At a Monday White House press conference, White House press secretary Jen Psaki made the Biden administration’s intention to continue moving on from Trump abundantly clear. The Biden White House’s attention to substantive policy issues above petty political squabbles definitely marks a significant break from the era of the Trump administration, when then-President Trump repeatedly spent his time obsessively melting down on Twitter over his political opponents. Often, like in the weeks and months following the recent presidential election as the COVID-19 crisis raged, Trump seemed far more interested in watching television and raging on Twitter than working through the process of governing — but the Biden team is taking the opposite approach.
At a Monday press conference, a journalist posed the following question:
‘As you know, President Trump has been barred from a lot of social media sites. I was curious whether you think his absence has made your job any easier or the White House’s job any easier as it kind of goes forward on these COVID negotiations.’
Psaki replied as follows:
‘This may be hard to believe — we don’t spend a lot of time talking about or thinking about President Trump here — former President Trump, to be very clear. I think that’s a question that’s probably more appropriate for Republican members who are looking for ways to support a bipartisan package and whether that gives them space, but I can’t say we miss him on Twitter.’
Check out her comments below:
In response to a bizarre line of questioning about Twitter banning Trump’s Twitter account, Psaki says “I can’t say we miss him on Twitter.” pic.twitter.com/KLl4H1LhJA
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 1, 2021
At another point in the press conference, Psaki quipped about her repeated pledge to “circle back” to journalists about particular topics. Towards the conclusion of her opening remarks on Monday, she commented as follows:
‘I often note I’m going to circle back — I hate to disappoint conservative Twitter, but I am going to circle back on a number of things as we often do directly.’
Check out her comments below:
Jen Psaki circles back: ‘I often note, ‘I’m going to circle back’ — I hate to disappoint conservative Twitter, but I’m going to circle back on a number of things’ pic.twitter.com/g0TkKowqaX
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 1, 2021
Meanwhile, at another point, another journalist asked about a meeting that Biden had this week with Republican Senators who have proposed a new COVID-19 relief package. As the journalist put it:
‘There are Democrats who see that the first meeting the president is having face-to-face with lawmakers is with Republicans and not Democrats. Why is the White House doing that?’
Subsequently, Psaki asked if there were any “specific Democrats” that the journalist wanted to “call out,” and they replied in the negative. Psaki and the Biden administration as a whole again did not seem interested in engaging in political squabbles.
Watch below:
Psaki calls out a reporter for asking a "many people are saying" question he can't back up pic.twitter.com/OyweIQiVwB
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 1, 2021
