Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to First Lady Jill Biden, responded to the question of the influence the first lady has over her husband on “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Tuesday night.
Jill Biden is Reportedly Jill Biden, who has the Marine Corps band play the “Hail to the Chief”-style entrance theme, is reportedly the most influential person when it comes to Biden's reelection. Fox News host Jesse Watters asked her about her role in keeping President Joe Biden the Democratic nominee.
“Tell me a little bit about Dr. Jill. We don't know her like you know Dr. Jill. She seems to be telling Joe to 'stay home' and not listening to the press or anyone else at all. Why?” Watters asked.
Biden dropped out of the 1988 presidential campaign. Reports In September 1987, Biden was found to have plagiarized a speech by Neil Kinnock, leader of the British opposition Labour Party. LaRosa told Watters that the plagiarism scandal was a “scar” and a “big lesson” for him and Biden.
“What was so interesting about that George Stephanopoulos interview was he said, even if we lost, we would still go all out. And you got a lot of flak for that, right? It reminded me a lot of what happened in '87, because he was supposed to be at a hearing to chair a committee hearing right after he'd bowed out that day. And this was really supposed to be the next step in his political rehabilitation for him. Jill was sitting across from him and she heard him say something very similar to, 'Well, at least now I can focus on this hearing,' and she interrupted him and grabbed him by the shoulders and she grabbed him by the collar and she said, 'No, you have to win at all costs.' And she knew that was kind of a payback moment for him,” LaRosa said.
“And I think they were thrown out of that race and learned a long time ago that statements and polls and pundits are not going to throw them out again,” he continued. “And I think that moment hurt them, Jesse. She'd never had her character or her integrity attacked before. He'd been groomed for 15 years to run for president. He was our next candidate, our great hope. And the way that race ended was pretty devastating for them. But it was kind of a big lesson in political warfare. She's from Philadelphia, like you, and she loves to fight.”
“Yeah, we love to fight. We love to fight. And we just do it for fun. We don't care,” Watters said. “Did you hear Michael Moore, the top guy, accuse Dr. Jill Biden of elder abuse? What would Dr. Jill have to say about that?” (Related article: “Where the hell are they?” Former press secretary Jill Biden lashes out at ex-Biden associates for “gaslighting” supporters and media)
“She said she didn't like politics, but she loved him,” LaRosa responded. “He never got in the way of her career, and she never wanted to get in the way of his. They never got in the way of their, you know, their ambitions. It wasn't a '50s 'Beavers' sitcom. They were pretty independent. They split up and had independent professional lives out of each other's shadows.”
“So she definitely won't — probably won't. This is his decision. She and Jill and her advisors and his sister and family will probably be there advising. But Jill won't be making this decision alone, and I don't know if the Democratic Party really wants her to make a decision for the party. And I don't think she wants to make that decision. I don't think she's comfortable with it,” LaRosa told Watters.
In post-debate interviews, including with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, MSNBC's “Morning Joe” and two Black radio hosts in Milwaukee and Philadelphia, Biden reiterated his intention to seek reelection in 2024. Jill Biden departed Monday to campaign for Biden in three states, Guaranteed Her husband told voters he was “fully committed.”
