Biden’s Blowups at Staff Call Attention to His Day 1 Promise to Fire Appointees For Treating Staff Poorly ‘On the Spot’

A Monday morning Axios report about President Joe Biden’s mistreatment of staff is calling attention to a promise Biden made on his inauguration day two and a half years ago.

On the same day he moved into the White House, Biden told political appointees at a mass swearing-in ceremony that everyone in the incoming administration was “entitled to be treated with decency and dignity,” and lamented that “that’s been missing in a big way the last four years.”

“I’m not joking when I say this: If you’re ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot,” he told his new employees at the time before adding “on the spot, no ifs or buts.”

Axios characterized the speech as a reinforcement of “his vision of unity and equity for the U.S..”

But Axios’s own Alex Thompson has revealed that Biden has taken a “do as I say, not as I do” approach to promoting decency in his administration..

“Behind closed doors, Biden has such a quick-trigger temper that some aides try to avoid meeting alone with him. Some take a colleague, almost as a shield against a solo blast,” reported Thompson, who noted that Biden has screamed “God damnit, how the fuck don’t you know this?!,” Don’t fucking bullshit me!,” and “Get the fuck out of here” at staff who have displeased him.

One former Biden campaign and Senate aide, Jeff Connaughton, has characterized the president as “an egomaniacal autocrat… determined to manage his staff through fear.”

On Twitter, numerous observers took notice of the juxtaposition between Biden’s expectations for his underlings and his own behavior:

How it started vs how it’s going: pic.twitter.com/hLZ5iQJQ7b

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 10, 2023

Joe Biden, January 2020: ‘If you ever work with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I will fire you on the spot. No ifs, ands or buts.’ Joe Biden today: https://t.co/UrerFORZ6h https://t.co/ogW8wgeBXb

— Byron York (@ByronYork) July 10, 2023

The new reporting around Biden’s private comportment comes at the same time as some in the press have begun to raise questions about his failure to acknowledge one of his seven grandchildren, a four-year-old daughter of Hunter Biden who neither he, nor his son has ever met.

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