Throughout history, US Presidents have relied on press secretaries to promote their agenda and present the administration in a positive light. However, the current press secretary for President Biden, Karine Jean-Pierre, appears to take the notion of bending the truth to a whole new level. Rather than providing a finesse spin on information, Jean-Pierre peppers her statements with blatant lies that can easily be fact-checked in real-time.
One instance of this occurred on April 25th when Jean-Pierre accused Republicans of defunding border security and attempting to put fentanyl on US streets. Her claim was a response to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling proposal, which he presented the previous week.
Jean-Pierre stated, “In the run-up to the 2022 election, House Republicans promised to put cops on the beat. Instead, they are fighting to put fentanyl on the street by defunding border patrol.” She went on to assert that the only things House Republicans were committed to were increased crime, lower economic growth, and more manufacturing jobs sent back to China.
Her comments were met with intense criticism, with the Heritage Foundation accusing the White House of blatant lies and utilizing the media to “shill” their messages. Politicians and commentators took to Twitter to condemn Jean-Pierre’s false claims, questioning how she could repeat such misleading information with a straight face.
In reality, the Border Reinforcement Act of 2023 introduced by House Republicans called for an “immediate resumption of border wall construction,” the hiring of over 22,000 full-time border patrol agents, and the support of local law enforcement. Representative Mark Green (R-TN) demonstrated that Biden’s open border policies had resulted in an influx of fentanyl into the United States, citing federal officials that said the CBP only seized 5-10% of illegal drugs smuggled across the southwest border.
It seems that this is the new messaging tactic from the White House, blatantly lying to the American people with the hope that enough people will believe the lies. Just a month prior to Jean-Pierre’s lies, President Biden himself blamed Republicans for being weak on the border, stating that “MAGA House Republican proposals would slash funding for border security – a move that could allow nearly 900 pounds of fentanyl into our country.” He added that “we need more resources to secure the border, not less.”
The irony of Biden’s comments doesn’t escape anyone, however, as he halted construction of the border wall immediately after taking office and said the border crisis was far less important than other matters. It seems that the White House holds a belief that the media is exclusively on their side, and they are free to say whatever they want.
Perhaps Jean-Pierre’s frequent misstatements come as no surprise given her focus on “Lesbian Visibility Week,” which she celebrated before making false claims about fentanyl. Jean-Pierre became the face of the White House likely due to her being black, female, and ‘queer.’ Unfortunately, her statements have proven her incompetent, and her focus on “visibility and representation” over facts and competency only serves to harm the administration she seeks to promote.
