All right.
We know that President Biden
likes to cultivate his public image
as kindly Uncle Joe
he's often referred to.
But apparently behind the scenes
I'm talking about in private,
he reportedly has a bit of a temper
and unleashes it on his staff.
That's according to an article by Axios.
Alex Thompson is
the national political reporter
and he joins me now.
Alex, I'm glad that you're here.
We've been on Sirius XM together.
We can't swear here right now on cable.
But let me ask
you may or may not have read this
and full to fully understand
what exactly
President Biden is being accused of doing
or how he's behaving.
Break it down for me.
Yes.
So, you know, in public,
maybe he'll whisper a bit
when he's trying to make a point.
But behind closed
doors, he's prone to yelling.
It's much saltier language.
And he'll really angrily grill
into his staff
to the point that some staffers
are actually a bit
afraid to meet alone with the president.
Really, sometimes
they'll bring in an extra person
or two in order
so that the firing line is a little bit
distributed among several
different staffers.
This runs
really counter
to the image that most people,
I think would have of President Biden.
How are we knowing this?
I mean, how do you get the reporting
who is who's complaining about this
as current
former staff who both current former
and by foreign former
White House staff,
current White House
and administrations staff.
Plus, you even have people going back.
You know, we had a headline today.
We call it Old Yeller.
But I can confirm to you
that Joe Biden was a young yeller to
and so we even talked to staff
that went back to the early 2000.
And the fact is that, you know,
this is a guy
that has been professionally staffed
for more than half of his life
and he's had a long life.
So it's been over 50 years
where he's had people staffing him.
And as a result, there's
a generational difference, too.
You know,
he's really, really tough on staff.
And he had that as he calls,
you know, get his Irish up here.
He had that Irish temper
in a really land of people.
And in some cases,
you know, make them feel humiliated,
make them feel embarrassed
and really feel like
and truly be cussed out.
Many might be surprised by it
because you might recall
when he spoke about respect and dignity
and a dad,
if you're working with him,
if you act in that way, you get fired.
Well, listen to what he had to say.
I'm not joking when I say this.
If you ever work 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.
On the spot.
No ifs, ands or buts.
Everybody
everybody is entitled to be treated
with decency and dignity.
That's been missing in a big way
the last four years.
So you hear that.
And then there is the moment
when he was calling a Fox reporter
a stupid S.O.B..
Not my not my words.
You know what? Let me play it.
You know, it's not Laura Coach's words.
Listen to this.
Why do you take questions on inflation?
Then let's move on. Thank you.
Thank you.
Everything in place is a political
liability ahead of the midterms.
That's a great asset.
More inflation
or a stupid
Okay.
So there has been different sides
we have certainly seen.
Why are we just hearing this now
that if we're talking
about this reputation
or the idea of more than 50 years
worth of staffing,
it's just been known
throughout Washington
and it's just not been covered
or this is something that's now
become an issue.
So there's a few different pieces
to this One
is that Joe Biden,
because he's been in the public life
for 50 years,
he knows the difference
between a public persona
and a private persona.
And he's a very you know,
he didn't become president by accident.
I mean, that requires
a level of public persona, skill
that sometimes is different
than your private persona in this case.
Why it's so interesting
is that his public persona
leans so much on him
being civil and his civility.
And that clip
you just showed about the standard
he was setting for his White House,
I can tell you some former administration
aides don't think that he's lived up
even to his own standard.
Now, the other thing
I would point out to point out as well
is that a lot of,
you know,
Biden does have a side of him
that is incredibly generous,
that is incredibly compassionate.
It's why,
despite being a really tough boss,
he has had this very similar
same inner core of advisers for
sometimes going back several decades.
You know, they go
they realize what they've gone into
and they can sort of go
with the highs and lows.
And I think that's part of the reason
why he's
actually had a relatively stable staff.
So it's a little bit public persona
for his private persona.
And also the fact that he does
actually have
that compassionate, generous side.
I mean, the political cynic in me wonders
if this now makes them
more attractive to voters
in the sense of a way
from the way he's
being perceived
by some as sort of the friendly
uncle, friendly Uncle Joe and
how he's been talked
about pejoratively
by Donald Trump
to the
where the firebrand mentality of things.
How has the White House received this?
They must be thrilled
by your reporting Right.
I wouldn't say they were thrilled.
I would say
there were a few advisers
in the White House
that I think
part of the reason
they may have talked to me
is because
they thought it wouldn't necessarily
be the worst thing in the world
if this side of him got out a little bit.
I was wondering
exactly I mean,
I think some people were like,
you think he's senile?
Let me tell you,
you know, sort of that thing.
Like, I just
I just got cussed out
behind closed doors for, you know,
ten, 15 minutes for messing up
this little small thing in a briefing.
You know, that being
said, when I went to the White House,
it was really interesting
because this White House has come
seems very tough.
They really defend their people.
You know,
even, Ashleigh,
you know, like a little comma out of line
they really go after.
In this case, it was like,
yeah, a lot of this stuff happens.
Let's give you a little bit more context.
It was a little bit of out of character
where sometimes they really go to the mat
and it's like, yeah,
this is who he is
sometimes behind closed doors.
Alex Thompson,
thank you for your reporting.
Really interesting. Thank you so much.