(TheConservativeNews.org) – President Biden snapped at a reporter who asked about the ongoing debt limit crisis at the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan on Saturday. When asked about the potential crisis — which could see a U.S. default if Congress fails to come to an agreement — the president told a reporter to “shush up.”
The brief but tense moment happened while Biden was speaking one on one with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this weekend at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
“I still believe we’ll be able to avoid a default and we’ll get something decent done,” Biden told reporters while sitting down for a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. “This — this goes in stages,” he said of negotiations between House Republicans and the White House, which broke down on Friday without an agreement in place. Republicans have passed a debt limit bill and are content with raising the limit in exchange for spending cuts, while Democrats have pushed for a clean increase.
When an Australian journalist attempted to ask Biden a question about the situation, the president told him to “shush up, okay?”
“I’ve been in these negotiations before,” Biden said. “What happens is the first meetings weren’t all that progressive. The second ones were. The third one was. And then, what happens is they — the carriers go back to the principals and say, ‘This is what we’re thinking about.’ And then, people put down new claims.”
Annoyed Twitter users slammed Biden as condescending for the command, with some pointing out that if former President Donald Trump had done that to an overzealous member of the press, he wouldn’t have heard the end of it from his usual critics.
Hot Air contributing editor Karen Townsend suggestion that if Trump had this reaction, he would have been condemned in the media. She tweeted, “If Trump does that…”
RedState writer Bonchie made a similar point, reminding viewers of the times CNN reporter Jim Acosta used to berate Trump during press conferences and complain about being victimized by the former president when Trump would get frustrated in response.
Bonchie wrote, “Biden told a reporter to ‘shush up’ today and Jim Acosta will not care.”
Conservative commentator Charles Cooper took a somewhat more optimistic view of Biden’s reaction, saying, “At least he didn’t start pounding a podium decrying ‘MAGA Extremism’ as he claims to work to ‘unify’ the country.”
One Twitter user points out that this is nothing new for Biden, and provides video clips of other situations when Biden lost his temper while being questioned. (Caution, expletive language)
