Former George W Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer left a Fox News anchor flabbergasted after he declined to endorse the conspiracy theory which posits that President Joe Biden is not actually in charge at the White House.
Ari Fleischer, who served as Mr Bush’s press secretary from 2001 to 2003, was finishing an appearance on the right-wing cable network program The Faulkner Focus when host Harris Faulkner asked him: “Who’s running the show at the White House in your estimation? Is it fair to continue to question that?”
Since Mr Biden was sworn in on 20 January, many prominent Republicans have made a habit of suggesting that Mr Biden – the oldest person to serve as America’s chief executive – is a puppet for shadowy actors working behind the scenes to implement an agenda that he is not aware or in control of.
Numerous Fox personalities have suggested that Mr Biden’s tendency to jest that he will be “in trouble” if he takes questions from the press against the wishes of his communications advisers is evidence that he is not the one making decisions at the White House.
Mr Fleischer, whose former boss Mr Bush was also the subject of similar theories which held that then-vice president Dick Cheney was calling the shots ahead of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, surprised Ms Faulkner by immediately pushing back on her suggestion.
“Undoubtedly it is Joe Biden,” he said.
“You think it is?” Ms Faulkner replied, at which point Mr Fleischer quickly shot back: “Absolutely”.
Ms Faulkner asked if that is why the president often declines to take questions from the press, to which Mr Fleischer replied that Mr Biden “is running the show and gets to make those decisions”.
“Presidents make the call, presidents make the decisions, and Joe Biden is well enough that he’s making those decisions,” said Mr Fleischer.
