Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, July 11, 2023

Remember the days when the media’s job was to question authority, most especially the leader of the Free World? Now an increasing majority of Americans is paying scant attention to either.

Joe Biden’s handlers rarely let the 80-year-old out for sit-down interviews with the press. When they do, they make sure it is with a personality more likely to ask Old Joe about his favorite kind of ice cream than his involvement in his son’s foreign business deals.

This time, it was CNN’s Fareed Zakaria who sat for a taped “interview” with Biden on Friday. Not once did Zakaria ask Biden about his son despite recent whistleblower revelations and a growing public sentiment that he was “likely involved” in Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals.

Zakaria also did not ask about the cocaine that the Secret Service found at the White House.

At the end of the interview, after lobbing mostly softballs Biden’s way, Zakaria came the closest to challenging Biden when the CNN personality brought up Biden’s age and asked about supporters who want him to “step aside.”

And even that question was set up with a heap of praise:

“You’ve often said when people ask you about your age, just watch me. And I think a lot of people do watch you and are impressed and they think you’ve been a great president. You’ve brought the economy back, you’ve restored relations with the world. But many of these people do say and these are hardened supporters of yours, the next thing he should do is step aside and let another generation of Democrats take the baton. Why are they wrong?” Zakaria asked.

Biden said: “I just want to finish the job. And I think we can do that in the next six years.”

What?

This is journalism?

The interview stuck mostly to foreign policy. At one point, Biden was asked about his decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine. Biden said it is because the U.S. is running out of 155mm artillery shells.

“Joe Biden broadcasting to the world that the U.S. is low on 155mm shells,” Republican strategist Steve Guest tweeted. “Moron. Does Biden not care that our adversaries in China are listening?”

“Love when the president of America goes on CNN to tell everyone we’re low on ammo,” conservative strategist Logan Dobson tweeted.

Meanwhile, a new Rasmussen poll released on Sunday shows that 58 percent of Americans think that Biden was at least “very or somewhat likely” involved in his son’s foreign business deals.

The survey showed only 14 percent think it was “not very likely” and 19 percent say it was “not at all likely” that Biden was involved.

An NBC News poll from April found that 70% of Americans, including 51% of Democrats, do not think Biden should run for re-election.

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