Biden spending Thanksgiving on Nantucket with Carter-era billionaire
The panel on 'The Five' offers reaction and analysis
Hosts of "The Five" criticized Biden Wednesday for embarking on a lavish Thanksgiving vacation on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket with a billionaire former adviser to President Carter.
Biden arrived Wednesday on the island to visit former Carter domestic policy adviser David Rubenstein, a Baltimore native who founded the equity firm The Carlyle Group and is a former chairman of the Smithsonian.
Dana Perino noted the president, who she called "Scranton Joe" after his working-class birthplace, is going on vacation to Rubenstein's $30 million estate while Americans are struggling amid his inflation, crime and border crises.
"Some say [it] looks widely out of touch with the problems everyday Americans are facing this Thanksgiving," she said, adding that the latest polls show inflation to be Americans' current top concern.
David M. Rubenstein (L), co-founder and co-chief executive officer at The Carlyle Group, holds a discussion with former British Prime Minister David Cameron during the SALT conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. May 17, 2017. REUTERS/Richard Brian
Biden spokeswoman Jen Psaki's defended Biden's actions, pointing out that the average turkey price is only up "about a dollar more for a 20-pound bird, which is a huge bird if you are feeding a big family."
"Joe is literally giving us the bird," Greg Gutfeld remarked in response. "I love this message – ‘Relax folks, you’ll get your yams' – his poll numbers are so bad the Thanksgiving turkey was thinking of pardoning him."
Host Dagen McDowell went on to rip Energy Secretary Jen Granholm for an equally criticized message when she claimed not to know the average gasoline consumption in the country despite being in the discussions that led to the small release from the strategic petroleum reserves.
"Let me talk about the wholly incompetent cackling clatterbag that is our energy secretary, McDowell said. "Why did they pick her? She’s completely incompetent."
President Joe Biden, with first lady Jill Biden, speaks during a visit at Brookland Middle School in northeast Washington, on Sept. 10. Biden has encouraged every school district to promote vaccines, including with on-site clinics.
McDowell went on to suggest that Biden is joining Rubenstein for Thanksgiving over concern that he will eclipse former President Carter, who is often seen as the most economically incompetent president.
"Biden is spending Thanksgiving with David Rubenstein, who worked in the Carter administration. I suppose he’s going to be sitting around saying ‘tell me I’m not as bad as Jimmy’.
Perino later added that Carter, now 97, must be watching the media and wondering why they decided to report so heavily on his administration's stagflation crisis and largely ignore similar inflation under Biden.