On his first day in office, Joe Biden announced a zero-tolerance policy for those in his administration who treat others disrespectfully. “If you’re ever working with me and I hear you treated another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise I will fire you on the spot…on the spot! No ifs, ands, or buts.”
Yet, less than a month into his presidency, he violated his zero-tolerance policy when he failed to fire Deputy Press Secretary T.J. Ducklo, who spoke inappropriately to a reporter and made misogynistic comments to her. Ducklo was, instead, suspended before he resigned the next day because of the backlash.
Once again, Joe Biden was given the opportunity to make good on his zero-tolerance policy on disrespect … and failed.
After an internal White House investigation found that Dr. Eric Lander, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) director, had been disrespectful to colleagues in front of others, he wasn’t fired by Joe Biden.
Psaki was asked about the investigation into Lander’s behavior earlier in the day during Monday’s press briefing. At the time, it was clear that despite the investigation findings, he was not going to be fired. She explained that Biden “has been crystal clear with all of us about his high expectations of how he and his staff should be creating a respectful work environment,” but that “senior White House officials conveyed directly to Dr. Lander that his behavior was inappropriate and the corrective actions that were needed, which […] the White House will monitor for compliance moving forward.”
Psaki also explained that Lander had informed his staff of some of the steps he was taking to build a respectful work environment while sidestepping questions about whether he should have been fired because of Biden’s first-day pledge to fire anyone who treats colleagues with disrespect.
Dr. Lander resigned hours later.
“The president accepted Dr. Eric Lander’s resignation letter this evening with gratitude for his work at OSTP on the pandemic, the Cancer Moonshot, climate change, and other key priorities,” Psaki said in a statement Monday evening. “He knows that Dr. Lander will continue to make important contributions to the scientific community in the years ahead.”
Once again, Biden violated his zero-tolerance policy for disrespect in his administration.
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Biden himself has repeatedly disrespected others during his presidency. For example, last month, in response to a question from Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich about Putin and Ukraine, Biden muttered under his breath, “What a stupid question.” A couple of days later, Biden called Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy a “stupid son of a b*tch” after asking a question about inflation.
When Joe Biden announced his zero-tolerance policy for disrespect in his administration, he explained it was necessary to restore integrity and competency to government.
“Everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity. That’s been missing in a big way the last four years,” he said. “We’re going to be judged whether or not we restored the integrity and competency [of] this government.”
Well, obviously he’s done neither.
