Here’s What a Senior Administration Official Has To Say About the Not So ‘Pleasant’ Joe Biden

Reportedly President Joe Biden's inner circle had become more limited as he had been increasingly unmanageable in day-to-day operations. Staff workers consciously refrain from including facts in briefings that would annoy him, according to a story that cited several White House staffers, Democratic contributors, and senior officials. Several of them detail the difficult circumstances that were curated to keep Biden safe from both outside scrutiny as well as inside his house.

As reported by Politico, one senior white house official stated, "It’s like, ‘You can’t include that, that will set him off,’ or “Put that in, he likes that'. It’s a Rorschach test, not a briefing. Because he is not a pleasant person to be around when he’s being briefed. It’s very difficult, and people are scared shitless of him. He doesn’t take advice from anyone other than those few top aides, and it becomes a perfect storm because he just gets more and more isolated from their efforts to control it."

There have been rumors in the past that Biden gets quite angry about little things and lashes out at his staff, using profanity when necessary. In a 2023 report published by Axios, some former and current aides told the outlet about the president's spat comments like "God dammit, how the f–- don’t you know this?!,” “Don’t f–-ing bulls— me!” and “Get the f–- out of here!" According to some individuals, they bring coworkers to meetings to protect themselves from Biden's scathing criticisms since they are so afraid of the president's fury. One senior aide said at the time, "No one is safe."

According to Politico, Biden’s family members have been very critical of Biden’s staff, claiming that they failed to adequately prepare the president to take a more aggressive stance, instead focused on defending his record, and allowed him to become overworked and sleep-deprived. They want the president to spend more time outlining his plans for the next four years. It follows widespread criticism of Biden's performance in the first 2024 presidential debate when he faced off against Donald Trump.

Politico also cited three unnamed sources who said that the family criticized Anita Dunn, who is close to the president and has his ear, Bob Bauer, who is the attorney for the president and acted as Donald Trump during Camp David practice, and Ron Klain, who was the chief of staff during the last two cycles and oversaw debate preparation.

An anonymous Democratic strategist told the outlet, "The number of people who have access to the president has gotten smaller and smaller and smaller. They’ve been digging deeper into the bunker for months now." The article went on to say that White House employees were not informed that Biden would be participating in two debates for the presidency. 'No idea' was the response from three separate Biden administration employees who spoke with the media. One of the staff members stated, "Everyone was told this was for the best. Now, it’s the worst possible outcome. And we’re all trying to figure out why the people who know him best and make all the decisions didn’t seem to anticipate that this might happen."