again, Democrats don't have to be excited about it.
They don't have to be happy about it. But, yeah, we have gas price problems, but among Western countries, our gas prices are lower than most of the rest of the world. We have inflation problems, but we're fairing as well or much better than Great Britain and other countries in Europe. It’s-- you just wonder why they're panicking the way they are. They certainly aren't helping themselves, and they're certainly not helping their president, they’re certainly not helping their party. And I'm just talking politics.
DONNY DEUTSCH: Yeah, people feel a certain way right now, voters and Democrats. More than-- I don't think there's ever been more of a right brain reaction to what is going on in the world, when you put together guns, when you put together the insurrection, when you put together Roe v. Wade. And somehow, Biden has not -- even if the words are there, you can try to transcribe and look at them – has not been able to translate the feelings that people are having, the combination of outrage and fear and worry.
It's not coming across -- it is interesting you brought up both Reagan and Obama and both of them, obviously, from different sides of the aisle, were fantastic at channeling the feelings of their voters and being able to react to them and being able to present in a certain way, and there's something about Biden that doesn't connect.
I'm not saying it is his age. There's something, he gets up there and he speaks, and you don't lean in and somehow, he's not been able to, kind of, garner and take what's going on in his audience, bring it back and reflect it back out. Somehow, that connection of feelings is not -- it is very hard to explain. You can't put it into words because if we looked-- if we transcribed all of his messages that he's put out there, he's saying the right things. It's just not connecting in the gut.
