- White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended Biden’s style of communication on Monday.
- Biden “does not spend his time tweeting conspiracy theories,” Psaki said.
- The comment comes after a GOP senator criticized Biden’s use of social media by quoting a Politico article.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended President Joe Biden’s style of communication on Monday after a Republican senator used an article on Politico about the president’s limited use of social media to question Biden’s leadership ability.
“I can confirm that the President of the United States is not spending his time tweeting conspiracy theories,” Psaki told reporters during a news conference, in an apparent slap on former President Donald Trump’s Twitter habits before the social media platform has permanently suspended its account after the riot of the Capitol on 6 January.
Psaki’s comments were in response to GOP senot John Cornyn’s excerpts from a Politico article calling Biden’s tweets “unimaginably conventional”.
“The president does not conduct cable news interviews,” Cornyn tweeted, quotes the Politico article. “Tweets from his version are limited and, when it comes down to it, unimaginably conventional. The comments from the public are largely written. Biden opted for fewer sit-in interviews with mainstream sales and reporters.”
Cornyn also suggested that Biden’s messaging strategy undermines his leadership, tweeting, “Invite the question: is he really at the helm?”
Psaki dismissed the allegation Monday, saying Biden was “spending his time working on behalf of the American people.”
Biden’s media interaction consists largely of participating in the occasional one-on-one interview, answering questions about reporters after public events, and sending tweets from his @POTUS account about the work of his administration. . He held his first presidential news conference last month.
Biden’s approach differs significantly from Trump, who regularly made late-night tweets for presidential announcements and appeared regularly on cable TV channels, most notably Fox News. Trump would also use Twitter to attack his political opponents and win the support of his base.
Towards the end of his presidency, Trump used social media to spread false claims and conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. Twitter and Facebook finally banned Trump from their platforms in response to the former president’s role in the Capitol uprising, when weaknesses of his supporters stormed the building.