Joe Biden Takes Idiotic Questions About Masks Looking Weak and Never Apologizing From CNN’s Dana Bash

Former Vice President Joe Biden and the rest of America got a taste of what the remainder of this campaign might look like when he gave his first in-person interview of the lockdown era to CNN’s Dana Bash, and the result was at once infuriating and encouraging.

The most infuriating, yet encouraging, parts of the interview were when Biden was not just asked extremely stupid questions, but was then pressed on those extremely stupid questions. The first of these was related to Trump’s mockery of Biden for wearing a mask in public on Memorial Day.

There are a lot of ways for a journalist to approach this issue, like noting that Trump’s mockery is in contradiction to his own science experts and bluntly asking Biden if he’d like to take a few minutes to tee off on that dumbshittery (the approach I would have taken), or more traditionally, to simply ask for a response to the dumbshit and let Biden tee off on his own.

But Bash went with “He’s trying to belittle you for wearing a mask, making it seem like it’s a sign of weakness. Is it?”

ABC News’ Terry Moran got ratioed back to the stone age over the weekend for similarly posing the question of whether following life-saving scientific guidance is a “good look” or a “bad look” for a president.

Do you think this is a good look for a President of the United States?

Or do you think this is a bad look for a President of the United States? pic.twitter.com/stun8U4QY5

— Terry Moran (@TerryMoran) May 26, 2020

Now, some people might defend this by saying these journalists are just asking the question, maybe acting as stand-ins for a significant portion of their audience, which is, after all, their jobs. I would argue that when a significant portion of the audience wonders something so stupid, it becomes the journalist’s job to educate them, not play along. Imagine Bash had said to Biden “President Trump says that injecting disinfectants could be a promising area of study for the treatment of coronavirus. Is it?”

But let’s put a pin in that.

Because Biden responded, appropriately, by calling Trump a fool and citing the scientific consensus on the masks — a consensus that is shared, once again, by Trump’s own scientists. And, it should be pointed out, by Sean Freaking Hannity. There is no controversy.

This is where the (extremely weak) audience surrogate excuse falls away, because Bash then asked Biden “So do you think wearing a mask projects strength or weakness?”

Biden replied “Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly, and be falsely masculine,” which is fine, but not ideal.

Ideally, VP Biden would find a way to walk the fine line between illustrating the absurdity of the question being asked of him and attacking a reporter — an admittedly tough needle to thread.

But with his million-watt smile and pre-sold reputation for straight talk, Biden could get away with saying “I know you’re trying hard to be fair, but maybe you’re trying a little too hard. That’s an absurd question, and I’m happy to tell your audience that it’s never a sign of weakness to do what scientists say will keep you from killing people. Film at eleven.”

Later in the interview, Bash seemed to suggest that Biden should consider being more like Trump in never apologizing for anything, ever.

Referencing Biden’s remarks on The Breakfast Club last week, and subsequent apology, Bash noted that “President Trump says offensive things, he never apologizes for it,” and asked “Is there a double standard here, and if so, is there a lesson for you in how to compete with him?”

“No, I’m never going to stoop to where he is. I’m not going to do what he does,” Biden said, as part of a lengthy reply in which he also called out Trump’s recent attacks on President Barack Obama as a racial signal to his base.

Obviously, her initial suggestion was too vague, so Bash proceeded to hang a lantern on it by telling Biden “Well, you know, I’m sure you’ve seen, some Democrats have said, Mr. Vice President, stop apologizing. You’re going to say dumb things. Don’t apologize because that’s not world we’re living in.”

“Well, no. When I say something that is understandably, in retrospect, offensive to someone, and legitimately offensive, making it look like I’m taking for granted, I should apologize,” Biden said, then cannily concluded his reply by saying that people know him and his faults, and so “It’s going to be hard… to try to turn something they know to be my strength and my honor into a liability.”

In this case, Biden could hardly have answered the question any better than he did, but that doesn’t make the premise any less absurd — even if unnamed “some Democrats” have allegedly posited it. There used to be universal agreement in this country that the ability to admit fault is a fundamentally decent trait.

This is not a knock on Bash specifically. As the Terry Moran tweet shows, as any number of Mediaite articles show on a daily basis, this sort of thinking is rampant in the political media. If this is a sign of things to come, we can expect an escalating series of absurd exchanges like this as the campaign progresses.

“President Trump wonders if he should take insulin even thought he doesn’t have diabetes, is that something you’re considering?”

“President Trump is getting a lot of attention by falsely accusing Joe Scarborough of murder, is there anything you’d like to tell us about Donnie Deutsch?”

“President Trump won’t release his tax returns, why are you such a sucker?”

So far, Biden is handling these questions well, but journalists need to do better, and Biden should work on figuring out a way to make them pay a price for this normalization of idiocy and immorality. For America.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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