As he closed his remarks to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, also known as Nerd Prom, President Joe Biden directed the media to lean further in his direction in covering the 2024 presidential election.
Watch as Biden closes his remarks by issuing the “what’s at stake” clarion call:
JOE BIDEN: On the third anniversary of January 6th, I went to Valley Forge and I said the most urgent question of our time is whether democracy is still- is still the sacred cause of America. That is the question the American people must answer this year. And you, the free press, play a critical role in making sure the American people have the information they need to make an informed decision. The defeated former president has made no secret of his attack on our democracy. He said he wants to be a dictator on Day One. And so much more. He tells supporters he is their revenge and retribution. When in God’s name have you ever heard of another president say something like that? And he promised a bloodbath when he loses again. We have to take this seriously. Eight years ago. It could have written off as just Trump talk. But no longer. Not after January 6th. I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides, but asking to rise up to the seriousness of the moment. Move past the horse race numbers. The gotcha moments. And the distraction, the sideshows that’ve come to dominate and sensationalize- sensationalize our politics. And focus on what’s actually at stake. I think in your hearts, you know already what’s at stake. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Every single one of us has roles to play- a serious role to play in making sure democracy endures. American democracy. I have mo- my role, but with all due respect, so do you. In the age of disinformation, credible information that people can trust is more important than ever. And that makes you, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart- makes you more important than ever. So tonight, I’d like to make a toast. To a free press. To an informed citizenry. To an America where freedom and democracy endure. God bless America.
Nerd Prom, live-tweeted by our very own Curtis Houck, embodies everything that is wrong with the media (and Washington, more broadly) today. On the one hand, the press claim to be free and independent. On the other, you have this grotesque spectacle, reminiscent of the excesses at Versailles, wherein the media show themselves to be palace courtiers whenever Democrats are in power.
And so we come to Biden’s speech. It is surreal but not at all surprising to watch this president, whose administration has been sued on First Amendment grounds and tried to control free speech via an Orwellian-named “Disinformation Governance Board”, headlining an event celebrating the First Amendment.
Equally surreal, the idea that Biden feels the need to direct the coverage accorded to him by an already-pliant and sycophantic media. Biden’s utterance of “I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides” has a ring similar to that of “with all due respect” which, when uttered, means that someone is about to get disrespected. Biden’s “I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides rang just as hollow.
Biden took January 6th and used it both as framing device for his closing remarks and as the basis for which journalists should take his side. He commanded the media to abandon coverage of his sagging poll numbers (“the horse race numbers”) and his gaffes (“the gotcha moments”). It bears noting that the latter ask is weird because the media already don’t cover his many gaffes. Biden commands the media to abandon these things and focus on “what’s at stake”, which at this point is code for his reelection.
It is further galling to hear Biden talk about “the age of disinformation” after willfully repeating the well-debunked Day One Dictator and Bloodbath Hoaxes on stage. Predictably, none of the gushing post-Nerd Prom coverage, mostly consistent of Sunday show types congratulating themselves for making it to set on time, bothers with a fact check.
Biden’s remarks were a disgusting spectacle, even by Nerd Prom’s disgusting spectacle standards. Far from defending the First Amendment, Biden called for further consolidation of the media in his camp- a rather ominous threat to free speech and to the free press- even if those in attendance couldn’t help but clap like seals as they raised their glasses.