Joe Biden made countless strange comments and claims during his interview with ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos on Friday night – “I run the world” stands out – and one of his claims is coming under increasing scrutiny in the sober featherlight of day. He was thrown off guard during the debate disaster because, he says, Trump shout at him when it was not the former president’s turn to speak.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And – how – how quickly did you realize that you had had this bad night?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I realized I was having a bad night when I noticed that even when I was answering a question, he was still yelling even though they turned off his microphone. And I let it distract me. I don’t blame him, but I realized I just wasn’t in control.
Joe Biden claims Donald Trump yelled at him during the debate, which explains why he had a bad night. Only… Trump didn’t yell at him. pic.twitter.com/9tfQoffzbN
— Jason Rantz at KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) July 6, 2024
This statement is problematic on two counts. First, the leader of the free world just admitted that he was “not in control” despite holding the highest office in the land, facing two reporters known to be biased in his favor, and having his opponent’s microphone cut off before it was even his turn to speak. If you feel like you’re not in control of that situation, how are you going to hold your own in a meeting with China’s Xi Jinping or Russia’s Vladimir Putin?
The second problem: There is no evidence that Trump was shouting. Most of the time, the format was split screen, and you could see Trump reacting to Biden’s ramblings. At no point did you see him shouting.
Joe Biden claimed in his ABC interview that he was distracted because “Trump was yelling during his answers.”
Lol WHAT? The camera was on Trump when you answered. He didn’t say anything. He just listened. Biden is lost. pic.twitter.com/92YHp3kpSe
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) July 6, 2024
I did actually see Trump try to make a brief statement here and there when the microphone was cut off, but the attempts were inconsequential and in no universe could they be considered “shouting.”
Further episodes of the interview:
The moment Stephanopoulos lost the game and stopped pursuing Biden’s crucial claim
Biden is decimated by reactions to the Trainwreck interview – the picture that says it all
Obama’s former top adviser drops truth bomb about Biden’s Hail Mary interview: “Sad,” “dangerously unrealistic”
I don’t think it’s the job of moderators to fact-check candidates in real time during a debate – it ruins the flow of the conversation, and as we saw in 2012 when CNN’s Candy Crowley broke Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s knees by fact-checking him on the spot (and turned out to be wrong), this tactic is vulnerable to political manipulation by the moderator. Where are Jake Tapper and Dana Bash now that it’s all over? Have they spoken out and said, “No, that’s a lie, Trump didn’t shout”? Not that I know of.
In their eyes, it will probably be seen as just another case of “Joe being Joe.” But this blatant claim appears to be an outright lie, and if Trump or any other Republican had said something like this, it would be a headline on The New York Timesand there would be an all-day CNN panel full of grim-looking “experts.”
However, when it comes to the president, his rapid decline and his false claims, they just shrug their shoulders.
