Traditionally over the years, the news division of the company broadcasting the Super Bowl has interviewed the president. When Joe Biden campaigned to be president, he promised a return to normal. He said the professionals would be in charge of government again. Since he began his term as president, things have been anything but normal. Here we are at Super Bowl weekend and another example of Biden’s not-normal America pops up.
Biden refused to commit to doing an interview with an anchor from Fox News Channel, this year’s Super Bowl broadcast channel. Think Bret Baier. Nope. Apparently, Joe Biden is scared to face a political journalist on America’s most-watched cable news network. Instead of agreeing to an interview with FNC, Team Biden negotiated an interview on Fox Soul, a Fox streaming service. Ever heard of it? Me, neither.
Fox Soul is an ad-supported streaming service that launched in 2020 and targets its content to Black Americans.
Oh, ok. Now it makes sense. Biden is turning the Super Bowl interview into a racial thing. Typical Joe Biden. That is Joe’s normal. Karine Jean-Pierre, a political hire that hits the trifecta in the Biden administration – she’s an immigrant, black, and a lesbian – let the cat out of the bag. After two days of back and forth between Fox and the White House, Biden is going with Fox Soul, not the news division of FNC.
The President was looking forward to an interview with Fox Soul to discuss the Super Bowl, the State of the Union, and critical issues impacting the everyday lives of Black Americans. We’ve been informed that Fox Corp has asked for the interview to be cancelled.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) February 10, 2023
Joe Biden wants to focus on 13% of the American population instead of 100% of the population, though he keeps insisting he is president of all Americans. He’s running for re-election in 2024 and it is crucial for him to win over black voters.
The reporting on the negotiations has been confusing. It’s been reported that Biden manned up and said he would sit for an interview with FNC, then it was reported he would not. The White House announced a deal with Fox Soul and then said there wasn’t a deal. It looks like this decision is final. Fox rightly points out that Biden is missing a huge opportunity to speak to millions of Americans.
The Fox Soul interview is back on, but President Biden still isn’t speaking with Fox News, which Variety reported would be the case Friday morning. “We offered an interview with our top news anchors with no strings attached—they’re walking away from a huge audience and it’s a major missed opportunity,” a Fox News executive reportedly told the news outlet.
Maybe that’s the point. Biden’s handlers are too nervous to turn him loose with a real journalist. They don’t want him to be confronted with real questions. Maybe the Fox Soul hosts will ask him about his ice cream flavor choices for the big game. Vivica A. Fox and Mike Hill. Alrighty, then. Biden sat down with Univision this week. He did a warm and fuzzy interview with Judy Woodruff on PBS. He’s checking all the boxes. Now it’s time to pander to black voters.
NFL fans are fed up with politics in their football game, though. A new poll out by The Trafalgar Group shows 84.4% of those polled want to just focus on the game. 10.0% are good with political or cultural statements. The numbers are about the same for both Republicans and Democrats. Voters in both political parties just want to watch the game. 76.7% of Democrats want to focus on the game, while 15.6% want political or cultural statements. With Republicans, the numbers are a whopping 93.4% that want to focus on the game, while 3.7% like political or cultural statements. 82.2% of independent voters want to focus on the game, while 11.3% like political or cultural statements.
Those numbers track with television ratings for NFL games and the Super Bowl. Social justice messaging has tanked professional sports viewing ratings. Fans don’t want to be lectured to by wealthy virtue-signaling athletes. They want to watch the game and enjoy the distraction from everyday life.
Joe Biden isn’t up to a real interview. He has to stick with friendly interviewers who will go easy on him. He has no business running for re-election, yet he will soon announce he is doing just that. His choice of Fox Soul is further proof of it.
Discussion about this post