Joe Biden Snaps at the Press: ‘I Want to Talk About Happy Things Man!’

US President Joe Biden speaks on the June jobs report in the South Court Auditorium of the
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty

President Joe Biden again snapped at reporters on Friday after delivering remarks to celebrate the substantial employment gains in June.

After finishing his remarks, Biden took a few questions from the attendant media, but immediately complained they were too negative.

One reporter asked him about the future of Afghanistan and his proposed timeline of withdrawal of troops from the country.

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the June jobs report in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on July 02, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Biden defended the withdrawal of troops, noting the United States had been in that war for 20 years.

“I want to talk about happy things, man!” Biden replied after a second reporter asked about Afghanistan.

After a third reporter asked Biden about Afghanistan, he grew even more frustrated.

“I’m not going to answer any more questions about Afghanistan,” he replied. “Look it’s the Fourth of July. I’m concerned that you guys are asking me questions that I’ll answer next week.”

“This is a holiday weekend, I’m going to celebrate it,” Biden continued. “Great things happening.”

Biden told the press jobs numbers were up, the economy was up, coronavirus cases were down, the troops were coming home and people were getting back to baseball stadiums.

“I’ll answer all your negative questions… not negative, you’re legitimate question,” he said.

Another reporter asked Biden if he was concerned that enough Americans had been vaccinated to gather and celebrate the holiday in large groups without another coronavirus outbreak.

“I’m not concerned there’s going to be a major outbreak, in other words, that we’re going to have another epidemic nationwide,” Biden said. “But I am concerned that lives will be lost.”

As Biden left the podium, another reporter asked him about whether he was confident his infrastructure deal would make progress in Congress.

“C’mon guys,” he replied. “Have you ever been confident about anything with guarantee … who wants to put money on anything that Congress is going to do?”

“Look folks this is a process,” he continued. “This is a process. I love you guys. but it’s a process.”

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.