On Thursday, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy commented on President Biden’s lack of public appearances since his reelection announcement last week, saying that he might be using the same “basement” campaign strategy as he did in 2020 that won him the presidency.
“Wondering where Joe Biden has been all week… You’ve covered this president the entire time. This is kind of strange, isn’t it?” Fox News’ Jesse Watters asked Doocy.
“ It’s very unusual, Jesse,” Doocy responded. “Remember, when he announced, there were all these polls that showed that voters, Democrats, independents, Republicans all have potential issues with his age. And so President Biden told anybody that was worried about voting for somebody who was 80 now, watch me.”
“And so we have been watching him, it’s our job, and there is just not much going on this week,” he continued. “I’ve got the schedule here. On Monday there was a photo op with the Filipino president. On Wednesday there was photo op with some visiting military leaders. And then today they posted a Twitter video. He popped in for a few seconds to an A.I. meeting that the vice president was hosting. He never even sat down. And that is it.”
“That is historically in the four-plus years that I have been with Biden, that is about as little as we have seen him in a week,” he added. “And, remember, it’s been nine days since he announced. Still no campaign kickoff. No campaign rallies, and there is very limited campaign staff. When he had COVID last summer, they even had us go to an auditorium here on campus for a virtual Q&A with him. And I was going through in the hour since ‘Special Report,’ nine days since the campaign there have been lids called three of the days: 2:30, 2:22 and 3:47. It’s very early. People criticized President Biden a lot for being allegedly in the basement last time. But it worked. And his opponents this time may be the same. So, the strategy may be the same.”
Notably, Biden took a record 64 days to hold his first formal press conference after entering office in January 2021. The number is about double the second place record of waiting 34 days by former President Bush.
