Former Biden Press Secretary Sits Down For Interview With The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner

By
Mark Stevens
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Karine Jean-Pierre’s post-White House book tour was supposed to mark a graceful exit, a rebranding, and maybe even a quiet pivot toward punditry. Instead, it has descended into one of the most unintentionally revealing media implosions of the year — and The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner was the unlucky soul who got a front-row seat to the unraveling.

The former White House Press Secretary, whose book is titled Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines, might have intended to distance herself from the Biden administration’s failures — but the result is a political hall of mirrors. And in her now-viral interview, she manages to confuse, contradict, and alienate nearly everyone listening.


It begins with the central claim of her book: that the Democratic Party wronged her, wronged Biden, wronged Kamala Harris, and, implicitly, wronged the entire concept of identity politics by failing to win in 2024. She says she left the party in protest — not over policy, but over how the leadership handled Biden stepping aside after his disastrous debate against Donald Trump.

But her explanation for that departure quickly descended into chaos. When asked how she reconciles her belief that Trump is a dangerous figure with her opposition to replacing Biden with someone who could beat him, Jean-Pierre offered a muddled monologue about treating people “with dignity,” about the struggles of Black women and LGBTQ individuals, and about how Democrats failed to communicate Biden’s accomplishments — ironically, the very job she was hired to do.

Chotiner, known for his patient but incisive interviewing style, tried repeatedly to cut through the fog. His questions were simple: Why oppose replacing Biden if the polls showed he couldn’t win? Why claim you didn’t think Harris could win, but also say it was “disrespect” to consider replacing her? Why blame the Democratic Party for communication failures when you were the face of that messaging?


The answers were, at best, self-contradictory. At worst, they were political deflections cloaked in the language of victimhood.

One moment in particular captured the absurdity: Jean-Pierre claims she was shocked by the Democratic leadership’s treatment of Biden, saying, “Please, point out where you’ve seen something like that in the Democratic Party before.” Chotiner gently reminded her: wasn’t the problem that Biden could no longer do the job? Her reply? “Nobody knows anything.” It was a stunning shrug from someone who spent years assuring the public that she knew exactly what was going on behind the podium.

And when pressed on Kamala Harris, Jean-Pierre’s defense boiled down to: You wouldn’t understand unless you were a Black woman. It’s an argument that trades reason for identity, and it sidesteps the actual criticism — that Harris, after three years as vice president, failed to earn the trust or support of the broader electorate.


Then there’s the title of the book itself. If Jean-Pierre’s insider perspective was from the “broken White House,” and she means Trump’s White House, not Biden’s — that’s a sleight of hand. Because the public assumed — correctly — that the book would offer a look inside this administration. But when pressed, Jean-Pierre shifted blame to the previous one, suggesting her criticisms of dysfunction weren’t even about the team she worked with every day. The logical gymnastics would make a pretzel blush.

Both the right and left had a field day with the interview, and for good reason. What was supposed to be a moment of vindication for Jean-Pierre turned into an unintentional parody of Beltway politics: a stew of identity rhetoric, blame-shifting, selective outrage, and circular logic.

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