KJP Denies Biden Feels “Babied” by Staff, Cites His “Wisdom,” Insists He Will Visit East Palestine

The September 5, 2023, White House briefing produced a series of contentious exchanges between Fox News reporter Peter Doocy and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that touched on three interconnected themes: whether Biden’s staff treated him like a child, whether two-thirds of Democrats were right that Biden was too old to run again, and whether Biden would ever actually visit East Palestine, Ohio, seven months after a toxic train derailment. Jean-Pierre’s responses ranged from indignant denial to rehearsed talking points to a robotic repetition of “The president will go to East Palestine” that answered nothing while saying something.

”Why Does the White House Staff Treat Him Like a Baby?”

Doocy opened with a characteristically direct question: “Joe Biden is the oldest president in US history. Why does the White House staff treat him like a baby?”

Jean-Pierre’s response was immediate and heated: “No one treats the president of the United States — the Commander-in-Chief, like a baby. That’s ridiculous!”

Doocy was referencing claims from the book “The Last Politician” by Franklin Foer, which described Biden’s frustration with how his staff managed him. Doocy pressed further, citing a specific passage: “There’s this quote that says when staff called back what sounded like a call for regime change in Russia, the president, ‘rather than owning his failure, he fumed to friends about how he was treated like a toddler. Was John Kennedy ever treated like that?’”

The quote referred to Biden’s March 2022 speech in Warsaw, Poland, where he said of Vladimir Putin, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” The statement appeared to be an unscripted call for regime change in Russia, and White House staff quickly walked it back, insisting Biden was not calling for Putin’s removal. According to Foer’s book, Biden was angry about the walkback and compared his treatment to something that would never have happened to President Kennedy.

Jean-Pierre attempted to dismiss the book’s claims: “There’s gonna be a range of books about every administration that’s gonna have a variety of claims.” The response acknowledged nothing while attempting to discredit the source. It was the same approach the White House had used with other unflattering book revelations: refuse to engage with the specifics while suggesting that books about presidents are inherently unreliable.

”Two-Thirds of Democrats Think President Biden Is Too Old”

Doocy followed up with another uncomfortable question, this one backed by polling data: “Why do you think it is that, in a Wall Street Journal poll, two-thirds of Democrats think President Biden is too old to run again?”

Jean-Pierre responded with a rehearsed set of talking points: “I can speak to a president who has wisdom. I can speak to a president who has experience. I can speak to a president who has taken historic action and has delivered!”

She continued: “Whether it’s the Inflation Reduction Act… There are some Republicans — right? — in the House, in the Senate that did not vote for any of these legislations that I just laid out, who go back to their state, go back to their district and take credit for something that the President did.”

The response was notable for what it did not do: it did not address the age question. Jean-Pierre reframed “old” as “wise” and “experienced,” then pivoted to legislative accomplishments and Republican hypocrisy. But Doocy had not asked about Biden’s wisdom or his legislative record. He had asked why two-thirds of the president’s own party thought he was too old to run again.

The “wisdom” framing was a deliberate attempt to turn Biden’s age from a liability into an asset. The problem was that the public was not expressing concern about Biden’s accumulated knowledge; they were expressing concern about his physical and cognitive capacity to serve another term. Calling it “wisdom” did not address the visible signs of aging that Americans saw in Biden’s public appearances: the shuffling gait, the verbal confusion, the physical stumbles, and the light public schedule.

”The President Will Go to East Palestine”

The East Palestine exchange was perhaps the most striking moment of the briefing. Doocy noted that Biden had said he “hadn’t had the occasion” to visit East Palestine and pressed Jean-Pierre on the timeline.

Doocy: “The derailment was on Feb. 3. Pres. Biden has not had a break since Feb. 3?”

Jean-Pierre: “The president will go to East Palestine.”

Doocy: “So he was not on a break when he was in Lake Tahoe?”

Jean-Pierre: “The president will go to East Palestine.”

The robotic repetition of “The president will go to East Palestine” was a classic briefing room strategy: when you cannot answer the question, repeat an approved statement until the reporter moves on. Jean-Pierre could not explain why Biden had found time for Lake Tahoe, Rehoboth Beach, and numerous other trips but had not found time for East Palestine. So she simply repeated that he would go, without providing a timeline or acknowledging the absurdity of a seven-month delay.

Doocy’s questions highlighted the obvious contradiction. Biden had spent virtually the entire month of August 2023 on vacation, alternating between his Rehoboth Beach house and Lake Tahoe. If he could travel to Lake Tahoe for recreation, he could travel to Ohio for a disaster visit. The choice was not about logistics; it was about priorities.

Biden’s “Homeless” Defense

The briefing followed Biden’s bizarre September 3 exchange with reporters outside St. Edmond Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, where he offered a novel excuse for his beach trips: he had “no home to go to.”

“Oh, and by the way, the reason why I’m here today, just for one day — I know you all think I’m on vacation — I’m not! I have no home to go to!” Biden told reporters.

He explained that the Secret Service had been renovating his Wilmington, Delaware, house to improve its security features: “The Secret Service tore my house up — in a good way to make it secure so I have no place to go so I’m here right now. I’m only here for one day.”

A reporter asked the obvious follow-up: “Are you homeless? Is that what you’re telling us?”

Biden responded: “No! I’m down here for the day because I can’t go home home.”

The exchange was both humorous and revealing. Biden, who had spent more than a year’s worth of days away from the White House during his presidency — much of that time at his Rehoboth Beach or Wilmington properties — was claiming that his latest beach trip was because he had nowhere else to go. The “homeless” president argument did not explain the previous months of beach trips, the Lake Tahoe vacation, or the broader pattern of a presidential schedule that prioritized leisure over public engagement.

The Book and Its Implications

The Foer book that Doocy was referencing, “The Last Politician,” painted a picture of a White House where staff members carefully managed Biden’s public appearances, limited his unscripted interactions, and cleaned up his verbal errors after the fact. The “toddler” quote suggested that Biden himself was aware of this management and resented it, even as his public performances demonstrated why the staff felt it was necessary.

The regime change comment about Putin was a prime example. Biden’s off-script statement that Putin “cannot remain in power” was a significant diplomatic statement that could have had serious geopolitical consequences. When staff walked it back, they were protecting the president from the implications of his own words, but in doing so, they were also treating the president’s statements as unreliable and in need of correction.

Biden’s reported comparison to Kennedy was telling. Kennedy was 43 when he took office and 46 when he was assassinated. Biden was 80 when Foer’s book was published. The suggestion that Biden should be treated with the same deference as Kennedy despite the obvious differences in their physical and cognitive capacities revealed a president who was not fully reckoning with the reality of his own aging.

The Pattern

The September 5 briefing encapsulated the three threads that would eventually unravel Biden’s re-election campaign: his age and cognitive decline, his staff’s management of his public image, and his pattern of prioritizing personal comfort over presidential responsibilities.

Jean-Pierre’s responses — denying the “babied” characterization, reframing old age as “wisdom,” and robotically repeating that Biden would visit East Palestine — were all variations of the same strategy: refuse to engage with uncomfortable truths and hope that talking points would substitute for substance.

Key Takeaways

• Peter Doocy asked KJP why White House staff treated Biden “like a baby,” referencing a book quote where Biden compared his treatment to that of a “toddler” after staff walked back his Putin regime change comment.
• When Doocy cited a poll showing two-thirds of Democrats thought Biden was too old, Jean-Pierre pivoted to talking about Biden’s “wisdom” and “experience” without addressing the age concern.
• Jean-Pierre repeated “The president will go to East Palestine” twice rather than explain why Biden had time for Lake Tahoe but not for the Ohio disaster site seven months after the derailment.
• Biden told reporters at Rehoboth Beach that he was not on vacation because he had “no home to go to,” blaming Secret Service renovations at his Wilmington house, prompting a reporter to ask if he was “homeless.”
• The briefing captured three themes that would define the end of Biden’s political career: his age, his staff’s protective management, and his vacation habits.