President Biden has been showing a quick and easily provoked temper with his aides in the White House, Axios reported. This goes against the image he has carefully crafted as a friendly and gentle grandfather figure.
Report states President Biden reportedly has a short temper and curses at White House aides when in private
Current and former aides of the 80-year-old president have shared that he has used offensive language. These include insulting remarks, like “God dammit, how the f– don’t you know this?!” or “Don’t f–ing bulls–t me!” and even “Get the f– out of here!”
Some individuals are so afraid of facing the president’s anger that they bring their colleagues along to meetings as a sort of protection against Biden’s harsh language.
An administration official told the outlet that “No one is safe,” not even senior staff members.
President Biden confronted Jeff Zients, the former COVID czar and current White House chief of staff, in late 2021. This confrontation was regarding the mishandling of the testing kit distribution for the Omicron variant.
Additionally, the president has a tendency to aggressively question and challenge West Wing staffers, aiming to test their knowledge on various subjects. This questioning style has been referred to as “speaking Biden.”
“If there is something that’s not in the brief, he’s going to find it,” Ted Kaufman, Biden’s chief of staff from his time as a US senator, told the outlet.
“There’s no question that the Biden temper is for real,” said Chris Whipple, author of “The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House.” “It may not be as volcanic as Bill Clinton’s, but it’s definitely there.”
Insights from former White House staff and campaign aides shed light on Biden’s leadership style
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, presently an MSNBC host, was quoted in Whipple’s book as telling Biden. “I know we have a really good, trusting relationship when you yell at me the first time,” she stated.
Jeff Connaughton, Kaufman’s ex-chief of staff and a former Biden campaign aide, called the now-president an “egomaniacal autocrat”. He added that the president was “determined to manage his staff through fear” in his 2012 book “The Payoff: Why Wall Street Wins.”
Connaughton reported that Biden shouted at one aide to “Get the f–k out of the car” during his 2008 presidential campaign. This happened after the staffer told him it was “time to do some fundraising calls.”
