DAVID MARCUS: Mr. President, wipe that grin off your face. America wants answers

The way President Joe Biden blithely smirks and laughs in the faces of America’s reporters you might think that he doesn’t respect them. But no, that can’t be the case.

His is the White House that spoke – on day one of the administration – of a, ‘deep respect for the role of a free and independent press in our democracy.’

Well Joe, I think you’d call that malarkey.

On Tuesday, as Biden sat in the Oval Office next to the Dutch Prime Minister reporters peppered him with questions about his classified document scandal, and as always, the smirker-in-chief pressed his lips together, shrugged to his foreign visitor and chuckled as if these journalists were just pesky children.

This is a habit for him – insulting the American media in front of foreign leaders.

‘I wouldn’t bother answering,’ he was caught on hot mic telling the president of the Philippines in September.

When British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the White House last year, he took questions. Biden just sat there, as he does, arms folded, hands clasped or on his chin.

‘They’re among the only press in the world that does this. Seriously. Seriously,’ he jovially told guests in October.

No, they’re not… seriously.

Biden wants America to see journalists a joke. They’re no threat to him – he’ll just have his staff escort them from the room.

Cynically, he’s on to something. Unfortunately, and not totally undeservedly, the media in America is about as trusted as a used car salesman with a face tattoo.

But Biden’s act is just a thin veil. The truth is the reporters get to him because he can’t take the heat. He’s scared to open his mouth.

When he tried ad-libbing an answer about his mishandling of America’s secrets by storing them in his garage, he made it worse.

‘By the way, my Corvette’s in a locked garage, OK? So it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,’ he said.

You can imagine his staff slapping their palms over their faces. And there’s something else – Biden’s skin is about as thick as cigarette rolling paper.

Remember this is the guy who desperately grasped at Obama’s shoulder, begging for attention, when everyone else crowded around the former president. He used to frequently snap at the press and more often than not refers to them with a disdainful, ‘you people…’

A year ago, on another hot mic, Biden was caught calling Fox News’ Peter Doocy, ‘a stupid son of a bitch,’ and he has called NBC News’ Kelly O’Donnell a ‘pain in the neck.’

In October, pressed about his lack of campaign trail appearances and the implication that down ballot candidates didn’t want to appear with him he whined, ‘That’s not true, there have been 15 of them, count, kid, count,’ at a female reporter.

When asked what limits he would place on abortion, instead of giving a coherent answer he just stammered, ‘It’s Roe v Wade. Read it, man, you’ll get educated.’

What a jerk.

For as long as TV cameras have existed presidents have had playful, snippy, even contentious repartee with those covering them.

We all recall Donald Trump being pilloried for calling the media ‘the enemy of the American people,’ but at least he took their questions. So why does cranky Grandpa Joe get a pass for his derisive approach to the men and women tasked with keeping the American people informed?

Trump’s ire was generally directed at the news media as an institution, not at individual reporters on a personal level, in fact he appears to be on weirdly good terms with some of his harshest critics such as the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi.

When Biden claps back at those pressing him it’s not about the institution of journalism, but rather outrage that these petulant practitioners of the Q and A have the nerve to even question him at all.

He’s mean-spirited. Nasty.

By Biden’s way of thinking any question that challenges him, and let’s be honest, aside from Doocy they are few and far between, must either be the result of a reporter acting in bad faith or just being stupid.

This is a very dangerous attitude for the most powerful man in the country to have. It may give some insight into why on almost every issue from the border, to the economy, to energy policy, and all the rest his administration never pivots, never adjusts to facts on the ground.

This attitude of cavalier disdain has never been more galling than it is right now as Biden faces legitimate questions about the most serious scandal of his career. His lawyers have all but admitted he broke the law, but Joe thinks these young whippersnapping reporters should just keep quiet as a special counsel works out what happened in some dark corner of the Department of Justice.

Well, that ain’t how it works, man. In fact, if CBS News hadn’t broken the classified documents story Biden would have been happy to keep Americans completely in the dark about it as he had been doing for weeks.

Now reporters who in the past have meekly borne the brunt of Biden’s malice only to continue their favorable coverage have been visibly and audibly frustrated at being lied to since this scandal began.

On Friday Biden sent his hapless press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to the briefing room to pass on inaccurate and incomplete information about how many documents had been found. She admits now that the White House didn’t even bother to update her, she didn’t know the facts.

Biden can’t sit out this classified document scandal in his basement as he did with the 2020 presidential election. Covid can’t protect him from vigorous questions this time around.

The people deserve better than Biden’s snide and sniveling antics with the press. They deserve a president who understands he isn’t an infallible Pope, but a politician with a responsibility to answer tough questions.

Grow a spine Mr. President, Americans want answers.

And for God’s sake, wipe that self-satisfied grin off your face.