President Joe Biden is hardly the only U.S. politician who uses a teleprompter.
But according to the Washington Post, he uses it in a wider variety of settings — even small ones. And a report by Post journalists Matt Viser, Tyler Pager and Josh Dawsey describes the challenges that this poses for members of his White House staff.
"For much of his political career, one of Biden's hallmarks has been his plain-spokenness, his identity as an off-the-cuff pol who did little to shield his real thoughts," the reporters explain in an article published on the 4th of July. "He was a self-professed 'gaffe machine,' a trait that endeared him to voters even if it gave his advisers heartburn."
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Viser, Pager and Dawsey add, "In recent years, his aides have tried to rein him in more, especially as he ascended to a position where a small verbal misstep can have global impact."
"Teleprompter Joe," they explain, has recently "replaced the off-the-cuff president." But during his June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump, Biden "could not read notes and did not have the benefit of a teleprompter."
"In the past year," according to Viser, Pager and Dawsey, "Biden has almost never appeared in public without the use of the teleprompter. The rare exception are news conferences, which have been few and far between, and media interviews, which he has granted more rarely than any recent president, according to tallies."
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has stressed that Biden's teleprompter use is nothing out of the ordinary for a politician.
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But Viser, Pager and Dawsey report, "Biden's reliance on a teleprompter has become increasingly problematic, some aides and donors say, at high-dollar fundraisers, where supporters are paying thousands of dollars for a private audience with the president, often in intimate settings. The campaign fielded a flurry of concerns in particular after an April fundraiser in Chicago at the home of Michael Sacks, a major Democratic donor."
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