Biden’s First Press Conference

Biden’s first press conference was his first since taking office. He highlighted the pandemic response, infrastructure, and the crisis at the border. Dr. Rossi, Ph.D. Did he deflect on some issue, Dr. Rossi thought so.

President Biden took longer to hold his first press conference than any other modern day president. But on the 49th day he spoke. What did he says, how did he say it, and did it resonate with anyone?

There are many big topics of the day, and were raised during the press conference. Among these, are the COVIF19 pandemic, the vaccination schedule, the rising crisis at the southern border, 2 mass shootings, and missile launches by North Korea. You can view the full video here.

At the start of the pres conference, before questions would be taken, President Biden took a few moments to update the Amrican people on recent achievements, consisting of, but not limited to:

  • To vaccinate 100 million people within first 100 days; they achieved it on day 58.   New 100-day goal is 200M
  • To fully open K-8 in the first 100 days (around 50% are currently now open, and he predicts they will met the full goal)
  • 100 million payments of $1,400 releif checks sent. The balance to be sent soon.
  • Reduce unemployment (weekly filings fell below 100,000 for the first time since pre-pandemic)

Immigration, cliamte change, and gun control were among the thnings included in the very first question from the AP, and how he planned to keep those promises amid GOP pushback on those issues.

In a blanced response, President Biden noted that the first and highest priority was to get the pandemic under control, and it is where most of his attention has been.

The President noted, “I’ve been hired to solve problems, not create division.”

He noted discussed immigration. That during the winter months see a surge each year. When it was suggested that immigrants are now coming ‘because Biden is a ‘nice, moral man’.

“I’m flattered that people think Biden’s a nice guy, but that is not while they’re coming. We’ve seen an uptick of 23%. But in the last last year of the Trump administration, there was a 31% uptick.” Biden said.

He went on to explain that many programs put in place to deal with processing and handling immigration surges were dismantled under Trump, and it is being reconstructed. “We’re rebuilding, but it will take time.” Moreover, he addressed who is crossing, who is being sent back to Mexico, and who is not being sent back. And, how they’re ramped up expediting the process from days/ weeks to 24 hours in dealing with kids.

The fillibuster was an early topic. In short, Biden expressed strong support for returning to the previous use of how the fillibuster worked.

Biden’s First Press Conference

“I’m a practical guy. I want to get things done.”

The responses to Biden’s first press conference came fast and furious. President Trump appeared via phone on Laura Ingagrams’s show, and in his first sentence was factually inaccurate several times. That isn’t partisan, it is just fact.

But the conservatives attacked the scandal of Biden’s remarks.

Chuck Todd provided his own reporting on the press conference. His takeaway was that the Biden administration had one piece of news of present: the progress against COVID19, and they made it.

To that point, however, I’d note that while there was pushback on him sidestepping other issues, he did go into detail on some other issues. As noted above, he did go into some depth regarding immigration. He corrected misconceptions of immigration numbers, and certain steps being taken.

Conservatives seemed to project this idea that he was incoherent, an idea they’ve long pushed since he became a candidate. Personally, speaking for me, not Dr. Rossi., I didn’t see it.

Tucker Carlson said he didn’t know he had a press conference coming up the day before. He showed edited clips to give the impression that Biden was not aware of what he was saying. He criticized the President for using notes. He attacked Biden’s pushback of new GOP pushed voter laws.

You can watch the full conferences, and then watch Carlson’s rebuke and make up your own mind.

IN THIS EPISODE

Dr. Rossi addressed his thought on how he thought the press conference came off. What he thought went well, and where he thought it was lacking. In summary, Dr. Rossi noted that “he needs to have a plan and get it done,” and cited a quote by Earnest Hemmingway:

“Never confuse movement with action”  

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