Biden answers a question about why he is not interested in making any changes at the CDC or among other health officials given that messaging on Covid-19 has been so confusing to the public. He says the messaging is only confusing because “scientists are learning more about what's needed or not needed.”
Biden again suggests Republicans don't actually have a platform of their own and only position themselves as obstructionists. He claimed the GOP is standing in the way of his agenda far more than they stood in the way of former President Barack Obama's agenda.
“What are they for? What is their agenda?” Biden said of Republicans. “They had an agenda back in the Obama-era but I don't know what their agenda is now.”
The president acknowledges he is “not sure” if he can get the child tax credit or help for the cost of community college in a future Build Back Better package.
Asked how he plans to win back moderates and independents who voted for him but are unhappy with him as polls have shown, Biden says only that he doesn't “believe” the polls.
Biden says he plans to continue answering questions for another 20 minutes.
Biden shouts at a reporter who asks about the Atlanta speech on voting rights that offended many Republicans. The reporter noted Biden had campaigned on a return to civility and added that Biden disputes the characterization that he called opponents of the voting rights bills Bull Connor or George Wallace but instead that he meant they're in the same camp.
Before the reporter could finish his question Biden raised his voice: “Go back and read what I said and tell me if you think I called anyone who called on the side … position of Bull Connor that they were Bull Connor. That is an interesting reading of English. I assume you got into journalism because you liked to write.”
President Biden declares that China is not being transparent about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic with all of the passion usually reserved for reporting that the weather will be partly cloudy. Considering the importance and the potential enormous consequences of the answer to this question, Biden's lack of curiosity and intensity is maddening.
Biden again won't say that the 2022 election will be legitimate: “The prospect of it being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reformed passed.”
Biden says he's not working to pull the country to the left: “If you may recall you guys have been trying to convince me that I am Bernie Sanders. I'm not. I like him but I'm not Bernie Sanders. I'm not a socialist. I'm a mainstream Democrat and I have been.”
Biden says he doesn't understand how people could believe the country is not moving in the right direction. Meanwhile, a CBS News poll released on Sunday revealed a bleak outlook among a majority of respondents, with 75 percent saying they felt America was doing “somewhat” or “very” badly in a general sense.