Speaker 1: Wow, what does the White House press correspondent do when
Speaker 1: the president has no press conferences? That's a pretty good question. Um,
Speaker 1: the president is now at well into record territory for
Speaker 1: being a new president without having a press conference. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I still got the Uh, the press brief is sure
Speaker 1: there in the in the basement room. But one of
Speaker 1: our favorite journalists and one of our favorite people in
Speaker 1: the industry, Deborah J. Saunders, who have for recently has
Speaker 1: been the Las Vegas Review Journals White House correspondent for
Speaker 1: going on like five years. I guess uh is hanging
Speaker 1: up for spurs. It's a curious accessory for a woman
Speaker 1: reporter to wear spurs. But Debora J. Joins us. Now, Hi, Debora,
Speaker 1: how are you fine? How are you doing? We're good.
Speaker 1: You know, we've been meaning to chat with you, and
Speaker 1: it's been too long. But I was kind of surprised
Speaker 1: to hear that you're you're calling it good. You're gonna
Speaker 1: stop being the White House correspondent? What gives? What's up?
Speaker 1: It's a burnout job. I mean, there are not a
Speaker 1: lot of people in their sixties who cover the White House,
Speaker 1: right and four years is a really long time. So, uh,
Speaker 1: I just thought I'd try. I thought I'd try to
Speaker 1: cover Joe Biden. People said it would be so much easier,
Speaker 1: but you know that I still wasn't I still wasn't
Speaker 1: done from the burnout of covering Trump, and I just
Speaker 1: wasn't enjoying it. Well, that's perfectly good reason, and that
Speaker 1: that can happen with any job. Yeah. So, um, but
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, it's it's a it's a there's
Speaker 1: no easy president to follow. Let me just say that. So, well,
Speaker 1: there's less chaos involved with covering Joe Biden. It's still
Speaker 1: he's still a president. He's still making a lot of
Speaker 1: policy changes, He's doing a lot of things. He's got
Speaker 1: a new team, breaking in a new uh team was
Speaker 1: not high on my list. So well, so you're the
Speaker 1: perfect person to ask this. So because I haven't been
Speaker 1: real concerned about the fact that Joe Biden hasn't had
Speaker 1: a press conference yet, because you know, just because that's
Speaker 1: the way presidents did it for a long time doesn't
Speaker 1: mean it will continue forever. Um. Times have changed. Trump
Speaker 1: didn't have press conferences, but he'd stand there outside the
Speaker 1: airplane and answer questions for two hours. Um, do do
Speaker 1: you think this is a big deal or or not. Well,
Speaker 1: I think it's it's it speaks to the fact that
Speaker 1: everyone who watches this White House thinks that they're trying
Speaker 1: to keep Joe Biden away from the press as much
Speaker 1: as possible, because he's old, because he doesn't seem to
Speaker 1: be really as sharp as he could see, because he
Speaker 1: stumbles on his words, because he he just is. He's
Speaker 1: not exuberant, and and it seems pretty clear to me
Speaker 1: that they've figured out that it's just better to limit
Speaker 1: his exposure. They'll do a press conference, let's say after
Speaker 1: sixty they said they'll do him this month, right, and
Speaker 1: then they'll extend it out longer, and they'll extend it
Speaker 1: out longer again because he just, uh, there is And
Speaker 1: as you were called, during the campaign, he would do
Speaker 1: these press briefings and he would just call on four
Speaker 1: or five people his staff told him who to call on.
Speaker 1: It was just done in a way that show that
Speaker 1: they really want to micromanage every uh exchange that they
Speaker 1: have with the press. And that's just not you know,
Speaker 1: that's totally the opposite of Donald Trump, where you never
Speaker 1: knew when he was going to talk to the press,
Speaker 1: and at times he would talk forever Cardi B managed
Speaker 1: to wind an interview with the president. Are you quitting
Speaker 1: just because you're jealous you wish you were a journalist?
Speaker 1: As Cardi B that's true. She has had more access
Speaker 1: to Joe Biden than I have slightly more serious question,
Speaker 1: what do you think of Jen Saki is a White
Speaker 1: House press secretary? So, um, when when you all reached
Speaker 1: out to me, you wanted to know what, how are
Speaker 1: they different? And uh, Donald Trump has high turnover. He
Speaker 1: went through four press secretaries in four years, and none
Speaker 1: of the people who are as press secretary. Could you
Speaker 1: imagine being a press secretary for any other president? Jen Psaki,
Speaker 1: you could imagine working for a lot of Democrats. And
Speaker 1: this is sort of you know, this is this is
Speaker 1: a much more organizational White House. Uh. And so she
Speaker 1: she's obviously she feels her job is to manage information
Speaker 1: in a way that is positive to Joe Biden, and
Speaker 1: that's what she does well. So that gets to my
Speaker 1: the ultimate question about whether this matters or not. So
Speaker 1: Joe Biden is not having press conferences because it's so
Speaker 1: old and they're afraid you'll have an old moment. I
Speaker 1: get that completely, But in terms of the nation getting
Speaker 1: information it needs from the head of the executive branch?
Speaker 1: Are are we just getting it through Jen Saki? And
Speaker 1: so everything is fine in terms of finding out what
Speaker 1: we need to know. I mean, I'm sure that that's
Speaker 1: the way they would argue with and there's some truth
Speaker 1: to that. I mean, if you want to know what
Speaker 1: the policies are going to be now. Famously, one time,
Speaker 1: um the president talking about how he wanted to have
Speaker 1: schools that co operational, and then she said that then
Speaker 1: that could mean you know, the most schools being open
Speaker 1: one day a week, and then Joe Biden had to
Speaker 1: take that back. Uh So you're going to see things
Speaker 1: like that happening. But I think, you know, policies can
Speaker 1: come out other ways of Kamala Harris is out there
Speaker 1: talking a lot, and I think that you're just going
Speaker 1: to see. Uh I think I think they've decided that.
Speaker 1: Uh Joe Biden is just somebody who comes across the
Speaker 1: best the more he's managed and choreographed, and that's what
Speaker 1: they're gonna do. And by the way, the way he
Speaker 1: appears in public doesn't necessarily mean that he's not behind
Speaker 1: the scenes, you know, leading everything. Uh So, so I mean,
Speaker 1: I I know a lot of people are highly skeptical
Speaker 1: about him, but you know, it could be that. I remember, um,
Speaker 1: he came to the San Francisco Chronical when I worked there.
Speaker 1: It was two thousand seven, and the whole hour he
Speaker 1: kept saying a run when he met a rock. He's
Speaker 1: always had these little language which is where he says
Speaker 1: things wrong. Two thousand seven is fourteen years ago. That's right,
Speaker 1: he's got he has issues and how we communicates, and
Speaker 1: he always has. And Uh. One thing I thought about
Speaker 1: getting older is often things that are issues for you
Speaker 1: become bigger issues as you age. So I think that
Speaker 1: they're you know, they figured out that there they just
Speaker 1: have they don't They don't have to explain as much
Speaker 1: the less they have them out there doing that, so
Speaker 1: they'll do it at some point. The question really won't
Speaker 1: be when does he do the press conference? The question
Speaker 1: is how many people does he call them? Deborah Jay
Speaker 1: Sanders at Las Vegas Review Journal on the line, you know,
Speaker 1: to Jack's question, which I think is a really good question,
Speaker 1: I think it does matter because your press secretary is
Speaker 1: a shameless spinmeister, says all sorts of stuff, or I'll
Speaker 1: have to get back to your and and then then
Speaker 1: it's it's a bull crap fest. Whereas the president, if
Speaker 1: the president answers the question, makes a statement. You know,
Speaker 1: that's the president speaking. It's like if I sent my
Speaker 1: is to ask my wife why she's mad at me.
Speaker 1: It's just different. That's not a bad idea. I might
Speaker 1: start doing that. Yeah, anyway, so devil, we just we
Speaker 1: just have another minute or so. Uh, you have any
Speaker 1: idea what you're gonna do now? Sports pages, classified ads
Speaker 1: still exist. I'm really just trying to catch up on
Speaker 1: my sleep. Um, I just haven't slept well in four years.
Speaker 1: So I'm just trying to relax and then I'll come
Speaker 1: back and look at things. But um, I just really
Speaker 1: get a point where I just needed to take a break.
Speaker 1: Debor J. Saunder is one of the good ones. It's
Speaker 1: a shame to see you hanging up your pen there
Speaker 1: your typewriter, keyboard, but it's great to talk to you.
Speaker 1: We wish you well, thank you, thank you. So. I've
Speaker 1: always loved doing the show, and I hear from people
Speaker 1: all the time who love you, know, love your show
Speaker 1: so much, and I get why, thank you. So you
Speaker 1: hang around dumb people that's nice, that's great. I can't.
Speaker 1: I can't. Well, we'll talk best wishes. I'm kidding. I
Speaker 1: would not insult the audience like that. That would be
Speaker 1: career suicide to do that. I would not do that.
Speaker 1: We're talking on Friday about Matt Tybee, Rolling Stone and
Speaker 1: sub Stack, liberal journalist who says the journalists now are
Speaker 1: doing suff such a softball treatment of President Biden. I
Speaker 1: mean just he compared it to the Soviet Union, where
Speaker 1: all the headlines are just so ridiculous, and I just
Speaker 1: you know, as we get more of our old school
Speaker 1: journalists headed out and more young people headed in, I
Speaker 1: think we're gonna get more of that not less yummy,
Speaker 1: yummy boot licking, and get