NBC
In what could be one of his final interviews as a presidential candidate, Joe Biden again took aim at what’s become one of his favorite targets: fake news.
Biden — who enjoyed protection from the press throughout a 2020 campaign that saw media maul Donald Trump and ignore legit stories, such as the one about key White House adviser Hunter Biden’s laptop — has turned on the press as questions have mounted about his campaign.
Hours before his COVID diagnosis, which UnidosUS President Janet Murguía announced to the world in Las Vegas Wednesday as she explained why the president was an hour and a half late for a luncheon speech, Biden did a radio hit with Univision, where he was asked if he felt “betrayal” from defections from supporters like George Clooney, Michael Douglas, Ashley Judd and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff.
The embattled octogenarian went soft on his Hollywood pals and the California congressman, saving his ire for the working press.
“And I found some relief in you saying you’re not a political reporter,” he said to the host, setting up his media criticism.
“Think about this. There’s a lot of really good reporters out there, but they have no limit. It’s very difficult, the ability to step up, and let me put it, there are no editors anymore. You don’t have an editor so you can’t say that it’s not true. They don’t say that anymore,” the president rasped.
He then talked about artificial intelligence and how it can be used for fake ads before returning to trashing the political press.
“So we have to figure out how, not to control the media, the media should be uncontrolled, be able to do what it wants. But there’s — we’ve got to figure out a way how we can say this is true. This is basically true. And so that’s what we’re about in this election and trying to expose some of the outrageous things that have been said,” Biden said.
The president’s petulance toward the press has become a standard tactic during what appears to be the final stretch of his half-century-long political career.
“Why don’t you guys ever talk about the 18, the 28 lies he told? Where — where are you on this? Why doesn’t the press ever talk about that? Twenty-eight times, it’s confirmed, he lied in that debate. . . . Seriously, you won’t answer the question, but why doesn’t the press talk about all the lies he told?” Biden harangued NBC’s Lester Holt when offering yet another autopsy for his dismal debate against Trump during a recent interview.
A rally in Detroit last week saw Biden attempting his Trump impression as he worked to turn the handpicked crowd against reporters tasked with covering his remarks.
“They’ve been hammering me because I sometimes confuse names,” Biden said.
“I say, ‘That’s Charlie,’ instead of ‘Bill,’” Biden said, adding again that the most scrutinized candidate in American history — Donald Trump — has “gotten a free pass.”