First of all, these are questions that the White House Press Corps should be asking. They are not there to simply write down whatever the administration wants to say on any given day. There is nothing wrong with the New York Times asking about the MAGA-GOP’s intense criticism about the fact that Vice President Harris yet to visit the border and saying “don’t they have a point?” That’s a fair question.
President Biden appointed Vice President Harris to manage the awful crisis on the border and Vice President Harris has yet to actually visit the border. We don’t know why. It may well have something to do with the fact that the situation at the border is almost unmanageable right now and they don’t want to call even more attention to the difficulties with an entire press corps following the Vice President.
But Jen Psaki does know who caused the problem.
Rogers asked: “I just had another on the Vice President visiting the border or not visiting the border. Republicans and conservatives are, you know, going crazy on Twitter, sending pictures…”
We have watched enough Psaki to know that she was psetting this up because she interrupted the question.
“They’re worked up,. I’ve seen it.”
Rogers moved on after noting several extraneous matters and finally asked: “I mean, don’t they have a point that if she has this task in front of her, should she not see the — the end cause as well as the root cause of migration?”
They might. It is a fair question. But Psaki handled it in the best possible light, dropping one of her famed Psaki booms on Trump and the MAGAs:
Well, first, as I said to Peter: At some point, she may go to the border. I don’t have any trips to preview for you or predict or a timeline for that,”
Psaki talked about the fact that the Vice President has a mission that is very much being addressed and then it happened and she did it beautifully: “I will say, we’re not taking advice from former President Trump or most of the Republicans who are criticizing us on this, given they were all sitting there while we created this problem we walked into, both at the border and with the movement of migration that has been growing over the last year.”
“So, we’re not taking our guidance and advice from them. But if it is constructive and it moves the ball forward for her to visit the border, she certainly may do that.”
Note. Psaki never did say that the Republicans “had a point.” It was a “yes” or “no” type of question Psaki likely knows they have a small point. It is not a good look to avoid the border in order to keep the cameras away for now (if that is their reasoning). But Psaki is a pro. She brilliantly used the difficult question to turn it around on the people who created the problem, including what might be called crimes against humanity were it in any other country, and are now the loudest critics.
“We’re not taking advice from former President Trump or most of the Republicans who are criticizing us on this given they were all sitting there while we created this problem …”
— White House Press Sec. Jen Psaki on VP Kamala Harris and the border. pic.twitter.com/yZ5enELeUL [1]
— The Recount (@therecount) June 8, 2021 [2]
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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak