Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Biden’s mask has slipped

It was, in a way, a refreshing moment of mental alacrity from President Joe Biden. Asked if he thought inflation was a ‘political liability’, the Commander-in-Chief, the man who has apparently brought dignity back to the Oval Office, replied: ‘No. It’s a great asset. More inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.’

In his sarcasm — we hope it was that; we can’t be 100 per cent — the President at least acknowledged that inflation was a genuine worry. His administration had spent months dismissing the issue as merely a ‘transient’ concern.

All things are transient, I suppose. Take Joe Biden’s much-lauded decency; that quality which apparently most distinguished him from Donald Trump. This is the man, remember, who came to office telling his staff: ‘I’m not joking when I say this: If you’re ever working with me and I hear you treat another with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot… On the spot. No ifs, ands, or buts.’

Biden’s ego is very sensitive to slights — more so, perhaps, than even the notoriously thin-skinned Donald Trump

In that case, he probably needs to fire himself after yesterday’s outburst. But he won’t. Because for all the blather about his integrity, Biden isn’t really a great guy.

Let’s not be too prim ourselves. Nobody really cares about swears these days and Biden apparently rang the Fox reporter last night to say ‘It’s nothing personal’. But Biden can’t have his decorum cake and eat it, too. It is once again worth trying to imagine what might have happened if Trump had uttered such a phrase towards a journalist. CNN would have made it a lead news item for a week. Pundits would have said that he was ‘threatening‘ journalists, endangering free speech and so on.

People in Washington do like Joe, it’s true.

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