Biden versus Trump as communicators

Much of the focus on presidential impromptu statements – and even, to some extent, in prepared statements – is on the veracity of what is said.  But there is little analysis of the communication styles that are seen in President Biden and President Trump.

While there is a lot of focus on interpretations of honesty and truthfulness – the stuff the so-called fact-checkers offer up – there is less analysis of the overarching communications styles.  In the cases of Biden and Trump, the approach to informing the public is as divergent as possible.

Putting aside what he says for the moment, there can be no doubt that Trump has been the most accessible and open president with the press and the public in American history.  Conversely, Biden has been one of the least communicative presidents – making Silent Cal Coolidge seem like a chatterbox.

The irony is that both their styles have disserved to a large measure.   We have seen that with Trump over the course of more than four years.  Biden’s communication style has become a burden in more recent months.

Trump never ducked press questions.  He would stand in press conferences answering media inquires for hours.  He virtually never – and maybe literally never – walked pass the press on the back lawn of the White House without responding to questions.  His practice of stopping for questions was so common that semi-permanent structures were constructed on the White House lawn to accommodate the press.  It was literally an adjunct to the in-house press room – and used even more often.

Trump also invited the press to sit in on many of the meetings and discussions in the Cabinet Room.  These were more than the photo-op deals of the past – in which the press would be invited in to take a few photos and then ushered out before the meeting commenced.

Trump would give the press corps free reign when he was holding a joint press briefing with heads of state.  They could ask any question they wished.  They could ignore the guest-of-honor to pursue questions totally unrelated to the visit.  That was evident when CNN’s Jim Acosta infamously yelled questions from the back of the room when Trump was meeting with the Prime Minister of India.

Trump’s style tended to diminish the importance and influence of the White House communications crew.  Official announcements and statements would be blown away almost immediately when Trump went off the cuff – as he almost always did.

While Trump would occasionally orate from the teleprompter, he was prone to “going off script.”  And those are the ad libs that would often garner the greatest media attention – especially negative attention.

Trump’s openness would have been a huge benefit to his public image if it were not for the fact that he would shoot off his mouth in ways and over subjects that did not reflect well on him or his presidency. He used his on-camera moments to display his pugnacious personality and his casual relationship to the facts.  He has a braggadocios nature – and it was a constant in his off-hand comments.

In short, Trump talked too much.  And he resisted the many friends and advisors who suggested he stay out of the public eye a bit more – and stick to scripts on critical topics.

Now we have Biden.

Biden is not an effective public communicator.  Never has been.  Unlike Trump, Biden seems to know it.  Therefore he is among the least open and transparent presidents since President Franklin Roosevelt discovered the power of the radio.

Biden relies on fairly frequent national addresses on various topics. He relies on a script carefully crafted by his staff – and he sticks to the script.  That is because he has a long history of making gaffes when unleashed from the written words.

Biden does not like press conferences – and he avoids conducting them as if everyone in the room was unmasked and tested positive for Covid.  Even when he does take inquiries from the press, the number of questions is severely limited and the selection of reporters to ask the questions is pre-arranged.  That has led to suspicions that even the questions are previewed by the White House staff. 

It is not coincident that Biden has the answer prepared on a page in his briefing book.  He has been noticed looking for the page before the question has been completed.  

Unlike Trump, Biden relies heavily on prepared text, briefing points, and pocket notes.  He often shows his dependency by fumbling for the correct piece of paper – or has even blurted out that he is looking for something his people prepared for him.  He is much like a magician who cannot conceal how the trick is done.

Where Trump’s style diminishes the importance of the White House press secretary, Biden has made Jen Psaki the voice of the White House.  Without access to the President, the White House press corps must rely on getting the information carefully filtered and second-hand.

Biden will sit for an occasional interview – but only with the friendliest reporter.  You rarely see a hard-hitting question like those thrust upon past presidents – especially Trump.  And he has appeared on so-called town hall meetings on CNN and MSBNC – but never FOX.  In fact, he banned FOX from being part of the presidential debates in 2020.

Even in these town hall meetings, it has been revealed by guests that questions are screened and even edited by the host stations – as are all the folks in the audience.

It is beyond refutation that the Covid Panic was a great gift to the Biden campaign in 2020.  It gave him the excuse to virtually disappear from public events and open questioning.  All his communications were carefully crafted and controlled.  There was no ad-libbing – and ergo no real gaffes.  

Both men are paying a price for their communication style.  Trump’s inessive blabber gave his critics and political enemies fodder for their attacks.  Biden’s vow of silence is getting the wariness of the public and criticism from the press – which has actually filed an official complaint with the White House over Biden’s ignoring the press.

If we put it into theatrical metaphors, Biden communicated like the Wizard of Oz – projecting on the world screen from the political sanctum sanctorum of his basement bunker – and Trump like the circus barker — spewing out his own unique form of salesmanship.  

So, there ‘tis.