OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
It appears that President Joe Biden’s handlers are going to have a similar hide-and-seek strategy for his current reelection campaign as they utilized in 2020 under the guise of the COVID pandemic.
The president visited Saginaw, Mich., on Thursday to campaign in a state where he desperately needs to defeat former President Donald Trump, when a troubling scene unfolded.
The president said he would take questions from reporters which prompted his team to go into panic mode and ushered the press out of the room before questions could be asked.
The president has his back to members of the press when he could be heard asking someone, “Can I take a couple questions?”
“We’re going to take a few questions,” a woman, apparently with his campaign, said as others in his staff seemed panicked and started rushing towards reporters, repeating, “Thank you, press, back to the cars.”
BIDEN: "Can I take a couple questions?"
His handlers IMMEDIATELY remove the press. pic.twitter.com/nJVb3WNVz3
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 14, 2024
The scene was widely mocked on X, formerly Twitter.
“Who, give me a name, is keeping the President from the press, and why doesn’t the press object strenuously?” Fox News host Laura Ingraham said.
“The moment Biden suggests taking a few questions, his handlers come flying in like Secret Service agents taking a bullet, yelling at the press to get back in their cars,” Red State writer Bonchie said. “What an incredible scene.”
“This is bad. Really bad. They’ve told his staff not to let him open his mouth. Trump would’ve walked out and spoke spontaneously for an hour,” another Red State writer, Buzz Patterson, said.
“Need anyone say more…?” actor Dean Cain, who played Superman, said.
“Feisty, passionate, commander of facts president is told by handlers he isn’t allowed to take questions. Biden could have anyway, but obeys. So if wondering why poll numbers are dropping post SOTU, here’s Exhibit Z since then…,” Fox News contributor Joe Concha said.
Another new survey is good news for Trump, who managed to lock up the 2024 GOP nomination after a series of state primaries on Tuesday, as did Biden after both men faced a dearth of serious competition this election year.
Americans have greater trust in Trump to lead the United States as commander in chief than President Joe Biden, according to a new ABC/Ipsos poll, which found that Trump received 36 percent to Biden’s 33 percent, though 30 percent were undecided.
In addition, Fox News reported, citing the survey’s results, more respondents said they believe Trump would better handle the most important issues facing the country than Biden.
“Specifically, more respondents approved of Trump’s handling of inflation, crime, the southern border crisis, gun violence, and the economy over that of the current administration,” the report said, citing the survey.
Regarding immigration, a pivotal issue leading into 2024, 45 percent of respondents expressed approval of how Trump handled the matter while he was president, whereas only 29 percent supported how Biden is managing the crisis at the southern border.
Just 37 percent of respondents expressed approval of Biden’s handling of the economy, while 49 percent stated they approved of the way Trump managed the issue during his presidency.
Biden won more approval than Trump on just two issues – climate change and abortion.
Meanwhile, younger voters have long been supporters of Democrats, for the most part, but in the age of Biden, that appears to be changing.
In yet another survey, Biden is losing younger voters under 30 to Trump ahead of the 2024 elections.
Fox News published a poll on Sunday that found 51 percent of voters younger than 30 years old plan to vote for Trump in November, while only 45 percent said they intend to support Biden, Newsweek reported, adding that is a sizeable shift from 2020 when Biden easily won the lion’s share of younger voters.
