Did President Biden Joke About Running Over a Reporter in a Car?

He made clear he was joking, but yes.

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A number of viral social media posts claim that President Joe Biden said he would answer a question about Israel from a reporter only if she got “in front of the car” as he stepped on the gas. Some posts more generally referenced Biden saying he would run over a journalist. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    The Stray Goose

    Watch the entire clip. Listen to the press that's standing there laugh about how funny Biden is. Could you imagine if Trump said that...

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  2. Avatar photo
    Victor Clairmont

    Biden in a truck with big tires?

    I guess his joke went flat.

    (⌐■_■)

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  3. Avatar photo
    rlritt

    Genius. No one is talking about US and Israel, because they're all too busy talking about how Biden joked about running some woman over. He is really clever.

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  4. Nicco

    When I was a child, if I said something mean to my friend/sibling, I would often follow it with, “just kidding!” to avoid getting in trouble. Inevitably, I still got in trouble because what I said was inappropriate.
    Biden’s remark was inappropriate, and he ought to apologize to the reporter (and all reporters) for (even jokingly) threatening their life in response to them doing their job.
    Trump and his supporters played the “joke” card all the time, even when it wasn’t clear he was joking. I thought we had moved on from that…

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    1. Avatar photo
      MG

      I don’t think what happened was the reporter “doing her job” in the normal sense.

      Biden was having a conversation with a Ford rep for a bit about the truck. Then he got a question about the test drive. Right as he was about to take off, he gets this request about Israel.

      I don’t think the Israel question was meant in earnest, and Biden’s response didn’t feel out of place.

      If this were a press conference, that’s one thing. But the president was about to launch a prototype truck. It didn’t strike me as out of order for him to make such a joke.

      ...and I feel obligated to add that I’m no Biden fan.

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      1. Nicco

        I mean, a reporter asked a gotcha question. Just because Biden didn’t want to and/or was unprepared to answer in that setting doesn’t mean that’s out of the scope of her job description. Even if it’s bad journalism (I’m not sure it is), the President of the United States joking about killing a member of the free press because she asked a question he didn’t want to answer is at least inappropriate, and Biden should acknowledge that.

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About Alec Dent

Alec Dent is the culture editor and a staff writer for The Dispatch. He is a graduate of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC Chapel Hill, and previously oversaw The Dispatch's fact checking team.
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