Shortly after noon on Saturday at the Polk County Steak Fry in Iowa, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked a mild, Brit Hume-esque question to Joe Biden and drew a hostile response, as if Doocy were yelling like Jim Acosta. His primary answer -- that he's never spoken to Hunter Biden about his overseas business dealings -- should sound preposterous to reporters, especially when they wouldn't accept that answer from a Trump son or daughter. But the other reporters didn't follow up.
PETER DOOCY: Mr. Vice President, how many times have you ever spoken to your son about his overseas business dealings?
JOE BIDEN: I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.
DOOCY: And so how do you know --
BIDEN (pointing a finger at Doocy throughout his answer): And here’s what I know, I know Trump deserves to be investigated. He is violating every basic norm of a president. You should be asking him the question, why is he on the phone with a foreign leader? Trying to intimidate a foreign leader, if that’s what happened, that appears to be what happened, you should be looking at Trump. Trump’s doing this because he knows I’ll beat him like a drum. And he’s using the abuse of power and every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me.
This is the best, Trumpiest part: "Everybody looked at this, and everybody’s looked at it and said there’s nothing there,” and then yelled at Doocy “Ask the right questions!”
Let's translate: "Don't ask me questions about my family's business dealings! Ask Trump why he dares cast aspersions on my family's business dealings! We are beyond reproach!"
If we applied Acosta Logic to this exchange, you would say Biden shouldn't be pointing his finger and yelling at a reporter who's just "doing their job." Doocy wasn't at all like Acosta, and still the other journalists don't show him support.
Instead of following up on Fox's simple and objective questions here (horrors), one reporter babbled about if this will get Trump impeached. Another pulled out the sympathy card: "You said before you entered the race that one of your concerns was about your family being brought into this race. Were you comfortable in running a campaign--" Biden shot back: "I know what I'm up against, a serial abuser. That's what this guy is. He abuses power everywhere he can and he sees any-- if he sees any threat to his staying in power, he'll do whatever he has to do. But this crosses the line!"
Minutes later, conservative journalist Michael Knowles insisted Biden made a tactical error: "He went on the record and said he never spoke to his son about any foreign business dealings, if you believe that I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you."
