George Stephanopoulos gets blunt after Biden interview: ‘I don’t think he can serve four more years’

Editor’s Word: A model of this text first appeared within the “Dependable Sources” publication. Join the day by day digest chronicling the evolving media panorama right here.

New York
CNN
 — 

George Stephanopoulos, sporting a T-shirt, shorts, and over-the-ear headphones, was traversing the New York Metropolis streets by foot on Tuesday when he was approached by a stranger who requested for his ideas on President Joe Biden’s health for workplace.

“I don’t assume he can serve 4 extra years,” candidly replied the ABC Information anchor, who had simply sat down with Biden a number of days earlier for his first on-camera tv interview following the CNN presidential debate.

The blunt comment from Stephanopoulos — video of which made its means to TMZ — served as the most recent instance of the information media turning on Biden, expressing sturdy considerations about whether or not he has the fortitude to defeat Donald Trump in November after which serve an extra time period in workplace.

On Tuesday night time, Stephanopoulos expressed remorse for his frank comment, saying by way of a spokesperson, “Earlier right now I responded to a query from a passerby. I shouldn’t have.” (Notably, Stephanopoulos didn’t withdraw the perspective he articulated, however merely stated he shouldn’t have expressed it.) ABC Information individually stated that Stephanopoulos “expressed his personal viewpoint and never the place of ABC Information.” Regardless, any injury inflicted by the remark was already accomplished.

It goes with out saying that Stephanopoulos is much from alone amongst his friends within the information media in sharing that opinion. Whether or not truthful or unfair (and I do imagine you may argue among the protection over the previous two weeks has been excessive and irresponsible), the fact is that Biden has, at this juncture, misplaced a lot of the press corps. Many journalists merely don’t purchase the narrative that Biden, his marketing campaign, and the White Home are promoting.

“To Serve His Nation, President Biden Ought to Go away the Race,” The New York Occasions editorial board titled a scathing piece final week as a number of different distinguished figures referred to as for him to step apart.

That lack of belief poses a big problem for Biden as he tries to persuade the American public that he’s up for the troublesome job earlier than him. Each transfer Biden makes, each sentence he utters, has now fallen beneath a microscope, by no means a very good signal for a politician. Worse for Biden, he’s now not being given the good thing about the doubt. Actually, simply the other.

The president stated this week that he doesn’t care about what “the elites” take into consideration his candidacy. However, given his a long time in politics, he absolutely is aware of that alienating and going to struggle with the information media shouldn’t be a profitable technique. Whether or not he likes it or not, how the information media covers his marketing campaign influences how hundreds of thousands of Individuals view his health for workplace. And given how shut the 2024 race already was earlier than the CNN debate, the current protection battering Biden’s marketing campaign poses a grave menace to its livelihood.

How Biden would possibly handle to drag himself out of this media storm threatening to devour his candidacy stays to be seen. Can he? To this point, the steps Biden has taken to win again belief have did not ship the specified end result. The Stephanopoulos interview is the right instance of that. As an alternative of serving to him transfer ahead, granting the interview has successfully backfired, with Biden failing to even persuade Stephanopoulos together with his message.

The truth that the president couldn’t persuade the interviewer his marketing campaign hand-picked for his first post-debate sit-down of his skill to steer the nation for the subsequent 4 years doesn’t bode nicely for his marketing campaign.