Joe Biden recently decided to do an interview with Howard Stern, again choosing a softball interview over a hard-hitting interview with a serious journalist.
Many were shocked to hear that Biden had shown up, but Hillary Clinton had apparently recommended this, and Biden finally took her up on her advice.
Talking Points…
- Hillary and Stern
- Biden interviews with Stern
- Analysis
As the 2020 presidential election season was starting to warm up, Hillary stunned everyone by going on the Howard Stern show for an interview. Stern's audience is not what you would consider the normal stomping grounds of Hillary. Still, Stern had started to dip his toes into the political venue and clearly did not like Trump as a politician (Trump had done Stern numerous times prior to becoming president), so she knew this would be friendly fire and a way to possibly help Biden while poisoning the waters against Trump. As one would expect, Stern did not push back on anything that Hillary said during the interview. For instance, even though Joe Biden once held aid hostage over the head of Ukraine leadership, Hillary accused Trump of trying to bribe Ukrainian officials, stating:
"Let's not mince words -- Trump was trying to bribe the president of Ukraine to take action by announcing the beginning of an investigation on an unfounded theory against his domestic political opponent for his personal and political gain.
"You can't make it up. Who would ever think anybody would do that?"
Among other topics, Hillary also pushed the election interference narrative by the Russians and WikiLeaks, claiming they "really did a job on me." The bottom line is that Hillary knows that Howard is a friendly venue for Democrats. To that point, she reportedly started to push Biden to do an interview with Stern to expand his reach.
Biden sat down with Stern last week when he was in New York City, and the interview went just about as planned. Stern wanted to make Biden more relatable to the public, and he spoon-fed Biden questions to draw empathy from the American people while never pushing back on a single thing that Joe Biden said. Stern even took a victory lap for doing just that after the interview, stating:
"It was just very, very natural and I was moved by the whole conversation … getting an hour with the sitting President of the United States was a great honor."
As it turns out, much of this was put in motion by Hillary Clinton, who assured Biden that Stern would be a very friendly interview. The show's executive producer, Gary Dell'Abate, confirmed that this was all put in motion by Hillary. He stated:
"Believe me, there were a lot of people who were involved in helping this booking from people inferred on all that stuff — but you know who was super helpful on this? Really, really helpful. Hillary Clinton.
"Her people really let Biden's people know this was a good place to be."
The media was already hot with Biden for the lack of interviews, but this information really set them off. Even so, Biden more or less spit in their collective faces about it during the White House Correspondents' Dinner this weekend. Biden told the audience, "I do interviews with strong independent journalists who millions of people actually listen to, like Howard Stern."
Biden thinks he is funny, but the confirmation from the show regarding Hillary letting Biden know that he would not be challenged is going to do even more damage in terms of the public perception of how Biden treats these interviews. Say what you want about Trump, but the man continues to go into hostile waters for interviews, while Joe Biden sits on the beach, moving his chair back every time the tide appears to rise a bit more. It is cowardly, especially when you consider everything that is happening that is impacting this country right now.
