As he closed his remarks to the White Home Correspondents’ Dinner, also called Nerd Promenade, President Joe Biden directed the media to lean additional in his course in protecting the 2024 presidential election.
Watch as Biden closes his remarks by issuing the “what’s at stake” clarion name:
JOE BIDEN: On the third anniversary of January sixth, I went to Valley Forge and I stated essentially the most pressing query of our time is whether or not democracy is still- continues to be the sacred reason behind America. That’s the query the American folks should reply this yr. And also you, the free press, play a crucial function in ensuring the American folks have the data they should make an knowledgeable resolution. The defeated former president has made no secret of his assault on our democracy. He stated he needs to be a dictator on Day One. And a lot extra. He tells supporters he’s their revenge and retribution. When in God’s identify have you ever ever heard of one other president say one thing like that? And he promised a massacre when he loses once more. We now have to take this severely. Eight years in the past. It might have written off as simply Trump discuss. However not. Not after January sixth. I am sincerely not asking you to take sides, however asking to rise as much as the seriousness of the second. Transfer previous the horse race numbers. The gotcha moments. And the distraction, the sideshows that’ve come to dominate and sensationalize- sensationalize our politics. And concentrate on what’s really at stake. I believe in your hearts, you realize already what’s at stake. The stakes could not be larger. Each single one in all us has roles to play- a critical function to play in ensuring democracy endures. American democracy. I’ve mo- my function, however with all due respect, so do you. Within the age of disinformation, credible info that individuals can belief is extra necessary than ever. And that makes you, and I imply this from the underside of my heart- makes you extra necessary than ever. So tonight, I might prefer to make a toast. To a free press. To an knowledgeable citizenry. To an America the place freedom and democracy endure. God bless America.
Nerd Promenade, live-tweeted by our very own Curtis Houck, embodies every thing that’s incorrect with the media (and Washington, extra broadly) at the moment. On the one hand, the press declare to be free and impartial. On the opposite, you’ve gotten this grotesque spectacle, paying homage to the excesses at Versailles, whereby the media present themselves to be palace courtiers at any time when Democrats are in energy.
And so we come to Biden’s speech. It’s surreal however under no circumstances shocking to look at this president, whose administration has been sued on First Modification grounds and tried to manage free speech through an Orwellian-named “Disinformation Governance Board”, headlining an occasion celebrating the First Modification.
Equally surreal, the concept Biden feels the necessity to direct the protection accorded to him by an already-pliant and sycophantic media. Biden’s utterance of “I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides” has a hoop just like that of “with all due respect” which, when uttered, signifies that somebody is about to get disrespected. Biden’s “I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides rang simply as hole.
Biden took January sixth and used it each as framing system for his closing remarks and because the foundation for which journalists ought to take his aspect. He commanded the media to desert protection of his sagging ballot numbers (“the horse race numbers”) and his gaffes (“the gotcha moments”). It bears noting that the latter ask is bizarre as a result of the media already don’t cowl his many gaffes. Biden instructions the media to desert this stuff and concentrate on “what’s at stake”, which at this level is code for his reelection.
It’s additional galling to listen to Biden speak about “the age of disinformation” after willfully repeating the well-debunked Day One Dictator and Massacre Hoaxes on stage. Predictably, not one of the gushing post-Nerd Promenade protection, principally constant of Sunday present varieties congratulating themselves for making it to set on time, bothers with a truth verify.
Biden’s remarks have been a disgusting spectacle, even by Nerd Promenade’s disgusting spectacle requirements. Removed from defending the First Modification, Biden known as for additional consolidation of the media in his camp- a reasonably ominous risk to free speech and to the free press- even when these in attendance couldn’t assist however clap like seals as they raised their glasses.