The Great Divider

By their own definition:

NOW – White House: “When you are not with what majority of Americans are, then you know, that is extreme. That is an extreme way of thinking.”

The majority of Americans don’t support Biden. Therefore, by the White House’s own standard, Biden supporters are extremists.

Credit where credit is due… someone way smarter than me made that point.

Yup.

The two-day national poll found that 38% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance.

 

While Biden’s approval rating hit 41% last week, it has been mostly below 40% since mid-June despite a string of Democratic legislative victories that Biden’s allies hope will help them defend their narrow congressional majorities in November.

Perhaps it is not “despite a string of Democratic legislative victories.” Perhaps it is “BECAUSE a string of Democratic legislative victories.”

All of you folks who didn’t go to college or managed to pay your own way will get to pay for other people’s college now. Why? Because Biden wants to be Santa with your money.

“As a reminder, no one with a federally-held loan has had to pay a single dime in student loans since President Biden took office, and this Administration has already canceled about $32 billion in debt for more than 1.6 million Americans — more than any Administration in history,” White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan said, referring to debt relief for people who went to fraudulent universities and a restructured program to forgive debt for people who work in public service for 10 years.

 

But more specific details on how much money will be forgiven and for who are in high demand for the more than 45 million Americans who still have federal student loan debt.

 

One-third of federal loan borrowers have less than $10,000, meaning they could see their debts completely wiped out should this policy come to fruition. Another 20% of borrowers, around 9 million people, would have their debt at least slashed in half.

I don’t think the man can read his own mind at this point. But seriously… this is leading?

President Joe Biden on Friday lashed out at critics as he defended his administration’s actions to relieve the infant formula shortage that has panicked parents worried about feeding their babies.

 

‘If we’d been better mind readers, I guess we could have,’ Biden said when asked if his administration should have acted sooner.

 

Biden was speaking at an event on community policing and said he would only speak on that topic before – somewhat grumpily – conceding to talk about formula shortages.

 

‘I’ll answer the baby from the question because all of a sudden it’s on the front page of every newspaper,’ he said.

Um, Joe… this is all negotiating with other Democrats. There’s not “bipartisan.”

That deal has not been easy in coming. Biden admitted some painful cuts to his programs at the town hall, but the lifelong politician, who campaigned on his ability to reach bipartisan deals, said some losses were inevitable.

 

“Hey look, it’s all about compromise. You know, it’s – ‘compromise’ has become a dirty word. But it’s bipartisanship and compromise still has to be possible,” Biden said Thursday.

Who are these 38% people?

A new poll reveals President Biden’s lowest approval rating yet, as Congress remains at an impasse at the sweeping spend plans that will define his presidency and the threat of debt default loom.

 

Just 38% approve of Biden’s job as president, and 53% disapprove, according to a poll from Quinnipiac University. Three weeks ago, the same poll found that 42% approved and 50% disapproved.

 

Thirty-two percent of Independents approve of Biden while 60% disapprove. Four percent of Republicans approve, 94% disapprove. Still, 80% of Democrats approve of the president’s job overall and 10% disapprove.

There is nothing about this response that is good.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday blamed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the chaos in the Oval Office the day before, saying they were not given a head’s up he was going to call on members of his press corps.

 

‘He called on individuals within his press corps without alerting us to that intention in advance,’ she said in her daily press briefing.

 

Psaki was quizzed repeatedly on why British reporters were called on during the Oval Office meeting with President Joe Biden but American reporters were not. White House aides ushered reporters out of the room, shouting over the journalists, as they tried to ask Biden questions.

1. Yet another foreign policy flub throwing a close ally under the bus
2. Why would this be a surprise? There was a room full of reporters.
3. Even if it was a surprise, why can’t Biden answer questions in an unscripted format? People ask me questions all the time without warning me ahead of time about when and what they would ask.

Who is running this country?

Joe Biden’s answer to a question about the crisis on the Southern border was unclear on Tuesday when his aides shouted down reporters, covering the president’s attempt to respond.

 

‘Violence is not justified,’ Biden appeared to say but the rest of his response was not decipherable.

 

White House staff interrupted Boris Johnson as they pushed to get reporters out of the room, shouting over the British prime minister during his Oval Office meeting with Biden.

 

[…]

 

But his aides yelled ‘thank you’ and ‘let’s go’ to the press in the room, herding them outside as Biden appeared to address the issue. But between the shouting of his aides and the president’s wearing a face mask, it was impossible to make out the majority of what Biden said.

 

In the Oval Office sit down, Johnson took control of the meeting, calling on British reporters for questions that he and Biden answered. No American reporters were recognized.

 

Biden had a notecard in hand – as he usually does for meetings – that he referred to during his remarks with Johnson.

 

After reporters were pulled from the Oval Office, a group of American reporters making up the ‘pool’ – the small group of journalists that follow the president to represent the entire press crops –  went into White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s office to file a formal complaint about the situation.

 

‘The entire editorial component of the US pool went immediately into Jen Psaki’s office to register a formal complaint that no American reporters were recognized for questions in the president’s Oval Office,’ noted CBS radio correspondent Steve Portnoy in his report. Portnoy is also president of the White House Correspondents Association. ‘And that wranglers loudly shouted over the president as he seemed to give an answer to Ed O’Keefe’s question about the situation at the Southern Border. Biden’s answer could not be heard over the shouting.’

Biden’s judgment is remaining consistent.

WASHINGTON — The White House affirmed on Wednesday that it was standing by Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who according to a new book may have circumvented the military chain of command by reassuring a Chinese general he would warn Beijing if then-President Donald Trump ordered a nuclear attack on the rival superpower.

 

“The president has complete confidence in his leadership, his patriotism and his fidelity to our Constitution,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing.