Biden Aides Absolutely Trash Karine Jean-Pierre — Proving Her Point of a ‘Broken’ Biden White House

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

In a remarkable instance of career suicide, former Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced that in a forthcoming book, she will be torching her own White House as “broken” while also announcing that she is officially leaving the Democratic Party.

Predictably, her former colleagues are absolutely fuming and have quickly begun airing the dirtiest of laundry. A Politico report on Wednesday started the backstab-fest, with a series of unnamed sources attacking her book as a “grift.”

“She made a joke about being an independent last year, and now it’s a book. All ideas are monetary — even the dumb ones,” one former official told Politico.

Alex Thompson of Axios, who remains remarkably well-sourced in Biden-world even in the wake of his bombshell book on the former president’s decline, obtained the most vicious digs at Jean-Pierre’s competence and ability. Thompson reported Thursday:

“She didn’t know how to manage a team, didn’t know how to shape or deliver a message, and often created more problems than she solved,” the official said.

A former Biden communications official threw more wood on the fire: “The hubris of thinking you can position yourself as an outsider when you not only have enjoyed the perks of extreme proximity to power — which … bestows the name recognition needed to sell books off your name — but have actively wielded it from the biggest pulpit there is, is as breathtaking as it is desperate … It’s difficult to see how this is anything but a bizarre cash grab.”

Another former White House official familiar with the dynamics told Axios: “The amount of time that was spent coddling [Jean-Pierre] and appeasing her was astronomical compared to our attention on actual matters of substance.”

Now, none of this should come as a surprise to anyone who watched Jean-Pierre’s poor performance at the podium.

She had enormous shoes to fill, having replaced elite-level press secretary Jen Psaki, but still fell far short of the standard expectations. She relied on her notebook and prepared statements, struggled to answer simple questions, and was generally evasive.

It was clear that, despite the no-win environment she inherited, Jean-Pierre was not nearly as skillful a communicator as Psaki or the press secretaries that came before her. Yes, that includes Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who, despite a shameful record of outright lying to the American people, managed to answer a few questions.

Those close to the Biden administration would openly say that Jean-Pierre did not enjoy the sort of access to President Joe Biden that Psaki did. That was by design. The White House clearly knew her limitations, tried to work around them, and shield her flaws from public view as best they could. Sound familiar?

It’s not a surprise that following the disastrous end of the Biden administration, which led to the re-election of Trump (despite dire warnings that such a result would end American democracy as we know it), knives would come out. And boy, have they. White House staffers have been relentless in their criticism of the former press secretary.

However much those former Biden staffers might try to undermine her intellect and ability, the very fact that they’re lashing out proves that Jean-Pierre did get at least one thing right: something is “broken” in the Democratic Party. The dysfunction now on display doesn’t make anyone involved look particularly good.

And that all starts with a man who’s taken a PR flogging over the last couple of weeks, but deservedly so: President Joe Biden. The president clearly valued Jean-Pierre and kept her in her role despite numerous reports that she wasn’t necessarily up to the job. He praised her historic role as both the first person of color and LGBTQ+ Press Secretary, which, to be sure, is a notable moment in American history.

But if the president, or at least his top allies, knew Jean-Pierre was overmatched in the briefing room, they ended up handing conservative naysayers a gift in their argument that identity politics should not be held as more valuable than competence. Jean-Pierre’s implosion is perfect evidence to make that oftentimes ugly and disingenuous point.

And that’s squarely on Biden and his team — the very same team that’s now going after their disgruntled foot soldier. But as they point fingers at Karine Jean-Pierre, a little bit of self-reflection would be helpful here. Because, as the last several weeks of the Original Sin book tour made painfully clear, they were the problem, not their Press Secretary.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.