Search icon

News

24th Aug 2021

‘Jill Biden failed the US by letting husband Joe stand for president’, Fox host claims

Steve Hopkins

Fox News asked to apologise over “disgusting” remark

Jill Biden has been accused of failing the United States by letting her husband Joe run for president – a remark a White House spokesperson is now seeking an apology for.

The comment was made by Fox & Friends weekend host Rachel Campos-Duffy, who appeared to partly blame the First Lady for the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan after the US withdrew its troops. The Taliban seized control of Kabul just over a week ago and Biden has been under increasing pressure ever since.

At the end of a segment on Sunday looking at Biden’s slipping poll numbers and the evacuation from Afghanistan, weekend co-host Will Cain said the US was losing standing on the world stage.

Campos-Duffy agreed, adding, “When you look at what’s hurting America, when you look at this lack of leadership, and you wonder who is responsible for putting someone this incompetent and frankly this mentally frail in this position?

“As a political spouse, I can’t help but look at Jill Biden.”

Campos-Duffy husband is former Wisconsin representative Sean Duffy, who served in Congress until 2019 and later joined the network. While in the House, Sean Duffy was an aggressive supporter of former US president Donald Trump.

Campos-Duffy continued on Fox & Friends: “No one knew better his state of mind than Dr. Jill Biden,” she added, making a point of emphasising “doctor,” even though the first lady holds a doctorate in education, not medicine, HuffPost reported.

“And if you ask me, the most patriotic thing Jill Biden could have done was tell her husband ― to love her husband ― and not let him run in this mental state that he’s in,” she concluded. “I think she failed the country as well.”

Michael La Rosa, Jill Biden’s press secretary, called Campos-Duffy’s remark “disgusting”.

“This is disgusting. @RCampusDuffy and @FoxNews know better. They can do better and their viewers deserve better,” La Rosa wrote on Twitter.

“I hope they’ll apologize to the First Lady and leave this kind of talk in the [trash] where it belongs.”

While Campos-Duffy comments led to her being skewered on social media, a recent survey by Rasmussen Reports, found 52 per cent of Americans surveyed are not confident Biden is up to being president while more than a third – 41 per cent – said they are “not confident at all”, MailOnline reported.

At age 78, Biden is the oldest president ever sworn into office. Trump made constant reference to Biden’s mental and physical health during the presidential campaign, labelling him “slow Joe”.

Related links

Taliban warns Britain and US to get out of Afghanistan by August 31

Seven dead as stampede to flee the Taliban continues at Kabul airport

Putin won’t evacuate Afghans in case ‘militants show up under cover of refugees’