Joe Biden’s CNN Interview: The President’s Warning To Israel On Rafah Makes Headlines, While He Tries To Upstage Donald Trump On The Economy

Ted Johnson
·5-min read

Joe Biden sat for an interview with a mainstream, national news outlet, — a not-too-common occurrence. And while the clear intent in his chat with CNN’s Erin Burnett was to show a contrast with Donald Trump on the economy, the headline was what the president said about Israel.

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone into Rafah yet — but if they go into Rafah , I am not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, that deal with the cities, that deal with that problem,” Biden said. “We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks… but it’s just wrong. We are not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells that have been used” by the Israelis.

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Biden’s comments come amid protests across the United States over Israel’s bombing of Gaza, a movement that has divided Democrats. Biden has continued to pledge support to Israel and has condemned the rise of anti-semitism on college campuses. But he told Burnett that after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to not “make the same mistake we made in America” after 9/11.

Biden said that he told Netanyahu, “We will help you focus on getting the bad guys, but then we got to think through what is happening after Gaza, after this is over. Who is going to occupy Gaza?”

Biden’s comments about stopping weapons were immediately criticized by Republican congressional leaders, while they overshadowed another part of the interview.

Compared to his predecessors, Biden has done relatively few one-on-one sit down interviews with national news outlets, with The New York Times grousing that he has avoided their outlet altogether. Biden did a recent interview with The New Yorker and last fall spoke to 60 Minutes, but the White House strategy has focused in part on local media and non-traditional outlets, like the Smartless podcast and a recent live appearance with Howard Stern.

Biden is certainly not the first president to turn to other types of media, as it’s become a common refrain among comms professionals to talk of the need to reach voters “where they are.” But there still is a bit of unpredictability to an interview with a national news outlet: Burnett’s questioning was far more pointed and direct that Biden likely would get on say, a late-night talk show.

During a visit to Milwaukee, Biden tried to show himself as effective in creating jobs while Trump failed to follow through.

“He’s never succeeded in creating jobs, and I have never failed,” said Biden, as he said that he had created “over 15 million jobs” since becoming president. His visit to Wisconsin was to tout a new Microsoft plant at the same place where Trump once promoted a Foxconn facility that was later cut down in size.

Trump “talked about this being the eighth wonder of the world,” Biden said. “When has he ever done anything he said?”

Burnett, however, noted that, despite the president’s insistence of a solid economic record, “voters by a wide margin, trust Trump more on the economy. They say that in polls, and part of the reason for that may be the numbers.”

She added, “You’re aware of many of these, of course. The cost of buying a home in the United States is double what it was when you look at your monthly costs from before the pandemic. Real income, when you account for inflation, is actually down since you took office. Economic growth last week, far short of expectations. Consumer confidence, maybe no surprise, is near a two year low. With less than six months to go to election day, are you worried that you’re running out of time to turn that around?”

Biden cited a survey showing 65% of the American people think they are in good shape economically, even though they think “the nation’s not in good shape.”

“The polling data has been wrong all along,” Biden said. “You guys do a poll at CNN. How many folks do you have to call to get one response?”

Burnett, though, noted the impact of inflation, including on areas like housing. Biden said that that was “really worrisome to people, with good reason,” while pointing to his administration’s efforts to tackle housing costs, junk fees and so-called “shrinkflation.”

“When I started this administration, people were saying there is going to be a collapse in the economy,” Biden said. “We have the strongest economy in the world. Let me say it again — in the world.”

Plenty of commentators, though, have criticized Biden’s approach as spending too much time trying to convince people that things are good, and that he needed to spend even more time on their anxiousness of where things are.

Biden’s stronger moment in the interview came after Burnett returned from a commercial break. She went to a clip when she and Biden were standing and chatting, this time about Trump and his threat not to accept the results of the November election.

“I promise you he won’t,” Biden said, adding that world leaders worry about their democracy being at stake if Trump wins.

“The guy is not a democrat with a small d,” the president said.

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