Biden Press Chief: Trump Has Same Problem We Did

Karine Jean-Pierre says she's watching a familiar communications failure play out in Washington—only this time, it's President Trump doing the stumbling and not her former boss, Joe Biden. In a New York Times opinion piece, the former press secretary recounts how the Biden White House struggled to sell an economy that looked strong on paper while voters were fixated on grocery, gas, and rent prices. They kept pushing charts and slogans, she writes, instead of directly acknowledging that many Americans simply didn't feel the recovery, and the message never caught up to the mood.

Jean-Pierre argues Trump is running the same playbook, only under worse conditions: inflation is higher than when he took office again, the Fed has hiked rates, markets are unsettled, and his trade and Iran policies add pressure. Yet he keeps insisting the US is "the hottest country" economically and suggesting "affordability" is a bogus concern—an approach she says ignores voters' daily reality in a media ecosystem driven by TikToks at the gas pump, not podium briefings. "Once people believe their government is not speaking to their reality, it becomes incredibly difficult to earn that trust back," she writes. "I felt that tension every day in the White House briefing room. I see it happening again now." Read the full essay.