Some White House staffers have been forced to tiptoe around President Biden when briefing him on certain topics because they want to avoid eliciting his wrath and are “scared s–tless” of him, a new report says.
“It’s like, ‘You can’t include that, that will set him off,’ or ‘Put that in, he likes that,’”a senior administration official told Politico, referring to how some of the 81-year-old president’s aides feel they have to walk through a minefield before briefings to avoid him getting angry with them.
“It’s a Rorschach test, not a briefing,” the source said. “Because he is not a pleasant person to be around when he’s being briefed. It’s very difficult, and people are scared s—less of him.”
Biden “doesn’t take advice from anyone other than those few top aides, and it becomes a perfect storm because he just gets more and more isolated from their efforts to control it,” the source said.
The White House vehemently rejected the characterizations of the president, with Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates stressing to The Post on Tuesday, “That’s simply not who he is.”
In the past, allegations have emerged about Biden having a hair-trigger temper and reaming out aides — sometimes with profane language — when vexed by certain developments.
The president’s temper has flared publicly on occasion, too, including when faced with tough questions from The Post.