Biden Sits and Blankly Stares as Peter Doocy Tries to Get Him to Answer a Simple Question

On August 29, 2023, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy attempted to get President Joe Biden to respond to a simple question during a White House event. In a moment that went viral on social media, Doocy called out “Mr. President” six times in succession, followed by the question “How’s the campaign coming?” Biden sat motionless, staring blankly ahead without acknowledging the reporter or responding in any way.

The brief but striking clip encapsulated the growing concerns about Biden’s mental acuity and his administration’s strategy of shielding the president from unscripted exchanges with the press. At 80 years old, Biden was already the oldest person ever to serve as president, and moments like this added fuel to a national conversation about whether he was fit to serve a second term.

The Moment

The exchange, or rather the complete lack of one, unfolded during what appeared to be a controlled setting where Biden was seated and waiting for an event to begin. Doocy, positioned among the press pool, seized the opportunity to direct a question to the president.

“Mr. President? Mr. President? Mr. President? Mr. President? Mr. President? Mr. President?” Doocy called out, each repetition growing more deliberate as it became clear Biden was not going to engage.

Finally, Doocy added the actual question: “How’s the campaign coming?”

Biden’s response was nothing. He sat still, staring straight ahead with an expressionless face, giving no indication that he had heard or processed the reporter’s repeated attempts to get his attention. There was no wave, no smile, no shake of the head, no attempt to deflect with humor. Simply a blank stare.

The clip was only seconds long, but its impact was outsized. The visual of the sitting president of the United States completely unresponsive to a reporter standing just feet away and calling his title repeatedly struck viewers as deeply unsettling, regardless of their political affiliation.

The Biden-Doocy Dynamic

The interaction, or lack thereof, was part of a well-documented dynamic between Biden and Doocy that had played out over the course of the administration. Doocy had established himself as one of the most aggressive questioners in the White House press corps, regularly pressing Biden and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on topics the administration preferred to avoid.

Biden’s relationship with Doocy had produced memorable moments on both sides. In January 2022, Biden was caught on a hot microphone calling Doocy a “stupid son of a bitch” after the reporter asked about inflation. On other occasions, Biden had engaged with Doocy’s questions with varying degrees of hostility, humor, or dismissiveness.

The August 29 incident was different from these prior exchanges because there was no engagement at all. Previous confrontations, even hostile ones, at least demonstrated that Biden was present and processing questions. The blank stare suggested something else entirely, either a deliberate strategy to completely ignore certain reporters or, as critics feared, a moment where the president was simply not mentally present.

Questions About Mental Fitness

By late August 2023, questions about Biden’s cognitive fitness had moved from the political fringe to mainstream news coverage. Multiple incidents throughout his presidency had raised alarm bells.

Biden had repeatedly lost his train of thought during speeches, sometimes stopping mid-sentence and changing subjects entirely. He had wandered off stage during events, requiring staff or other leaders to redirect him. He had made factual errors about basic information, including the names of his own cabinet members and the locations of recent events. He had on multiple occasions appeared to read teleprompter instructions aloud rather than following them, and had told stories that were later proven to be fabricated or significantly embellished.

The blank stare incident of August 29 fit neatly into this growing body of evidence. For those already concerned about Biden’s mental state, the clip was further confirmation that the 80-year-old president was experiencing cognitive decline. Even those inclined to give Biden the benefit of the doubt struggled to explain why a sitting president would completely fail to acknowledge a reporter calling out “Mr. President” six times from close range.

The White House consistently pushed back against questions about Biden’s mental fitness, with Press Secretary Jean-Pierre frequently expressing indignation at the very premise of such questions and pointing to Biden’s schedule and policy accomplishments as evidence of his sharpness. However, these defenses became increasingly difficult to maintain as viral clips of concerning behavior accumulated.

The Campaign Question

Doocy’s specific question, “How’s the campaign coming?”, was itself a pointed choice. At the time, Biden had declared his candidacy for re-election in April 2023 and was running essentially unopposed for the Democratic nomination. However, polls consistently showed that a majority of Americans, including many Democrats, did not want Biden to run again, with his age and mental fitness cited as primary concerns.

By asking about the campaign in a setting where Biden was unable or unwilling to respond, Doocy highlighted the central tension of Biden’s re-election bid. The president was asking the country to entrust him with four more years in the world’s most demanding job, yet he could not muster a response to the most basic of questions about that very campaign.

The moment also underscored the broader criticism that Biden’s campaign was being deliberately structured to minimize his exposure to unscripted interactions. Unlike previous incumbent presidents seeking re-election, Biden held far fewer press conferences, conducted fewer sit-down interviews, and rarely engaged in the kind of casual back-and-forth with reporters that had been standard practice for his predecessors.

Additional Context

The August 29, 2023 blank stare incident occurred during a week filled with other concerning Biden moments. The same day, Biden had met with civil rights leaders at the White House, where he mumbled through remarks and made historically inaccurate claims about his involvement in the civil rights movement. Press Secretary Jean-Pierre had also faced a contentious briefing that day, refusing to answer questions about whether Biden believed biological males should compete in girls’ sports and struggling with pronunciation during a discussion about Prigozhin’s death.

The accumulation of these moments over a single week illustrated the daily challenge facing the Biden communications team. Each individual incident might be dismissed as a minor gaffe or an unflattering camera angle, but taken together, they painted a picture of a president who was visibly struggling with the demands of the office.

These concerns would ultimately prove prophetic. In June 2024, Biden’s performance in his debate against Donald Trump shocked even his supporters with the severity of his apparent cognitive struggles. The debate accelerated calls from within the Democratic Party for Biden to step aside, and he announced his withdrawal from the presidential race in July 2024, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.

Looking back, the August 29 blank stare was one of many warning signs that the Biden presidency was heading toward an unprecedented conclusion. The question Doocy asked that day, “How’s the campaign coming?”, would eventually be answered not by Biden, but by a party that concluded their candidate could no longer effectively campaign at all.

Key Takeaways

• Peter Doocy called out “Mr. President” six times and asked “How’s the campaign coming?” while Biden sat motionless with a blank stare, completely unresponsive to the reporter’s repeated attempts to engage him.
• The incident was part of a growing pattern of moments that raised public concern about Biden’s cognitive fitness for office, occurring when he was already the oldest sitting president in American history at age 80.
• Biden’s relationship with Doocy had previously included hostile exchanges and even a hot-mic insult, making the complete non-response more notable than a simple refusal to take questions.
• The question about the campaign was particularly pointed given that polls at the time showed a majority of Americans, including many Democrats, did not want Biden to run for re-election due to age and fitness concerns.
• The incident occurred during a week filled with other Biden gaffes, adding to the cumulative body of evidence that would eventually lead to his unprecedented withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.