Biden jokes ‘I’m looking for a job’ after being forced out of race: ‘I got contacts’
WASHINGTON — President Biden joked Wednesday that he’s looking for work after being forced out of the presidential campaign last month and that he’s considering a job in viral social media content creation.
“I’m looking for a job,” the 81-year-old joked at his only public event of the day — hailing the assembled online influencers for producing the content that his grandchildren are consuming.
“What do you think when I retire? What do you think? I got contacts, man,” Biden said to laughter in the White House-adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Biden, who is more commonly the target of viral content and online memes, sought to build his own digital brand during his term of office with staff producing artistic images of him as “Dark Brandon” wearing aviators and shooting laser beams from his eyes.
The president also asked at the content-creator event if the White House press corps in the room was the “real” or “fake press” — before clarifying he was trying to be humorous, after routinely bashing his predecessor Donald Trump as irresponsible for using such dismissive terms for journalists.
Biden concluded the event by asking if “any of the non-press” wanted to ask him a question.
When journalist Raquel Krahenbuhl of Brazil’s Globo News TV tried to ask Biden a question about Venezuela’s disputed election, Biden chided, “I’m not talking to you guys.”
“Shhhhhh!” Biden told the female reporter as she persisted. “I’m not going to answer your question, I’m talking to them first.”
Biden ultimately did take one reporter’s question – on inflation – saying he was encouraged by new annual data showing a slight decrease and that he still expected a “soft landing.”
He ignored another question about new documents showing his son Hunter lobbied US officials on behalf of Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
