Two days after Donald Trump’s resounding election victory, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s body language spoke for just about every Democrat. She looks like she would rather be attending an all-day insurance seminar with no bathroom breaks over another day of fielding questions from reporters.
But it’s her job, and in two months, it’ll be someone else’s (assuming the Trump administration allows the press inside the White House). Until then, Jean-Pierre’s cheerful, pleasant demeanor will be put to the test.
On Thursday, she became visibly agitated with Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich after a seemingly benign question at the daily press briefing about the Biden administration’s rhetoric prior to the election.
“This administration messaged to millions of Americans that they’re going to wake up day after the election if Trump won and have their rights stripped away, that democracy would crumble. And the president said today, ‘We’re going to be OK.’” Heinrich asked, “So how do you square it?”
Things got testy from there.
“I can square that. I’m going to square that in a way that hopefully makes sense because I’ve been answering this question multiple times,” replied Jean-Pierre.
In an interview with PBS two weeks before the election, President Joe Biden unloaded on the Republican nominee, much as Heinrich had summarized. Biden said global leaders were terrified of a second Trump term, slammed his tight relationship with Russian President Vladamir Putin, and joked that his predecessor (and now successor) “believes in the free press like I believe I can climb Mount Everest.”
Jean-Pierre said those comments were made before the election. It’s a different reality now.
“The American people made the decision,” the press secretary continued. “There was an election two nights ago. There was! And it was a free and fair election and we respect the election process. We do. And Americans spoke.”
“And so the job of the president is to make sure we respect that,” she concluded. “The job of the president is to make sure that we have a peaceful transfer of power. That is what the American people deserve. … It’s not complicated. It’s truly, truly as simple as that.”
Heinrich’s follow-up set the press secretary off.
“What is the message to people who are fearful based on what the messaging was about [Trump]?” asked Heinrich before being interrupted by Jean-Pierre.
“Well, now you’re just twisting everything around, and that’s really unfair,” she said, clearly flustered. “Jackie, it’s unfair because I’ve been standing here trying to be very respectful to what happened the last two nights, two nights ago. Being respectful. I’ve been standing here saying that we respect the decision that the American people made.”
“I’ve been standing here and saying that the president’s going to put the American people first,” she continued. “I’ve been standing here talking about how the president’s going to make sure that they get what they deserve, which is a peaceful transfer of power, I do not appreciate having my words twisted. That is — I am being very clear, very, very, very clear about what the president wants to do and the vice president. We want to make sure that we deliver for the American people. They deserve, they deserve a peaceful transfer of power. And that’s what you’re going to see.”
And that was that for Thursday’s White House presser.
