Biden's growing frustration with "negative" questions hints at an end to his press honeymoon, but it also poses hurtles for the White House communications team as reporters regain access to the president thanks to the easing of pandemic social distancing requirements.
Obama White House spokesman Eric Schultz dismissed complaints about Biden's outbursts as "a desperate attempt to search for any critique of Biden since nothing else seems to stick."
"The president answers questions from reporters regularly — with respect and admiration for their role," he told the Washington Examiner. "This White House deeply respects the role of journalists — with everyone fielding questions and answering them as truthfully and candidly as they can."
WATCH: NICOLE WALLACE AND THE END OF DEMOCRACY
But Biden has a history of being prickly when faced with questions that are not to his liking, from both reporters and voters. His irritability can be contrasted with former President Donald Trump's hostility. Yet, while it chafes with Biden's typically affable public image, it aligns with his reputation for berating staffers who, for instance, litter his speeches with jargon laypeople will not understand.
YIKES! IS MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE LOSING HER 'GRIP' IN POWER STRUGGLE?
For historian and journalism professor David Greenberg, the adversarial relationship between a president and the press is a bipartisan phenomenon.
"It goes back to Theodore Roosevelt, the first president of the modern media age. He wanted to control the agenda — what was reported on, how it was covered," he suggested. "But the press believes it should set the agenda and that to fall in line behind the president’s wishes is mere stenography."
WATCH: FETTERMAN CONFRONTED BY A PRO-HAMAS ACTIVIST
President Biden could not hide his frustration with reporters peppering him with questions about the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan ahead of the July Fourth holiday weekend. The U.S. operation had been headquartered at the airfield, and the personnel departure effectively ended the country's military mission despite the Taliban's recent rise.
TESLA IN TURMOIL: MUSK OUSTS TOP EXECS AND PREPARES FOR MASSIVE LAYOFFS, WHAT'S HAPPENING?
"I want to talk about happy things, man," Biden said last week. "It's the holiday weekend. I'm going to celebrate it. There's great things happening."
He caught himself after criticizing the "negative" questions, going on to describe them as "legitimate."
PROFESSIONAL "PROTEST CONSULTANT" CAUGHT ON VIDEO STIRRING UP CHAOS AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Only three weeks earlier, Biden had lectured reporters about being "negative" before boarding Air Force One after his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.
He had snapped at a correspondent during his press conference, asserting that she was in "the wrong business" if she did not comprehend his approach to foreign policy. She had asked the president why he was confident Putin would change his behavior.
PUMP AND DUMP: VIRAL "BOCA BASH" VIDEO SPARKS MAJOR INVESTIGATION
"Look, to be a good reporter, you got to be negative. You got to have a negative view of life, OK? It seems to me, the way you all, you never ask a positive question," he said on the tarmac of Geneva Airport after apologizing to the journalist.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
