Is Joe Biden so ‘boring’ comedians, GOP can’t parody him? Trump’s term was never short on material or ratings
The latest complaint in news discourse is that President Joe Biden appears to be rather boring, especially after years of relentless satire that came at the expense of his predecessor, former President Donald J. Trump.
Major news outlets are starting to get annoyed that, unlike the Trump era, Biden's press engagements seem more of a drag, coupled with the fact that he hasn't gone on a headline-grabbing rant in front of a buzzing helicopter even once since taking office.
RELATED ARTICLES
Last week, the Washington Post editorial board warned that "avoiding news conferences must not become a regular habit for Mr. Biden." The clamor for press conferences led by the president himself only grew louder over the weekend, with top White House correspondents such as Jonathan Karl of ABC News saying "reporters like press conferences and will always demand them" and stressing that "press conferences are for the public's benefit." Meanwhile, Peter Baker of the New York Times noted on Twitter how "at this point in office, Trump had given five news conferences. Obama had given two, George W. Bush three and Clinton five. Biden so far has given zero."
At this point in office, Trump had given five news conferences. Obama had given two, George W. Bush three and Clinton five. Biden so far has given zero. @farhip https://t.co/h4HVeyd8kx
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) March 13, 2021
Biden's opponents on the other side of the political aisle also appear to be frustrated by his silence and are commenting on cultural controversies such as Mr. Potato Head's gender instead as there are no headline-worthy presidential statements to ridicule. Republicans have not faced such an issue with past Democratic leaders, a case in point being former President Barack Obama.
Last week, Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz described the new administration's first six weeks in the White House as "boring but radical." Speaking to Fox News, Cruz alleged that Biden was deliberately being "very boring" in order to "hide his radical policy agenda," hearkening to long-held concerns on the Right that Vice President Kamala Harris and other "radical left" factions of the Democratic Party are actually in control of the presidency.
"Three words to describe the first weeks of the Biden administration: boring but radical," Cruz reiterated on Twitter Saturday morning.
Three words to describe the first weeks of the Biden administration: boring but radical. pic.twitter.com/dEDeHFjOCo
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) March 13, 2021
The Texas senator, whose popularity within the GOP rose after his fervent support for Trump, accused the Biden administration of being "willing to destroy your business. He is willing to destroy your job. He is willing to destroy your family." Cruz told Breitbart News on Saturday that there was "no testing" for undocumented immigrants at the southern border, but U.S. citizens were being forced to wear masks and remain in lockdown amid the pandemic.
That said, Biden's performance in front of the cameras is being increasingly compared to Trump, with many liberal pundits predicting that the former president is going to strengthen his hold over the GOP in the next four years.
"He's going to loom large," Axios CEO Jim VandeHei told CNN of Trump's political future while he was still in office. "He's going to announce that he's going to run in 2024. He's going to have the RNC under his control."
VandeHei said Biden was "more boring" and "more conventional" than Trump. He clarified that those were affectionate adjectives, but noted that the 45th POTUS had boosted cable news network viewership numbers as well as web traffic on news sites by way of his hourly tweets and daily theatrics.
The Axios co-founder and CEO said he was expecting to see a dip in ratings and traffic in political news coverage after Trump left office. Biden's lack of newsworthy material could tempt newspapers and TV stations to continue covering Trump, considering he helped increase viewership on their reportage across the country, VandeHei added. He said many organizations had already diversified operations in order to withstand a drop in ratings once Biden took office.
Last week, right-wingers poked fun at the Washington Post after an opinion piece by author Richard Zoglin said Biden was too "devoid of obvious quirks" for comedians to effectively parody him like they did Trump.
"Comedians are struggling to parody Biden. Let’s hope this doesn’t last," Zoglin titled his op-ed, expressing regret that late-night comedians, who "had mastered at least a rough approximation of Trumpspeak," had been spending time mocking Republicans like Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell instead of Biden himself.
"The voice is too bland and devoid of obvious quirks, and beyond the occasional ‘C’mon, man,’ his conversational manner too muted and self-effacing, to give the parodists much to work with," Zoglin wrote of the sitting president. Furthermore, he wrote that Biden's "pleasantly boring presidency has been a welcome return to normality." However, he failed to acknowledge that liberal TV comedians and late-night hosts were less likely to make fun of a president they support.
Veteran comedian and radio host Joe Piscopo, who played Ronald Reagan on 'Saturday Night Live' during his first presidential term, strongly disagreed there was nothing out there to lampoon Biden.
"There is so much material," Piscopo recently told Fox News. "You can’t make up Joe Biden doing almost 50 executive orders and the camera, when it slips a little bit, Kamala Harris is waiting to dive in. Fair is fair, if you’re going to go after one person, you should go after everybody."
Piscopo said that Maya Rudolph, who played Harris in the lead-up to the election, should be working hard to spoof the vice president. He noted that Biden's family also offers a ton of comic material to work on.
"She should be playing Kamala Harris ready to jump in there. She’s following Joe around with everything he does," Piscopo said. "Hunter Biden got a $2 million book deal, what is the name of the book, ’50 shades of my laptop?’ It’s teed up, man. Come on!"
Last month, comedian Adam Carolla argued that shows like 'SNL' were simply too scared of ridiculing Biden for fear of being "canceled" overnight.
"Honestly, I get what there is to hate about Donald Trump," Carolla said on 'America's Newsroom'. "What is there to love about Joe Biden? That's the bigger question if you're SNL. OK, you hated Trump, fine. Why do you love Joe Biden? There's nothing to love about Joe Biden, unless you're scared of being canceled, and the fact that this cancel culture has drifted over to comedy is absolutely insane," he insisted.