For the first White House press conference after the election, on Nov. 7, the Media Research Center’s Curtis Houck was all in on juvenile taunting (and, of course, fluffing of biased Fox News reporters):
With no White House press briefing since October 30, Thursday’s briefing was the first since Tuesday’s general election and, with the massive red wave yielding a Trump presidency and possibly a Republican Congress, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced a room of reporters (ostensibly most being supporters) full of questions about the administration’s reaction to this thorough rebuke.
Starting at the end of the briefing, Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich patiently sat and heard Jean-Pierre’s only definitive excuse be that pandemic fallout was why Democrats were shellacked, so she had enough.
After a follow-up to a question from The Washington Post’s Matt Viser about any chance President Biden would pardon son Hunter, Heinrich read a viral tweet from Congressman Richie Torres (D-NY) before wondering: “[I]s the administration, campaign, the Democratic Party, looking at the pandemic as the cause rather than — is that easier than looking in the mirror?”
Jean-Pierre doubled down on “respecting” what voters decided and that “incumbents” across the Group of Seven countries have “pretty consistently” been blamed for the pandemic upheavals.
[…]Jean-Pierre offered a non-committal answer and promise for a peaceful transition, which led Heinrich to interject: “So, you’re saying that leading by example is the message to people who are fearful based on what the messaging was about the stakes of what would happen?”
Jean-Pierre wasn’t amused and told Heinrich she was “just twisting everything around and that’s really unfair” since she had “been standing here trying to be very respectful to what happened the last two nights — uh — two nights ago, being respectful.”
Houck touted the non-right-wing reporters who sounded like they were working for Fox News:
Reuters’s Jeff Mason made it even more personal for Jean-Pierre and her aides, noting the “criticism in the last couple of days directly addressed at President Biden for some of the questions that have already been asked — running in the first place or not stepping aside faster.”
“Some of that criticism has also been directed at his team and the advisors around him for advising him to do what he did. Can you address that criticism,” he wondered.
Interestingly, Jean-Pierre seemed to tout Biden’s rise to the presidency as a backdoor way of saying yes to previous questions about whether Biden would have won this time:
For the Nov. 12 briefing, it was Doocy-fluffing time:
In the second White House press briefing since the presidential election and a day before the surreal Oval Office sit-down between President Biden and President-Elect Trump, Fox’s Peter Doocy drew Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s ire when he wonddered [sic] “how awkward was” Tuesday’s lunch between Biden and Vice President Harris at the White House.
Jean-Pierre pretended to stammer in confusion as Doocy tried to explain himself: “I don’t even understand. Why would — why would it be awkward? Why would it be awkward? Why would — why would you — but why would — why would you characterize it as awkward? They have regular lunches. Uh — they meet and talk regularly.”
Amid all that hoopla, Doocy expanded: “Because — because the President got squeezed out for her and then she kept him at arm’s length, and then she lost and now, she’s back.”
Houck weirdly failed to document the Nov. 13 briefing — perhaps because Doocy was more interested in making snide remarks instead of acting like a journalist. Houck was back for the Nov. 21 briefing with more Jean-PIerre-bashing and a different Fox activist reporter to fluff:
The White House press briefing returned Thursday for the first time in eight days and, along with questions about the zero interactions between the press and outgoing President Biden during his six-day trip to South America, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre embarrassed herself with meandering, stumbling answers about both her successor Karoline Leavitt in the second Trump administration and layoffs inside the Democratic Party.
[…]Fox’s Mark Meredith closed things out with two stinging topics. First, he brought up a possible case of the Biden-Harris regime working to preemptively undermine a Trump-Vance border policy:
[…]Jean-Pierre wasn’t amused by Meredith’s final question: “Does it look bad for the Vice President to go Hawaii while DNC staffers are just wondering what they’re going to do for work?”
A disgusted Jean-Pierre packed her binder, telling him that Harris “deserves some time to be with her family and to have some down time” after having “worked very hard over the last four years[.]”
“Good for her. Good for her,” she concluded.
And that was it for the month.