The staff mass exodus currently happening at the White House has continued this past week as various reports come to light that President Joe Biden is finding himself severely frustrated that his message is failing to get out, and has, on more than one occasion, seemingly angrily reminded the people around him that he is still the president around here.
Mike Gwin, the White House Rapid Response Director, and Michael Kikukawa, the White House press assistant, have both issued statements that claim they are leaving in order to take roles at the U.S. Treasury in public affairs, which is dealing with its own escalating issues in regard to talking about the mounting levels of inflation.
“On a sad note, our dear friend and colleague Michael Gwin will be leaving us for Treasury, where he will serve as deputy assistant secretary for Public Affairs,” announced White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “Gwin has served as the White House director of Rapid Response for the past 16 months, responding to the most challenging and difficult issues imaginable. Yet amidst these often emotionally wrenching stories, Gwin’s poise and moral clarity are unfailing, and his willingness and ability to step up has made him an indispensable member of the team.”
Recently, Biden was forced to bid farewell to his previous main spokesperson, Jen Psaki, as of last month when she left the White House to take a job at MSNBC. Additionally, the White House, just last week, announced that the assistant press secretary Vedant Patel is making a move over to the press office of the State Department, and the White House’s press office chief of staff Amanda Finney has stated their intent to move over to the Energy Department.
This packed exit queue of the White House’s press staffers seems to come after a set of three reports from the various mainstream media outlets that highlighted turmoil and dysfunction throughout the White House.
Just last week, a piece was posted by NBC News that was headlined, “Inside a Biden White House adrift,” which stated, “Amid a rolling series of calamities and sinking approval ratings, the president’s feeling lately is that he just can’t catch a break — and that angst is rippling through his party.”
“Faced with a worsening political predicament, President Joe Biden is pressing aides for a more compelling message and a sharper strategy while bristling at how they’ve tried to stifle the plain-speaking persona that has long been one of his most potent assets,” stated NBC News. “Biden is rattled by his sinking approval ratings and is looking to regain voters’ confidence that he can provide the sure-handed leadership he promised during the campaign, people close to the president say.”
Additionally, The Washington Post jumped onto the train with an article headlined, “White House scrambles on inflation after Biden complains to aides,” which claims that President Biden “fumes privately that administration isn’t doing enough to show concern on high prices.”
“The White House launched a new push Tuesday to contain the political damage caused by inflation after President Biden complained for weeks to aides that his administration was not doing enough to publicly explain the fastest price increases in roughly four decades,” stated the Post.
Biden has even gotten to the point that he has been “reminding his staff that he’s the one who is president,” concluded NBC.