MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider didn’t mince words on President Joe Biden’s new campaign to use leftist social media influencers from platforms like the Chinese government-tied TikTok to boost his appeal to young voters: a relaunch of the “Biden in the Basement” strategy.
Schneider went on Fox Business’s Varney & Co. April 11 to discuss the Biden White House’s recruitment of social media influencers to spread pro-Biden messages online. Schneider slammed this new tech-government collusion. At least two of the hand-picked influencers are from TikTok, which is tied to the Chinese Communist Party. The Biden administration itself banned TikTok on federal devices. They’re simply “using taxpayer dollars to hide Biden from voters” and trying to appeal to young people through social media stars, Schneider told host Stuart Varney.
“Biden is going for the youth vote. He wants to convince them that he’s not too old to be president,” Varney began after marveling that the Biden administration would specifically invite TikTok influencers. “Will it work, Dan?” Schneider answered, “[What] you’ve referred to is the Biden in the Basement strategy. This is, in fact, the relaunch of Joe Biden’s political campaign, and they’re using taxpayer dollars to hide Biden from voters.”
As Schneider stated, “They don’t want these young voters seeing Biden. They want the young voters seeing these influencers, and they’re going to use taxpayer dollars [and] White House resources to do it. It’s—we should be shocked by this.”
With a world “in chaos,” between the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the growing threat of China, Schneider noted that Biden’s priorities are wrong. “This is what the White House is focusing on?” he asked. “In fact, they’re feeding into the threat of China, you know, using TikTok. It’s just shocking.”
Varney highlighted White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre being questioned about Biden’s “few and far between press conferences.” Jean-Pierre returned a fumbling response. With the news that social media influencers might get their own press briefing space, it seems the White House has found an alternative to traditional press briefings. “The president does not take formal press conferences,” Varney said.
Who is running the presidency, Varney wondered? “Well, it’s obviously not the president,” Schneider answered. “He has taken questions that are shouted at him, and what comes out of his mouth? Gibberish. He sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher.” That’s all part of why Biden will be deploying social media influencers to be his de facto mouthpieces to young voters. “His brain is mish-mash,” Schneider explained, noting Biden has called his VP Harris the president more than once. “He was never thought of as a smart man, but now whatever capacity his brain had, it—it doesn’t exist at all anymore. And this is why they’re launching this rebrand.”
Schneider and Varney touched on the Democrats’ dilemma of whether to run Biden again or replace him with someone other than Harris. “The Democrats are keeping their options open,” Schneider said. “This is a relaunch of, you know, Biden in the Basement.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact the White House here and demand it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment, repudiate risky TikTok, and provide transparency on its social media partnerships. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
