What can we say? Even Obama told everyone that Biden screws everything up.
During a private fundraising event held last month, President Joe Biden made an announcement regarding his forthcoming journey to Vietnam. This revelation not only surprised the attendees of the event, but also caught the president’s own staff members off guard. The overseas travel reportedly caused significant disruption and turmoil among the White House Press Corps, the group responsible for covering the president.
As per a report published in Politico’s West Wing Playbook, the press corps’ reaction to the revelation of the trip, that would occur subsequent to President Biden’s participation in the G20 conference within India, was characterized as a “logistical nightmare.”
Reporters who had been assigned to cover the G-20 were left with uncertain travel plans and a host of questions. Should they also plan to fly to Hanoi? Would it be before or after New Delhi? Would they have enough time to get a visa to Vietnam? And how would Biden make it back to the U.S. in time to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks?
“This White House in particular has been very close to the vest on the scheduling until pretty close to departure,” lamented one White House correspondent.
The official announcement of the trip was made on August 28. However, prior to that time, the process involved arranging an expensive charter flight due to the president’s constrained schedule and the limited availability of commercial flights from Delhi to Hanoi. This arrangement necessitated obtaining approval from the editors of the reporters who would be traveling from New Delhi to Hanoi. The responsibility of organizing the necessary number of attendees fell to the White House Correspondents’ Association, who successfully managed to secure the required headcount upon learning about President Biden’s scheduled news conference in Vietnam subsequent to the G20 summit.
The news conference was discussed aboard Air Force One throughout the press gaggle, featuring White House news Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Jean-Pierre provided a rationale for selecting Hanoi as the venue for the news conference, citing logistical considerations.
Q: Was the decision to move the press conference from India to Hanoi a result of issues around press freedom and press access in India?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, I wouldn’t go that far. I think it’s just that it was easier… it was a logistical piece. It’s easier to do, it was just easier to do it in Vietnam. As you know, when the G… these types of summits happen, the G20 summits happen, it is all-consuming, all hands on deck. And it was just logistically easier to do it there.
And it wouldn’t — it wouldn’t have changed anything because it would have just been the president doing a solo press conference. So, instead of doing it in India, he’s going to be doing it in Hanoi.
Late last month, we learned that a significant proportion of individuals affiliated with the Democratic Party hold the belief that Joe Biden, an octogenarian, should refrain from seeking re-election.
The current president has surpassed Ronald Reagan as the oldest individual to hold the office, having finished his second term at the age of 77.
Reagan surpassed the previous record set by Dwight Eisenhower, concluding his second term at the age of 70.
Throughout the span of over two centuries in American history, it has been observed that those who assume the role of president are often in their 50s and 60s, with some exceptions falling within their 40s.
According to a recent study conducted by the Associated Press and NORC, it was shown that a significant majority of Democrats between the ages of 18 and 44, specifically 77 percent, hold the belief that Joe Biden’s age renders him unfit for another term in office.
In contrast to any potential misconception that this perspective is solely held by the younger demographic, it is noteworthy that a significant majority of individuals aged 60 or over, specifically 71 percent, share the same belief in relation to Biden.
In general, a majority of Democrats, specifically 69 percent, hold the belief that the individual in question is of an advanced age that renders them unsuitable for the role of the nation’s commander in chief.
When the inclusion of Republicans and independents is taken into account, the aforementioned percentage increases to 77 percent.
Moreover, a significant majority of 77 percent of respondents expressed the belief that age poses a more significant concern for President Biden compared to former President Donald Trump, who is also 77 years old.
77% think Joe Biden is too old to effectively serve as President, including 69% of Democrats. https://t.co/PDlUmWsmPA pic.twitter.com/6v470MXZMk
— AP-NORC Center (@APNORC) August 28, 2023
Only 51 percent of the respondents indicated that Donald Trump, the prominent Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, is deemed to be of an advanced age that would hinder his ability to serve another term as president.
The poll was administered from August 10th to August 14th through a combination of online and telephone interviews, involving a total of 1,165 adult participants. The margin of sampling error is ±3.8 percentage points.
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