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President Joe Biden’s first nightly appearance since taking office was on very friendly ground: The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, in which the host was consistently exuberant and largely adhered to the issues of the White House.
“You bring class back to the office,” Fallon told the president, making it pretty clear where his affinity lies after enduring criticism for his lighthearted interview with Donald Trump amid the divisive 2016 presidential campaign.
There were many benefits to the White House doing the interview as Biden was able to stick with his Infrastructure Act, Build Back Better Act, and Covid-19 relief package without taking serious follow-up action. It’s likely that Fallon’s TV rivals Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel would have put a few tougher questions into it, though there’s no secret where their loyalty lies.
When Fallon brought up the polarizing issue of vaccines, he put it this way: “The Covid problem. I don’t know what else to do or how to tell people to get the vaccine. At this point I think people are going to do what they want I think. I don’t know what to say. Is it the youth that we just have to hope that the children will get us out of there? Because I was being ripped off. I have been strengthened. I have whatever you want. If you want me to wear red pants, I wear red pants. I want this thing to go away. “
Biden replied, “I think what we should do is get more people to hear your song.” He was referring to A masked Christmas, with Ariana Grande and Megan Thee Hengst. Biden tweeted it.
Biden brought up some of the excitement about vaccine mandates when he said to Fallon, “This stuff about Biden prescribing these things, and it’s un-American. Think of it that way. It is patriotic to do so. No joke. It’s patriotic to make it. “
The main downside of the Fallon interview was that it wasn’t in the studio and still virtual: Biden wasn’t as relaxed about studio appearances as he had been in the past, and he stuck to the talking points so much in the early parts of the Fallon interview that The President It seemed more like he was doing the rounds on the Sunday morning talk show than after a late night guest photo. As the interview progressed, however, he relaxed a little. After all, this was anything but a barbecue.
Perhaps the funniest moment was when Fallon asked Biden, “How much do you pay attention to your approval rating?” “Well, no more,” the President replied.
“I would be careful when you are in your 60s, but now that you are in your 40s, I am not paying attention anymore.”
“I appreciate the honesty, yes,” said Fallon.
Biden then said, “Look, people are scared. People are concerned. And people get so imprecise for them. I don’t mean me, I mean your situation. You are told Armageddon is on its way. The truth is that the economy is growing faster than it has been in almost 60 years. The unemployment rate has dropped to 4.2% and will decrease. “
Biden recently returned to the presidential tradition of attending the Kennedy Center Honors, Fallon noted, and The Tonight Show The host was in the audience. The 46th President also returns to the president’s prerogative to spend the night, a forum Trump eschews for obvious reasons. It would hardly be surprising if, due to the light and mellow nature of the Fallon interview, Biden makes more return visits to the area, with an atmosphere more on the order of magnitude Mr. Smith as Meet the press.
Fallon: “Does anyone really understand how tough your job is? … being in DC the other day and driving around and seeing all these huge buildings and you’re kind of nervous. I feel important when I am there, but you are the leader of our country. The pressure. And then you have to do 20 events during the day that we don’t even see. “
Biden: “Look here. I was vice president for eight years. I knew what the job was. Nobody should feel sorry for me. In my opinion, it is the greatest honor one can have in a lifetime to be President of the United States. “