Turns out that MAGA Republicans and “Bidenworld” actually have more common ground than anyone knew.
Both sides have seemingly found agreement on how to handle the debt ceiling, have both offered similar condolences to former President Joe Biden’s devastating cancer diagnosis — and now both seem to agree that the White House press secretary under the former president wasn’t great at her job.
Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made headlines Wednesday when she revealed a forthcoming book that, among other things, made the case for why she was ditching the Democratic Party in favor of being independent.
Of note, the book description notes (emphasis added): “She takes us through the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision.”
That description has apparently rankled the very party that has generally defended the first openly LGBT press secretary, as they used to laud.
(For what it’s worth, most Democrats still seem all in on Jen Psaki, though she has her own issues of late.)
And it forced “Bidenworld” to “go scorched earth” on Jean-Pierre, according to Axios.
The big issue that Biden’s inner circle of Democrats have with this book? She “was part of the problem.”
“Many of her former colleagues think Jean-Pierre — the face of the White House for more than two years — was part of the problem, according to interviews with more than two dozen former Biden administration officials,” Axios’ Alex Thompson reported.
“Jean-Pierre was a key part of the effort to conceal Biden’s decline, vouching for his fitness and insisting the president, then 81, was ‘as sharp as ever’ even after last June’s disastrous debate against Donald Trump,” the report continued.
Thompson’s report added: “Many quietly had fumed for years, believing she was incompetent at her job at the White House podium and more interested in promoting herself than Joe Biden.”
But those quiet fumes have given way to some fiery quotes.
“She didn’t know how to manage a team, didn’t know how to shape or deliver a message, and often created more problems than she solved,” one incensed former White House official told Axios.
That source, who apparently worked closely with Jean-Pierre, added that ex-press secretary “was one of the most ineffectual and unprepared people I’ve ever worked with. … She had meltdowns after any interview that asked about a topic not sent over by producers.”
“The amount of time that was spent coddling and appeasing her was astronomical compared to our attention on actual matters of substance,” a different former Biden official lamented.
Another former Biden official excoriated the book — and Jean-Pierre’s integrity:
“The hubris of thinking you can position yourself as an outsider when you not only have enjoyed the perks of extreme proximity to power — which … bestows the name recognition needed to sell books off your name — but have actively wielded it from the biggest pulpit there is, is as breathtaking as it is desperate. … It’s difficult to see how this is anything but a bizarre cash grab.”
If any of these criticisms sound at all familiar, it’s likely because they echo many of the criticisms hurled at Jean-Pierre during her time as press secretary by the GOP.
Republicans had oft criticized Jean-Pierre for her petulance (“meltdowns”), her erroneous claims (“didn’t know how to shape or deliver a message”), her attitude (“hubris”), as well as her general incompetence (“created more problems than she solved”).
Now, it appears Democrats echo those very criticisms that peppered Jean-Pierre through her time as White House press secretary.
It just took her leaving the Democratic Party to get it out.
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