Jen Psaki Gives Astonishing Answer When Asked Why Biden Does Not Join Weekly COVID Calls With Governors

Throughout the coronavirus crisis last year, the mainstream media alternated between two mindsets: Trump should be more “hands-on” and “out front” with reporters and the American people as to what was going on, or Trump should “get out of the way and let the supposed medical experts lead.”

Not surprisingly, the narrative they ran with on any given day revolved around which one would do the most good for Joe Biden’s election chances. Would painting Trump as a “hands-off leader” who they said seemed indifferent to the suffering hurt him with voters the most? Or would characterizing him as overbearing and not allowing governors to do their thing sow seeds of doubts in the minds of voters about his ability to lead?

But once Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election, things changed. Biden promised he’d be that “hands-on” pandemic leader from Day One. He was not going to be absent from the scene. In fact, he was going to stake his entire presidency on his so-called ability to lead a nation through a health crisis that devastated the country and families in many ways.

And yet here we are a full three months into his presidency, and Biden’s pandemic leadership has mostly been in the form of virtue signaling about what he says is the importance of wearing masks. Just last month he accused red states that were lifting mask mandates of “Neanderthal thinking,” which has come back to bite him in the patootie. He’s also been caught not practicing what he preaches on masks, lending further credence to claims that there are one set of rules for those in power and another set for everyone else.

But a new report today from Real Clear Politics White House reporter Philip Wegmann has thrown a big wrench into the media narratives about Biden being a capable pandemic leader. In it, Wegmann quotes several governors who pointed out that President Biden has not joined a single weekly COVID conference call since the start of his presidency:

New: Governors Complain That Biden, VP Skip Weekly COVID Calls https://t.co/ZnPHKenTw3

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) April 26, 2021

To make matters worse, White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the report today during the daily press briefing. Her answer was pretty astonishing, even for her:

"We have never conveyed it as a call that would be part of his agenda, so I'm not sure there's a big controversy here," the @PressSec said when I asked about this story. https://t.co/AliYvjWqWJ

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) April 26, 2021

Watch:

.@PressSec is asked by @PhilipWegmann about reports that governors are upset that Pres. Biden hasn't joined weekly covid calls:

"We have never conveyed it as a call that would be part of his agenda, so I'm not sure there's a big controversy here." pic.twitter.com/k1DzmV7GMm

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 26, 2021

According to Wegmann, former Vice President Mike Pence was on 39 of the 40 weekly COVID calls with governors last year, while Trump was on 8. And according to Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, Vice President Harris has only been on one call this year and it was for about 5 minutes. “And she didn’t take any questions,” Ricketts claimed.

Not surprisingly, none of this has generated the type of foaming-at-the-mouth media outrage with the type of wall-to-wall “WHAT ARE THEY DOING? PEOPLE ARE DYING!” red-alert coverage you would have seen had the notable absences of White House leadership from the President and Vice President during these calls occurred under Trump’s watch.

Who IS leading the calls? National Governors Association chairman Andrew Cuomo, who is Biden’s point-man on these calls. Per Wegmann, Jen Psaki explained last month the reason why the Biden White House was shifting from having a member of the White House lead the calls was because “there were operational aspects of the way the last administration approached COVID and approached the distribution of vaccines or approached planning and engagement with governors that wasn’t working.”

So I guess we’re supposed to believe that putting the guy who completely mismanaged the pandemic crisis in his state, where over 15,000 died in nursing homes or long term care facilities as a result of his deadly order mandating they accept COVID-positive patients, in charge is going to right the supposed wrongs that happened under Pence’s coronavirus task force leadership?

I don’t think so.

In a way, it’s probably a good thing that neither Biden nor Harris participates in these calls after all the damage they did to American confidence in the vaccine prior to the election in order to hurt Trump, not to mention their apparent mask double standards. That said, it’s still a pretty big freakin’ deal that they haven’t taken part in any of the calls. Again, this would be grounds for wall-to-wall-outrage from the mainstream media under Trump, but under this administration, it will barely cause a ripple in media circles.

Ironically, the big reasons why Biden is enjoying high marks from voters on his handling of the pandemic is because 1) the media’s incessant gaslighting and 2) much of what Biden is doing was carried over from the Trump administration because, contra to what they’ve claimed, the Biden administration has built off of the playbook the Trump’s coronavirus team left them on a number of coronavirus-related matters, including vaccine distribution and negotiating contracts with drug companies.

In other words, Biden is enjoying the fruits of Trump’s labor and the success of Operation Warp Speed, which is pretty wild when you consider how Biden portrayed Trump as an ineffective crisis leader who would be leaving him a “mess.” Some apologies are owed here but don’t hold your breath waiting for them. Not from the media, and certainly not from this duplicitous administration.