Sometimes, things are so bad that you have to latch onto anything to even try to produce a positive thought. That’s apparently where White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain is.

Klain, an avid user of social media and noted fan of Jennifer Rubin, has long been known for retweeting the most ridiculous media takes imaginable. And while he can usually find some form of lavish praise to push, that’s been in short supply lately. That led to this really awkward moment on Monday morning where Klain shared a tweet from the day before proclaiming Biden’s “significant lapse in discipline.”

Klain Watch pic.twitter.com/vsYSfMSVf7

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) March 28, 2022

I get what Klain is trying to do here, but man is it really desperate. Can you imagine Barack Obama’s chief of staff spreading the idea that “Hey, the president really screwed up, but at least he hasn’t started a nuclear war, right?” Heck, would Mark Meadows or Mick Mulvaney have ever said “Trump really lacks discipline,” even after one of his less than helpful moments? Sure, advisors and staffers often bash their old bosses, but the key there is that they no longer work for the person they are bashing. Klain may not be long for his job (I predict he gets canned after the November bloodbath), but he’s currently still in it.

It truly shows the dire straits the current White House is in that throwing Biden under the bus, at least partially, is the best Klain thought he had to reinforce any supposed positives.

Besides, it’s not an effective counter at all. Biden didn’t have a lapse in discipline because he has no discipline. His entire presidency has been one rambling, incoherent episode after another. By the time he arrived at his gaffe about regime change in Russia on Saturday, the president had already mistakenly announced US troops were moving into Ukraine and suggested NATO would retaliate with chemical weapons. That was over the course of just two days. Two. Days.

We all wish Biden’s only problem was a rare lack of discipline, but his problems go so much deeper. This is not a man that can be contained because he’s got a toxic mix of arrogance and senility. Certainly, there are times Klain sits up at night wondering how the heck he’s supposed to deal with what comes next. Still, you never want the supposed leader of the free world to be seen as undisciplined. Klain was willing to concede that fault, though, in order to promote a puff piece from CNN. That, ladies and gentlemen, is desperation.