President Joe Biden acknowledged Thursday in a new interview that people were not happy under his administration, as they were fighting historically high inflation and record-high gas prices.

“People are really, really down. They’re really down,” he admitted.

Biden blamed the coronavirus pandemic for everyone’s bad mood, calling for more mental health in the country.

“The need for mental health in America, it has skyrocketed, because people have seen everything upset,” he said. “Everything they’ve counted on upset. But most of its the consequence of what’s happened, what happened as a consequence of the COVID crisis.”

Biden finally broke his record-long period of over 100 days of not allowing any print or broadcast interviews by participating in a 30-minute Oval Office interview with reporters from the Associated Press.

When asked if he was concerned about a recession, Biden denied it was predetermined.

“First of all, it’s not inevitable,” he said. “Secondly, we’re in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation.

The majority of Americans believe the United States is heading for a recession, according to recent polling.

A new poll from The Economist and YouGov shows that 56 percent of respondents believe that the country is currently going through a rescission.

The president urged Americans to ignore the economists who were warning of a looming recession.

“They shouldn’t believe a warning,” he said. “They should just say, ‘Let’s say let’s see which is correct.’”

Biden denied that his multi-trillion spending agenda was responsible for sky-high inflation rates.

“If it’s my fault, why is it the case in every other major industrial country in the world that inflation is higher? You ask yourself that?” he asked defiantly. “I’m not being a wise guy.”

He dismissed claims by Republicans who say his reckless spending only overheated the economy and increased inflation.

“You could argue whether it had on the margin a minor impact on inflation,” he said. “I don’t think it did. And most economists do not. But the idea that it caused inflation is bizarre.”

Biden boasted that the United States was prepared to “own the second quarter of the 21st century” thanks to his leadership.

“That’s not hyperbole, that’s a fact,” he said.