In between repeated attempts to get Joe Biden to announce a 2020 presidential run, on Monday’s NBC Today, co-hosts Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie also teed up the former vice president to bash President Trump multiple times. At one point, Lauer even asked if Biden and former President Obama ever “vent” or “complain” to each other about how much they don’t like the current occupant of the White House.
During a lengthy segment in which a studio audience peppered Biden with easy questions, Lauer interrupted to lob his own softball: “Do you and former President Obama ever talk now when things happen in Washington? And for example, when you see some his legacy – and both of your legacies – being unraveled and reversed by executive order? Do you talk, do you vent, do you complain to one another?”
Biden claimed “we don’t complain,” but did reveal that he the former president have actively plotted to undermine Trump’s legislative agenda:
And we – and we strategize as to what we can do to help keep these things from happening. Like, for example, the health care bill. We both were engaged with the Congress and with others as to a strategy as how to prevent that from being unraveled, which it has been prevented from being completely unraveled at least.
Earlier in the discussion, one audience member had “a question about President Trump” and wondered: “I know this might be hard to answer. What is one thing, if any, that you believe he’s doing well as president?” After Biden vaguely confessed that he thought Trump had done some things “well” but objected to the “tone of this administration,” Lauer chimed in: “With all due respect, you haven’t come up with one thing you think he’s doing well yet.” That prompted the whole studio to erupt in laughter.
Moments later, Guthrie fretted:
Real quickly, though, on the rhetoric. I mean, just over the weekend, there was an exchange of fire – rhetorical fire – between Kim Jong-un, who had called the President a “lunatic” and “old.” And then the President tweeted back, “You’re short and fat.” When you think about that in the context of two countries with nuclear weapons?
In part, Biden declared: “I think it’s a big mistake. And it’s beneath the office.”
Earlier in the show, Guthrie led off an interview with Biden by inviting him to attack Trump’s approach to Russia: “And let’s just start right there with Russia, the President’s controversial comments, stating that he believed Putin when he says Russia didn’t meddle in this election....How do you feel about how the President is dealing with Putin?” Biden replied: “ I’m reluctant to criticize the President when he’s abroad, but I don't believe Putin.” She followed up: “Do you think the President is being naive or worse with regard to Putin?”
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Here are some of the November 13 questions that teed up Biden to trash Trump:
7:06 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: We want to talk about the book of course, but there’s a lot to talk about in the news. And let’s just start right there with Russia, the President’s controversial comments, stating that he believed Putin when he says Russia didn’t meddle in this election. I – you write in the book about meeting Putin yourself and telling him, “You have no soul.” How do you feel about how the President is dealing with Putin?
JOE BIDEN: I’m reluctant to criticize the President when he’s abroad, but I don't believe Putin.
(...)
GUTHRIE: Do you think the President is being naive or worse with regard to Putin?
BIDEN: I don’t believe Putin.
(...)
8:17 AM
HODA KOTB: Sarah’s got a question about President Trump.
SARAH: Yeah, I know this might be hard to answer. What is one thing, if any, that you believe he’s doing well as president?
(...)MATT LAUER: With all due respect, you haven’t come up with one thing you think he’s doing well yet.
[LAUGHTER]
(...)
GUTHRIE: Real quickly, though, on the rhetoric. I mean, just over the weekend, there was an exchange of fire – rhetorical fire – between Kim Jong-un, who had called the President a “lunatic” and “old.” And then the President tweeted back, “You’re short and fat.” When you think about that in the context of two countries with nuclear weapons?
(...)
BIDEN: I think it’s a big mistake. And it’s beneath the office.
(...)
8:19 AM ET
LAUER: Do you and former President Obama ever talk now when things happen in Washington? And for example, when you see some his legacy – and both of your legacies – being unraveled and reversed by executive order? Do you talk, do you vent, do you complain to one another?
BIDEN: Well, we don’t complain, but we talk. We talk, we’re always in contact with one another and we see one another still. And we – and we strategize as to what we can do to help keep these things from happening. Like, for example, the health care bill. We both were engaged with the Congress and with others as to a strategy as how to prevent that from being unraveled, which it has been prevented from being completely unraveled at least.
(...)
