Joe Biden's Explosive Temper Revealed, President Yells at Aides in Interrogative Outbursts: Report
July 10 2023, Published 12:00 p.m. ET
President Joe Biden apparently has a very different persona behind closed doors, according to a new report.
An insider claimed the president, 80, swears and insults staffers while inside the White House, with him consistently saying: “God d*****, how the f*** don’t you know this?!,” “Don’t f******* bulls*** me!” and “Get the f*** out of here!”
“No one is safe,” not even senior aides, one administration official told the outlet. "Behind closed doors, Biden has such a quick-trigger temper that some aides try to avoid meeting alone with him. Some take a colleague, almost as a shield against a solo blast."
In one exchange, Biden ripped apart Jeff Zients — before he became his chief of staff in late 2021 — when there was a COVID testing kit shortage at the time.
However, a spokesperson for Zients declined to give anymore details about the alleged incident. "I'm not going to speak to what internal convos may or may not have happened between Jeff and the president," they told the publication.
The politician will also "grill aides on topics until it's clear they don't know the answer to a question — a routine that some see as meticulous and others call 'stump the chump' or 'stump the dummy,'" the report claimed. "Being yelled at by the president has become an internal initiation ceremony in this White House, aides say — if Biden doesn't yell at you, it could be a sign he doesn't respect you."
“If there is something that’s not in the brief, he’s going to find it,” Ted Kaufman, Biden’s chief of staff from his time as a U.S. senator, stated of his attitude. “It’s not to embarrass people, it’s because he wants to get to the right decision. Most people who have worked for him like the fact that he challenges them and gets them to a better decision.”
Chris Whipple, who wrote The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House, claimed "there's no question that Biden's temper is for real. It may not be as volcanic as Bill Clinton’s, but it’s definitely there.
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Whipple wrote about how former White House press secretary Jen Psaki previously noted, "I said to [Biden] multiple times, 'I'll know we have a really good, trusting relationship when you yell at me the first time.'"
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Axios reported on Biden's temper.