President Biden often uses whispering to emphasize points in public. However, a report revealed that he has a tendency to throw anger fits in private.
When they are alone with him, some aides attempt to avoid meeting with Biden because of his volatile temper. Some people use a coworker as something of a shield when facing a single bombardment.
According to current and former Biden aides who have seen and experienced such outbursts, the president’s warnings include: “God dammit, how the fk don’t you know this?!,” “Don’t fking bullsht me!” and “Get the f*k out of here!”
Why it’s important
In contrast to his carefully manufactured persona as a nice uncle who enjoys ice cream and Aviator sunglasses, Biden’s private outbursts reveal a more nuanced picture of him as a manager and president.
Some Biden advisers believe that in order to allay voter worries that the 80-year-old president is disinterested and unfit for the job, the president would be better suited to periodically let his temper go in public.
Both senior and junior assistants may be in Biden’s line of fire. One government representative claimed that “no one is safe.”
In late 2021, as the Omicron variation expanded, there was a backlog of testing kits. Biden aides vividly recall how irate he became with Jeff Zients, the administration’s “COVID czar,” at the time. (The wrath passed quickly. Biden’s current chief of staff is Zients.)
“There is no doubt that Biden’s fury is genuine. Chris Whipple, author of “The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House,” noted that while it may not be as voluminous as Bill Clinton’s, it is unquestionably present.
Jen Psaki, a former press secretary for the White House, is quoted as saying in Whipple’s book: “I told [Biden] several times, ‘I’ll know we have a really good, trusting relationship when you yell at me the first time.”
Whipple observes: “Psaki wouldn’t have to wait long.”
According to a representative for Zients, “I’m not going to speak to what internal convos may or may not have happened between Jeff and the president.”
Rather than throwing uncontrollable tantrums, Biden’s rage manifests itself in irate interrogations.
He will quiz assistants on various subjects until it becomes obvious they are ignorant of the solution – a practice some people find diligent and others refer to as “stump the chump” or “stump the dummy.”
According to officials, the president’s yelling has evolved into a form of internal initiation in this White House; if President Biden doesn’t yell at you, it can be a sign he doesn’t respect you.
When Biden was running for president, Ted Kaufman served as his longstanding chief of staff. He told Axios that Biden’s process is policy-driven and has helped him become a successful executive.
Although he makes an effort to control his fury in public, Biden has occasionally displayed flashes of it; some of his former aides have written about it.
He was recorded on a hidden microphone in January 2022 calling Fox News’ Peter Doocy a “stupid son of a bitch.”
Former Biden campaign and Senate assistant Jeff Connaughton, who served as Kaufman’s chief of staff when he took Biden’s place in the Senate, writes of Biden’s rage in his 2012 book on Washington corruption, “The Payoff: Why Wall Street Wins.”
Connaughton claimed that Biden was a “egomaniacal autocrat… determined to manage his staff through fear” when serving as a senator.
He related an incident from the 2008 presidential campaign in which Biden’s car was joined by a 23-year-old fundraising staffer.
Time to make some fundraising calls, senator, the assistant added. When he looked at him, Biden said, “Get the f**k out of the car.”
Connaughton claimed in an interview with Axios that Biden “hides his sharper edge to promote his folksy Uncle Joe image—which is why, when flashes of anger break through, it seems so out of public character.”
