First Lady Jill Biden was roundly mocked online after telling Good Morning America hosts that her husband is “calm and steady.” The President’s wife told viewers they have a choice between Joe Biden, a man of solid temperament and character, or Donald Trump, who is “chaotic.” She said the option, therefore, is between “democracy or chaos.”
Online commentators immediately responded to the First Lady’s remarks. One conservative writer tweeted that Biden has so little integrity that he repeats debunked lies in almost every speech he delivers. Another said the President has a tendency to lose his cool and that claims of “calm” and “steady” lack all credibility.
In February, for instance, reports emerged that Biden displayed intense anger in private when discussing his Republican opponent and referred to him as a “sick f**k” and a “f**king a**hole.” A White House spokesman later described critics of Biden’s outbursts as “snowflakes.”
In 2023, separate insider accounts suggested that aides are fearful of meeting with the President because of his quick temper. Former assistants reported hearing the President tell staffers to “get the f**k outta here” and “don’t f**king bulls**t me.”
Chris Whipple, who penned a biography of Biden last year, said there was no question that the President’s temper “is real” but conceded he was likely not as volatile as fellow Democrat Commander-in-Chief Bill Clinton.
In his book, Whipple describes staffers expecting an outburst from the President and to be repeatedly challenged by him. A former Biden aide, Jeff Connaughton, is quoted as saying that he is an “egomaniacal autocrat” who is “determined to manage his staff through fear.”
In March, the President’s behavior was questioned at a White House press briefing when a reporter confronted National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan with the suggestion that Biden was angry about a fall in his polling numbers resulting from his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Sullivan denied ever hearing President Biden shout or swear and insisted that reports to the contrary are “incorrect.”
