White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre may need some advice from her own book, written four years ago, as her boss Joe Biden’s re-election prospects plummet after a disastrous debate.
Biden insiders continue to insist the president, 81, will continue his fight against Donald Trump despite the massive fallout from his disastrous first debate just five days ago.
Jean-Pierre, who has been in office since May 2022 after replacing Jen Psaki, is a veteran who has worked for several Democratic politicians in the past.
She has so much experience with campaigns that in 2020, before Biden was elected to his first term, she published a memoir titled “Moving Forward.”
The book received a mild resurgence on social media this week, for reasons she may later regret: a clip she used to promote the book, titled “What It’s Like to Work for a Doomed Presidential Candidate.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre may be seeking advice from herself four years ago as her boss Joe Biden’s campaign continues to crumble
Jean-Pierre has so much experience in Democratic politics that in 2020, before Biden was elected to his first term, she published a memoir titled ‘Moving Forward’
The Salon fragment was published on February 17, 2020, before Biden had secured the nomination, between Jean-Pierre’s stints as chief of staff for the failed campaign of now-Vice President Kamala Harris and her work with the ultimately victorious Biden.
“There is nothing more discouraging than working on a dying campaign. The atmosphere is like that of one of those sad birthday balloons where the air slowly seeps out as it deflates,” she writes.
Jean-Pierre recounted her experiences working for two of the most discredited men in the history of the Democratic Party: Philanderer, former North Carolina senator and failed presidential candidate John Edwards, and former New York congressman and convicted sex offender Anthony Weiner.
Weiner’s name has been in the news for years, after he became embroiled in a number of high-profile scandals that derailed his political ambitions and sent him to prison.
The congressman was caught sending explicit photos to various women on multiple occasions, even during his political campaigns.
However, he failed to learn from his mistakes and was later sentenced to 21 months in prison after he began sending sexting messages to a 15-year-old girl.
Jean-Pierre served as Weiner’s spokesman when he considered running for mayor of New York City in 2009.
She calls Weiner “one of the most talented politicians I’ve ever encountered,” but as many have discovered, he is incapable of controlling himself.
Jean-Pierre spoke about her experiences working for two of the most notorious men in Democratic Party history: Philanderer, former North Carolina senator and failed presidential candidate John Edwards (pictured), and former New York congressman and convicted sex offender Anthony Weiner.
Weiner’s name has remained in the news in recent years after he became embroiled in a number of high-profile scandals that derailed his political ambitions and sent him to prison
Jean-Pierre “was not disappointed by my association with Weiner” and quickly went to work for Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign.
However, she claims it has taught her not to be easily impressed by her bosses and that when it comes to politics, she should “believe in the mission, not the messenger.”
Before working for the man infamously known as “Carlos Danger,” she took her first steps with Edwards, whose campaign foundered in one of the Democratic Party’s biggest political scandals of the 2000s.
Edwards — who Jean-Pierre once described as “Bill Clinton without the baggage” — ran as John Kerry’s running mate in 2004 and was a rising star in the party. He ultimately lost to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
In 2008, he ran for the Democratic nomination for president, running against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
He withdrew from the race after The National Enquirer exposed his affair with a campaign worker while his wife, Elizabeth, was battling cancer. Seven months after Elizabeth’s death, Edwards was charged with campaign finance violations.
It was alleged that he funneled nearly $1 million in donations from wealthy socialite Bunny Mellon to his mistress Rielle Hunter, with whom he had a child.
But after a six-week trial in North Carolina, a jury failed to reach a decision on five of the six charges against him. They acquitted him on the sixth count, and a year later the federal prosecutors who had so zealously pursued him agreed to drop the case.
Jean-Pierre ‘was not disappointed by my association with Weiner’ and quickly went to work for Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign
Before working for the man infamously known as “Carlos Danger,” she sank her teeth into Edwards, whose campaign imploded in one of the biggest Democratic political scandals of the 2000s.
Edwards has largely stayed out of the public eye since his May 2012 acquittal on a charge of campaign finance fraud.
A federal judge has thrown out five other criminal cases after jurors could not agree on whether Edwards illegally used campaign money to hide his pregnant mistress when he ran for president in 2008.
Contrary to the Weiner affair, Jean-Pierre said, “Of all the career decisions I’ve made, the one I regret most is choosing to run for John Edwards instead of Barack Obama in 2007.”
She said that when Edwards finished third in South Carolina in 2008, behind Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, “I couldn’t get out of town fast enough.”
Jean-Pierre reiterates her message that she should believe in Edwards’ agenda (which she says she still does on most issues) and not in the candidate himself.
“You, the volunteer or employee, should believe more in the politician’s mission, his or her goal to change society, than in the politician himself,” she concluded.
These aren’t even Jean-Pierre’s only experiences working for a hopeless presidential candidate. She was deputy campaign manager for Martin O’Malley’s third-place race in 2016.
Jean-Pierre was forced to give her own explanation for the president’s poor performance during the debates from the White House podium on Tuesday.
Jean-Pierre was forced to issue her own statement from the White House podium on Tuesday about the president’s poor performance during the debate.
The tense discussions highlight how the issue of a declining president will overshadow the rest of this year’s election, as nervous Democrats begin to openly call for Biden to resign.
“We are not taking anything away from what you all saw or what the American people saw,” said Karine Jean-Pierre.
“We understand it was a bad night. It’s not uncommon for incumbent politicians to have a bad night during their first debate, and we’re going to continue the work we’ve been doing for the American people.”
Her answers were met with disbelief in the White House press room. She explained that the president was simply nursing a cold and had no intention of stepping aside.
The poor performance has dominated headlines ever since, sending Democratic donors into a frenzy that his campaign is headed for disaster.
Questions in the press room about where Biden will be at the end of his second term and about dementia don’t help.
Jean-Pierre did her best to draw a line under the debate.
She painted a picture of a busy president who is hard at work. Later in the week, he will travel to Wisconsin, where he will interview ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos and hold his own press conference next week when NATO leaders are in town.
She also confirmed that he held a virtual meeting with Democratic governors, but would not answer questions about whether it was intended to provide reassurances.