During an Air Force One briefing, White House Deputy Press Secretary and Senior Communications Adviser Andrew Bates responded to a question about Donald Trump’s recent social media post about cocaine found in the White House. Bates declined to address the specific claim due to the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in certain political activities. However, he took the opportunity to contrast Trump’s presidency with that of President Joe Biden, suggesting that Trump’s frustration may stem from the differences in their policy records.
Bates highlighted the achievements of the Biden administration, emphasizing the focus on the middle class and the success in areas such as infrastructure and manufacturing. He mentioned that under Biden’s leadership, manufacturing jobs have been brought back at the fastest rate in modern history, and the construction of manufacturing facilities has doubled in just two and a half years. Bates also pointed out that Medicare is now negotiating lower drug costs, which was a campaign promise made by others in the past.
He further noted that the Biden administration inherited an economy in decline but managed to turn it around by creating more jobs in two years than any other president in four. Bates suggested that frustration may arise among those who worked in the previous administration due to the stark contrast between the policy achievements of the two administrations.
Bates concluded by mentioning the announcement from Enphase, a private sector company, which aligns with the Biden administration’s goal of growing the economy by supporting the middle class. He highlighted that private sector investment has surpassed $500 billion under Biden’s policies, emphasizing the importance of job creation and initiatives like the Inflation Reduction Act.
In his response, Bates used the question about Trump’s social media post as an opportunity to showcase the accomplishments of the Biden administration and draw a contrast between the two presidents’ policy records.
JORDAN FABIAN: One more. You know, President — former President Trump has made some pretty wild posts recently on social media. One of them was that the cocaine found in the White House was — had belonged to either the President or his son. Are you willing to say that that’s not the case, that they don’t belong to them?
MR. BATES: I don’t have a response to that because we have to be careful about the Hatch Act.
What I will say is that I have noticed there does seem to be some increasing frustration coming from that corner in general. And I think it is probably rooted in the contrast between their substantive policy records.
As you have all covered, there is a long list of areas where this administration succeeded for the middle class where our predecessor did not. For example, infrastructure is no longer a punchline. And now the biggest infrastructure investments in 70 years are rebuilding America.
President Biden is bringing manufacturing jobs back at the fastest rate in modern history. And like I mentioned, we have doubled the construction of manufacturing facilities in just two and a half years. Whereas during the previous administration, it only grew at an anemic 2 percent.
Medicare is now negotiating lower drug costs. I’m old enough to remember when that was someone else’s campaign promise.
The economy we inherited was in freefall. We turned it around by creating more jobs in two years than any other president in four.
So it would be unsurprising if there’s a little bit of frustration on the part of people who worked in the last administration.
And, of course, this dovetails with today’s announcement from Enphase. It comes at a moment when we have crossed the threshold of $500 billion in private sector investment due to Bidenomics, which is about growing our economy by growing the middle class. There is no better way to do that than giving people good jobs coming to America, thanks to policies like the Inflation Reduction Act.
