The weekly table discussion on PBS NewsHour between Washington Post Associate Editor Jonathan Capehart and New York Times columnist David Brooks spent some time on Friday discussing President Biden’s upcoming re-election campaign. Ignoring all the week’s developments surrounding Hunter, Brooks claimed Biden’s in a good spot, “There hasn't been any obvious gaffes, big scandals or anything like that.”
Guest host Geoff Bennett also thought Biden is well positioned for 2024, “President Biden's allies say the fact that he's facing only token primary opposition from author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. really is a show of strength for him.”
Brooks concurred and declared that any polling showing Democratic hesitation about Biden is about age and not policy, “But the midterm election sort of silenced all that. And he's been looking strong. He gave a strong State of the Union. There hasn't been any obvious gaffes, big scandals or anything like that.”
Putting aside the fact that nobody other than political junkies like Brooks even remember the State of the Union speech, Biden has gaffes almost every day. He recently told Irish leaders at a banquet that the U.S. and Ireland should “lick the world.”
As for scandals, just this week, an IRS whistleblower alleged Hunter Biden has received “preferential treatment,” that the feds have considered four charges against him, and House Republicans were able to discover that the infamous letter by 51 former national security officials declaring the Hunter Biden laptop story had “all the classic earmarks” of Russian disinformation did not begin as an organic concern amongst former officials who were above partisan politics, but at the request of current Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Brooks did lament that despite “a lot of good domestic policy achievements” and that “Republicans have staked out some pretty extreme ground on a lot of issues… it's still reasonably close.”
Later, the discussion would shift to Fox News’ $787.5 settlement with Dominion as Bennett asked Capehart, “And, Jonathan, one wonders if an apology, if an on-air retraction would even matter at this point, given that the election lie has taken hold. It's the bedrock of Donald Trump's 2024 re-election campaign, and he is miles ahead of any other Republican.”
In what was supposed to be a segment about Fox News having to pay for fake news, Capehart would spread some fake news of his own about Fox News, “They're not covering the trial. They didn't cover the January 6 — the January 6 hearings.”
Fox, like the other networks, did carry the January 6 hearings live during the daytime.
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Here is a transcript for the April 21 show:
PBS NewsHour
4/21/2023
7:27 PM ET
GEOFF BENNETT: President Biden's allies say the fact that he's facing only token primary opposition from author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. really is a show of strength for him.
DAVID BROOKS: Oh, for sure. I mean, there's — in the polling, there's still a lot of Democrats who think he should not run, but that's mostly an aged issue, not an ideology issue. But the midterm election sort of silenced all that. And he's been looking strong. He gave a strong State of the Union. There hasn't been any obvious gaffes, big scandals or anything like that.
And so there's nothing — or, even ideologically, I'd say, over the two years so far, two and a bit, that he's pretty well massaged the center-left fights that happen in the Democratic Party by doing things that some people, the centrists like, and some things that people on the left like.
And so there's no natural home for an opposition candidate, and everyone's united by Donald Trump. And so, you know, I think what's interesting about him, he's been sounding pretty candidate-y for six months now.
He's been talking like, I really want to go after Trump. And he's been doing it.
You know, I think what has to concern the White House a little is, they have had improving inflation, a lot of good domestic policy achievements. Republicans have staked out some pretty extreme ground on a lot of issues. And if you look at the polls, it's still reasonably close. His approvals are still in 46s.
And it could be that we're just in an extremely partisan, divided country, an extremely cynical country, where, on the national level, nobody — and this is global — no national leader gets popular anymore. No national leader gets to 55, because there's so much cynicism across the Western world.
…
7:35 PM ET
BENNETT: And, Jonathan, one wonders if an apology, if an on-air retraction would even matter at this point, given that the election lie has taken hold. It's the bedrock of Donald Trump's 2024 re-election campaign, and he is miles ahead of any other Republican.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Right. But I also question whether a public apology is even necessary, because an apology will only work if the viewers see it. They're not covering the trial. They didn't cover the January 6 — the January 6 hearings.
The hope is, because of the discovery and all the text messages and e-mails that we have learned where we know that they were telling lies, that it somehow trickles down and gets to that audience, so that they finally start to see how they have been lied to.
