I think there's a consensus that the media generously missed and ungenerously covered up, Joe Biden's frailty. I think cover up is such a loaded phrase. People use that term as they relate to Watergate, or the covering up of not [00:00:16] sharing public information about a war. And I'm not accusing anybody of a crime. I understand, but other people have used that term, and - I think it's a bit of a dangerous term. - Or it's dead on. Last week, former white House press secretary Jen Psaki objected to the word cover up. [00:00:33] You might imagine she would when it comes to the media's coverage of Joe Biden's mental decline, or lack thereof. In just a minute, we will play a clip of Psaki insisting that she did not know about what was going on with Biden. [00:00:48] I think I know the answer, but I'll ask the question anyway. - Should we believe her? - So here's the thing, Sharon. Folks put us in a difficult position, right? So I don't want to say that Jen Psaki is a liar because it's awkward. [00:01:03] It's uncomfortable. She's a human being and she's going to, you know, get hurt over that and etc.. Right. But they put us in an untenable position. What do you want me to say? Like, really, you guys, none of you saw it in your day to day interactions with Joe Biden when we saw it here from the outside, like when he shook hands [00:01:23] with an invisible person on stage. Jen, did you ask anyone, hey, was there anyone there? And I just didn't see them on tape. What was going on? Or did you think, yeah, the president's obviously in mental decline. Let's go. Lie. Okay. When he couldn't. [00:01:39] You're telling me the first time you noticed that he couldn't finish his sentences were during the debate. How come? We played a thousand tapes here on the Young Turks because we actually wanted a strong candidate against Trump. We actually thought democracy was on the line, and we were right. But Jen thought that protecting her boss and her own job [00:01:58] and her own prestige and reputation was way more important than democracy. Way more important. Are you really telling me that you never saw Biden have a verbal gaffe behind the scenes, as we saw him have a million verbal, not gaffes? [00:02:13] Like literally can't finish a sentence. We don't know what he's talking about. We saw it with our own eyes on air. But you're saying that when you went back into the white House, all of a sudden he went from, oh. To, oh, hey, Jen, let's do this and here's my action plan, etc.. [00:02:31] Why? Why would he do that? Why would he fake having dementia on air when he was perfectly fine off air? But you expect us to believe all that? And then when I say I think Jen Psaki might be lying, I'm the bad guy and all of Washington will say, now, have you not only offended Joe Biden, [00:02:50] you've offended Jen Psaki, and Jen Psaki is still a very important person in Washington, and her feelings are so much more important than Democrats winning an election. People being honest with you. The press. [00:03:06] Come on. The press didn't cover it up. All right, let's hear the rest of the story. And then let's all make our own conclusions about whether the press covered it up or not. Go ahead. Sharon. Psaki's comments came on the Mixed Signals podcast by Semafor, [00:03:21] which is hosted by Max and Ben Smith. Here's that clip of Jen Psaki stating that she did not see Biden's decline. I left in May of 2022. Just for the facts here. And I, I have seen Biden once since then. [00:03:37] I never saw that person, not a single time. And I was in the Oval Office every day. That was on that debate stage. I'm not a doctor. Aging happens quite quickly. Were things that people saw during that period of time that were similar to that, or would have been in a category of that? [00:03:53] I don't know, possibly. Right. And all these books are going to tell us. Is either the smartest Washington insider or she just has no clue what's going on around her. According to the Wall Street Journal, Biden's decline was apparent almost as soon as his term began. [00:04:09] A sign that the bruising presidential schedule needed to be adjusted for Biden's advanced age had arisen early on, just the first few months of his term. Administration officials noticed the president became tired of meetings, went long and would make mistakes. [00:04:24] They issued a directive to some powerful lawmakers and allies seeking one on one time. The exchanges should be short and focused, according to people who received the message directly from white House aides. Ideally, the meetings would start later in the day, since Biden has never been [00:04:41] at his best first thing in the morning. Some of the people said his staff made these adjustments to limit potential missteps by Biden, the people said. That aside, we do have more of the CMA four podcast episode to show you. [00:04:57] At one point, Smith asked if the media failed to cover Biden's decline properly. Let's see how she responded to this one. What? I don't know, Ben, and maybe we'll learn from these books is what the facts were behind the scenes. So what the media missed and maybe the media missed a lot. [00:05:12] And so maybe in retrospect, which is always easier to be critical of the media about, frankly, right there, there were major stories and moments missed. What I think is challenging, if you're not, if you don't know about what's happening privately, right, is that Joe Biden was he was in his early 80s. [00:05:30] During that period of time, we all knew his age. That was not a secret. What was happening behind the scenes, I don't know. What was also true that I would find actually a little tricky if you're a reporter of any kind, is that. Well, we know there were problematic things behind the scenes. [00:05:48] Now, in 23 and 24, there was an aggressive all out pitching operation from the right wing and from the Republicans about Joe Biden's age and how he was in decline and like, sleeping in the Oval Office, a lot of which wasn't true. [00:06:03] She left in May 2022. So everything she's talking about speculating on is after she left. Former NBC host Chuck Todd made similar comments last month. Let's check out what Chuck said. This is not a media failure. This is a failure of the Democratic Party. [00:06:19] And I just sort of the virtue signaling that some people have done to try to say that the media missed this story. They didn't miss this story. I just refuse to accept this, this stupid premise, because it's a right wing, manufactured right wing premise. In order to sustain the media, the media's got plenty of things to attack them for. [00:06:38] And there are MSNBC and CNN and and pundits that absolutely carried water for Joe Biden, but that they're not journalists. They're former strategists that carried water for Joe Biden? The people at fault are Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Joe Biden, Kamala [00:06:55] Harris, every elected member of Congress. I guess for me, it's like, but who are they rubbing shoulders with all that time? The Washington game, the Washington press? It's an insider game. Many of them are one and the same. It seems like they lunched together. [00:07:12] They chat offline or on signal together with Jen Psaki. Remember, even after she left the white House and her job there, her media superpower is supposedly she's got like that direct line. She knows everything that's going on inside the building, [00:07:28] but yet she doesn't see any of this. She doesn't know anything that went down here. As Joe Biden is falling over sandbags and falling off his bike, those could be, you know, you could explain those things away. But the fact that Chuck Todd and Jen Psaki are, are so protective [00:07:45] of this media bubble, This machine that works in concert with the party is. It's sick. It's not. Well, maybe it is as sick as the other side sometimes I don't know. - Your thoughts? - Yeah. It's a great point about her being an insider. I'll come back to that. [00:08:01] And it's also a great point what you just said. So, Trump lies all the time, right? And we just did a huge segment about his lies a second a minute ago on The Young Turks. Right. Watch the show live. Eight six, 8 p.m.. You'll see it all. Okay. Now, mainstream media. [00:08:17] And Trump says, don't believe your lying eyes. I said, terminate the Constitution. After I lost the last election. But don't believe your lying eyes. I said I was anti war. Now I want to invade Greenland, but don't believe your lying eyes. Okay, so now mainstream media comes in and tells us no, we held Biden accountable [00:08:33] and we said that he was in mental decline. Guys, we were right here. We saw it. No you didn't. None of you said that. None of you said that. But it's not just that that whenever anyone did come out and say, like, for example, forget people like us. Of course, the mainstream media would never deign to talk. [00:08:50] Oh, the online media is saying that Biden is old Jeeves, isn't he young and dynamic? Let's report that on air. But, guys, are you really like, do you think you're going to gaslight us into thinking that you held him accountable when we all have eyes and ears, and we saw [00:09:08] that none of you held him accountable, that in fact, when forget us, like I said, when Robert her you remember the lawyer who talked to Biden, he came out and said, well, he's not guilty, but brother's having trouble concentrating. And what what happened? The media was like, how. [00:09:23] Dare Robert her? And oh no, the Democrats are right and Robert is wrong. - And he's a Republican plan. - It wasn't just Democrats who said it. It was mainstream media. The mainstream media are the attack dogs and not of Democrats, of establishment politicians. [00:09:39] If you're a corporate politician like Mitch McConnell or Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi or Marco Rubio. Mainstream media will kiss your ass from here to eternity and then again, proving George Orwell right. And then they'll turn around and go, no, we didn't know, man. [00:09:55] We checked Joe Biden. Did you check? Did you show me? Show me. You are going on air and saying, what the hell is going on here? Here's one video. The next video. The third. We did it. Did you do it, Chuck? Did you do it once, Chuck. If you didn't do it once, why don't you shut the f up? [00:10:13] And oh, the media. They blame the media, brother. I've been on the air during the Iraq war. We've been around forever. Oldest internet show in history. We and. And back then we were on radio. We were on the air and we were saying, attack! Iraq didn't attack us, Iraq didn't attack us, [00:10:32] and all mainstream media was going, no. Dick Cheney says that they are in the general region from which the terrorists came. And seven out of ten Americans on the day we invaded Iraq thought that Saddam Hussein had attacked us. Why? Mainstream media. Mainstream media helped Republicans [00:10:50] lie us into that war 100%. And it's not like there weren't people like us screaming. They didn't attack us, you goddamn liars. They didn't attack us. And now they say, oh, no, we called out Biden. [00:11:06] We were really tough on him. Get the f. Show me, show me, show me. You can't show a single clip, can you? Okay, so. Chuck Todd. Sorry, brother. Sorry, but you're a giant liar. All you've ever done is cover up for politicians [00:11:22] on the Republican and Democratic side. If they're a corporate establishment politician, you love them. You ate it and abetted them your entire career. All right, so let's go back to Psaki. She says, well, I guess the books will have to tell us what happened. [00:11:37] Jen, you were right there. What the hell you need a book for? Uighurs. You were literally his mouthpiece. You spoke for him. You need a book to tell you what happened. And this super convenient excuse. [00:11:52] Oh, I left in 22. I left in 22. Biden was in great shape in 22. Was he? But then to Sharon's point, why did you get the MSNBC gig? I'm an insider. I know the scoop from the Biden administration biggest insider there is. Now all of a sudden, I don't know anything. [00:12:08] I have a book left to tell me. I'll have to read it like a history book or something. I didn't know a single thing that happened in the Biden administration. So, Jen, did you know everything or did you know nothing? Which one is it? If you know nothing, why is MSNBC still hiring you? Apparently, you're the worst insider in the world. [00:12:23] You literally didn't know anything. So then they take back the marketing campaign and your show, etc.. God, these guys lies are unbelievable. And she's like, oh, we'll have to figure out what happened in retrospect. [00:12:38] In retrospect, you were there day to day. You have to wait later to figure out that he couldn't finish sentences. Okay, you guys get it. You got the mainstream media lies almost as much as Donald Trump. That's why no one believes them when they call out Donald Trump. [00:12:56] So yeah, I know. And Mitch McConnell wasn't freezing. And Dianne Feinstein. Mainstream media didn't even call out Dianne Feinstein, man. They were wheeling her around in a wheelchair. She couldn't speak. Nancy Pelosi's daughter was wheeling around going, Senator [00:13:13] Feinstein thinks corporations are awesome and will be voting with them. But don't worry, Senator Feinstein is fine. Feinstein will be like, what are right? And you're like, no. By the way, John Fetterman right now has brain damage. Sure, sure. John Fetterman's pro-Israel. Shh, shh. [00:13:30] He doesn't have brain damage. What do you mean? There's a giant story about all of his staffers going, oh, my God, he's got brain damage. He walks into traffic not knowing what's happening. Sure, Chuck. You're calling him out, right? [00:13:46] Get the f out. I mean, God, they're ridiculous. I. Guys, I'm sorry. I'm going crazy today. I can't stand these stories. I and I'm all right, Sharon, we're going to do the next story. I'm nuts. Let's do the next story. Let me just say, remember when Senator Feinstein and she. Were you voting yes or no? [00:14:02] And they had to say, you know, put your hand down and vote up? Like, you know, it was crazy. - It was absolutely crazy. - It's like Weekend at Bernie's. - It's like Weekend at Bernie's. - Literally. And mainstream media goes, I don't see it. - I don't see it. - Who do you ever leave the white House? She's talking to the same friends, including Obama. [00:14:20] Remember when he was out West and he was doing the fundraiser and Obama had to kind of lead Biden off the stage? It was it was tragic. But nobody saw it. Nobody saw anything. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows.