OPINION:
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked a pointed question yesterday: Does the President acknowledge he lied when he told ESPN Georgia’s new voter integrity law closes polls early at 5 p.m.?
The statement earned President Joe Biden a rare four Pinocchios from the liberal Washington Post, because it’s simply untrue – polling places can open and close anywhere between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. – with the Post even noting, according to all of the experts they consulted, the net effect of Georgia’s new law is: “to expand the opportunities to vote for most Georgians, not limit them.”
Ms. Psaki didn’t acknowledge the error — which she herself spread last week — and instead, gave her lapdogs in the press some guidance: “I think what’s important is to report on all of the components that make it more difficult to vote in the package in the legislation.”
Got it media? Only report narratives that allow us to continue to spread this misinformation.
In the same ESPN interview, Mr. Biden called the Georgia law “Jim Crow on steroids,” and when asked if Major League Baseball should move their All-Star Game from Atlanta, he replied he would “strongly support” the decision – which of course the MLB did, citing Mr. Biden’s criticism of the Georgia bill in a statement explaining their decision.
Yet, Ms. Psaki again looked to rewrite history in her briefing yesterday. When asked if Mr. Biden supported the MLB’s decision to relocate, she stated the president’s comments were only voicing support for the players, not pertaining to whether the MLB should move the game.
“So, he was not dictating for — what Major League Baseball should do, that they should — dictating they should move the All-Star game. That is – was their decision,” Ms. Psaki replied.
Yeah, right.
Ms. Psaki has a pattern of telling blatant falsehoods to the press – and rarely, if ever, is called out for spreading misinformation.
Last week, when Mr. Biden’s infrastructure plan was released, she started her press briefing saying his proposal “will create 19 million jobs over the next decade,” if passed by Congress.
Not true. Ms. Psaki was misrepresenting a Moody’s Analytics report which said 19 million jobs will be created if the plan is passed, or the U.S. economy will add about 16.3 million jobs over the same period if it fails – meaning, only a little more than 2 million jobs will be “created” by Mr. Biden’s infrastructure proposal.
It’s certainly not as impressive as 19 million – which is why the lie was probably repeated by both Mr. Biden’s Transportation Secretary and Director of the National Economic Council in televised interviews.
But the gaslighting doesn’t stop there.
Ms. Psaki would like you to believe former President Donald Trump’s “damaging rhetoric” of describing the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” and “Wuhan flu” has played a role in rising threats against Asian Americans.
Never mind criminal attacks on Asian-Americans starting rising long before 2020, when coronavirus hit our shores and the narrative that white supremacy is contributing to it is factually false. Last year in New York City only two of the 20 people arrested in connection with Asian American crimes were white.
There have been too many mistruths told from the White House briefing podium about the southern border crisis to amass. Just know the entire thing is Mr. Trump’s fault.
What is a total success, however, is the Biden administration’s vaccination roll-out. No need to give Mr. Trump any credit for Operation Warp Speed.
“I don’t think anyone deserves credit when half a million people in the country have died of this pandemic,” Ms. Psaki retorted when asked about the previous administration’s vaccination plan.
In Mr. Biden’s inaugural address he promised to unite the nation and stated: “There is truth and there are lies … We must unite to defeat the lies.”
Yet, his administration seems intent on perpetuating them and only defeating Republicans.
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