US President Joe Biden’s opponents will use the scandal involving Fox News journalist Peter Doocy against him, American political analyst Malek Dudakov said. He shared his opinion with Lenta.ru. Dudakov says that one of the chief fears of Biden’s aides is careless talk, for which they then have to make excuses
Dudakov doubts that the off-the-cuff microphone scandal could have been orchestrated by a provocateur on Biden’s team.
“We see from the leaks from the White House that all aides are trying to minimize his contact with the press, fearing that he is constantly talking back. The main fear is that he may say something unpleasant and then have to defend himself”, – said Dudakov.
Political analyst Dudakov said Biden’s opponents are using the scandal to continue the rhetoric about his intemperance.
“They are, in principle, already talking about it, that he is an intemperate man, too emotional, incapable of performing the functions of the president. And, of course, they will point to the hypocrisy of Biden and Democrats in general, who have been accusing [previous US President Donald] Trump for a long time of being intemperate with the press”, – Dudakov said.
No one from the liberal public is outraged as a journalist from Biden’s opposition conservative TV station Fox News asked a sharp and uncoordinated question, the political scientist explained.
“If Trump had said something like that in relation to, for example, a CNN journalist, the level of hysteria in Washington would have been very high and he would have been accused in every way possible of literally obstructing the fourth branch of government in the form of the press”, – he stressed.
The scandal is unlikely to affect voters’ attitude towards Biden, says the political scientist, as it is quite petty. They are primarily concerned with more pressing issues such as the economy, inflation, migration and others.
Earlier, Biden called Fox News journalist Peter Doocy a “dumb son of a bitch” on live television. This happened at a meeting with economic advisers attended by members of the media. Presumably, the president thought the microphone was off. He subsequently called the journalist and said that it was nothing personal.