And Just Like That, It Is Suddenly Acceptable In the Press To Call Karine Jean-Pierre An Unskilled Hack

Over the past couple of weeks, former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been popping up like an unwanted mushroom across the media landscape as she is attempting to sell her new book release, “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.” Not exactly a “tell all,” instead it is more like a publishing attempt at her previous job duties of spinning reality.

Unsurprisingly, she is no better at this in the printed form than she was behind the podium. What has changed, however, is the approach to KJP as seen in the press. It is with no lack of head-shaking that we see news outlets coming out with examples of harshly critical remarks and even scorching critiques of her performance on this book tour. 

What is taking place is a lower-rent version of the revisionism that has been on display regarding Karine’s boss. Just like the collective media had been engaged with rewriting their past of covering Joe Biden (or, more accurately, refusing to do so), now we see a press corps willing to look objectively at his former spokesperson. 

Karine’s book is what we would expect. It is a lame attempt at recasting reality, stating that she has walked away from the party over the way Democrat leadership treated the enfeebled Biden. While calling this “a look inside”, what the book focuses on instead is pointing fingers outside the White House. But she pulls her punches by not daring to actually name those she considers responsible. She resorts to standing on a patio and gesturing at a forest, declaring the threat came from there.

Beyond the book’s contents, KJP has drawn plenty of media interest this week, although it is not the kind of attention a publisher would prefer. Repeatedly, we have seen a woman who appears in interviews largely unprepared, opting for preset talking points and an overreliance on identity politics, all while showing zero dexterity in handling questions that are at the barest levels of challenging.

DIVE DEEPER: Watch: Karine Jean-Pierre’s Comeback Tour Crashes on the Rocks

What KJP Told the House Oversight Committee About Joe Biden Is Unbelievable

Seriously, when you cannot come off sounding competent with a fawning Gayle King, there are issues. With each appearance, we saw a woman wholly incapable of handling any interview that was more than a tongue bath, and remarkably, the press took notice. Then things really crashed on the rocks when KJP agreed to a “Q & A” with the New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner.

In their revealing discussion, we have a woman who gets flustered with any deviation from a scripted path, an interviewer growing increasingly frustrated, and a mounting reality that this lack of a functioning skill set had been shielded for years. As one example, look at this exchange where she delivers her patented non-answer, all while insisting she has been direct.

• You said that the Party was trying to undermine Biden. What do you think they were doing and why?

• Well, I mean, I just laid it out. I just said that there was an obvious campaign. You just had to watch.

• Sure, but why were they doing that?

• Because they believed that he needed to step aside.

Chotiner, a few times, attempts to go back to his unanswered questions in frustration, and it only gets worse from there. Karine repeatedly resorts to “Wait, wait…” flailing responses, and she often sees a need to bring up being a black woman, and/or an LGBTπ individual. This was most notable in the portion when she mentions it was unfair to Kamala Harris and possibly racist/sexist when people suggested the Democrats should have had an open convention. Except, as Chotiner pointed out to her, Jean-Pierre wrote that she did not think Harris could win. More flailing was to follow.

None of this incompetence is a surprise to those of us who followed the Biden years and covered the press. Her lack of skill in the White House Press Room was evident, but most in the press would lash out at criticisms of this nature. Pick the defense of your choice – sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. – you were sure to hear one of these lodged if you mentioned her lack of adept handling of things on camera. And if you dared suggest KJP was a DEI hire, the squealing was instantaneous.

Yet today, once removed from influence and safely away from any level of power, suddenly the press obtains objectivity. At Semafor, Max Tani commented about KJP that, “The individual stumbling through this interview was until very recently one of the highest-ranking government communications officials in the country.” The New York Times said, “White House press secretaries are supposed to know how to talk to the press. But that has not been evident this week for Karine Jean-Pierre.” Politico looks over the past few weeks and states definitively that Karine’s book tour has been “non-stop cringe.”

Sarah Jones, from The Intelligencer, saw a larger issue: “It’s easy to make fun of Karine Jean-Pierre and her new book. But I do think there’s something deeply sinister about her career and what it represents.”

As stated, none of these assessments is inaccurate. We have seen this for years. But the press members saying these things today are from the same body that lashed out at those of us who dared point out the obvious about KJP. As a prime example, after years of telling us that suggesting Karine had been a DEI hire is tantamount to racism, here is none other than Jonathan Chait, pondering who had hired this woman in the first place, and why.

This is an interview that should inspire some follow-up reporting: how was KJP hired for her job in the first place? https://t.co/Jxady8tuel

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) October 28, 2025

In that lone post, Chait embodies the fundamental problem in the press today. He notes the paucity of journalism that had taken place, and then – as a journalist – suggests that it would be keen if somebody came forward and committed an act of journalism.

It is the same collective mindset that was exposed in “Original Sin”, the Jake Tapper-Alex Thompson book on the failings of the press to cover Joe Biden’s decline. They intentionally sit on the sidelines, but once they are in a position to no longer cling to plausible deniability, all they are left with is acting surprised about how this all escaped their purview. These are not serious adults in the trade.

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. 

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