President Biden continues to insist that negative press about his failed presidency is fake news and whines about not getting the positive coverage he claims he deserves.
Gee, this seems awfully like a concerted effort by him and his handlers to thrust upon the American people their version of President Donald Trump’s “fake news” PR strategy — a tactic the left and much of the media piously pilloried.
Now, of course, since it’s a Democratic president screaming about fake news, the reaction is muted.
“I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides. I’m asking you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment,” Biden told media members at last weekend’s White House Correspondents dinner.
“In the age of disinformation, credible information that people can trust is more important than ever. And that makes you — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart — that makes you more important than ever.”
For starters, Biden doesn’t need to tell the media to take sides; we passed that exit long ago.
And it’s great unintentional comedy that this president is warning about the dangers of disinformation while being one of the biggest purveyors of it.
A classic example came in December as Biden was heading to Camp David.
“What’s your outlook on the economy next year?” a reporter asked him as he was leaving the White House.
“All good,” the 81-year-old shot back. “Take a look. Start reporting it the right way.”
In other words, the economy is awesome, according to the president.
Forget that food and gas prices continue to rise.
Forget that wages aren’t keeping up with inflation and credit-card debt is at an all-time high.
And definitely forget about all of those polls showing a decided majority of voters disapproving Biden’s handling of the economy and inflation.
It’s all . . . fake.
As for warnings by Biden about disinformation, let’s look at some of his own greatest hits while president.
He claimed he inherited “skyrocketing inflation” when he took office in 2021.
It was 1.4% at the time, before jumping to north of 9% under his watch.
He said he inherited “one god-awful mess at the border” from the Trump administration and the migrant masses that emerged on his watch were just “seasonal.”
Absolute lies.
He called inflation “temporary” and his Afghanistan bugout a “success.”
Wrong and wrong.
He claims he cut the deficit.
It’s skyrocketed.
His personal anecdotes and Trump barbs are just as fact-free:
Biden has asserted that he got arrested as a teenager with a black couple at a Delaware desegregation protest.
He didn’t.
He said Trump promised a “bloodbath” if he loses in November.
He didn’t.
He said he was once the only member of his family at the time to attend college.
He wasn’t.
He bragged that as a senator “a lot of lovely women” would send him “very salacious pictures” that he “handed over to the Secret Service.”
Senators don’t get Secret Secret protection.
He said his uncle was once eaten by cannibals.
We’ll just leave that one there.
There’s a reason, per Gallup, Biden is polling lower than any president at this stage of his first term in 70 years, and the way the media covers his presidency certainly ain’t one of those reasons.
Thankfully, the media’s influence is only a fraction of what it once was.
Just look at the polls out this week showing Donald Trump, despite being in court almost every day, up over Biden by nine points, per CNN.
Other polls out this week also show Trump leading or tied in every swing state.
Joe Biden is asking for better coverage from the media, even though it’s barely a fraction as negative as it was during the Trump era.
He could start by doing less of the kind of T-Ball interviews he did with Howard Stern or actor Jason Bateman, as we saw this week, and perhaps finally sit down and take questions from an actual journalist on the issues voters care about.
Don’t expect that to happen.
Biden wants four more years while avoiding accountability — and casting himself as a beacon of truth against disinformation.
Hmm: If he loses in November, maybe, like Trump, he’ll even claim the election was stolen.
Joe Concha is a Fox News Contributor and nationally bestselling author.