An Analysis of Biden's Interview on COVID-19 With MSNBC

On April 16th, former vice president and apparent democratic candidate for president, Joe Biden and his wife, appeared in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Throughout the interview Biden creates a heavy contrast between his leadership style and that of Trump’s, demonstrating his awareness and sympathy to those affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. While doing so, Biden uses the democratic code to show his honesty and competence as a Democratic presidential candidate and the counterdemocratic code to create a discourse of repression in regards to Trump and his approach to dealing with COVID-19. 

From the very beginning of the interview, Biden not only expresses his sympathy for the victims of the virus, but also works to create a bond with the viewers watching at home by emphasizing that he knows others close to him who are also suffering from this pandemic. Biden recounts stories of how he has “close friends” who are either suffering from the virus or are on the front lines, working hard to fight it (Biden). Here, he associates himself with those who are suffering from and combating the virus, an association that tells the viewers at home that he is both relatable and part of the solution. He then tells the interviewer that he has a son in law, a physician, who tells him stories of nurses who are afraid of going back to their homes and infecting their child. Not only does Biden have close friends who are experiencing the same problems as his viewers, but he also has family members who are risking their lives for the American people.

Biden also conveys his empathy for the struggles that American families are going through as a result of COVID-19. In recounting a call he had with a close friend, he tells the interviewer that “I got a call yesterday… how do I get a test, Joe? Joe, I think I have a problem, Joe” (Biden). He uses his name three times for a reason and that is to show that people are coming to him for guidance and advice in a time of uncertainty, literally asking him what to do. He later says, “I spent fifteen minutes on the phone with him. I [the close friend] have a three-year-old and a four-year-old and they come to the door outside and they just knock on the door, saying daddy, can I see you daddy” (Biden). Here, he draws on a rather emotional story and details how this virus has affected the relationship between a father and his children, showing that he empathizes with American families all over the country. He then relates this story to himself by saying, “I used to do it with my kids when they were little when I couldn't see them. And we would play games” (Biden). Here he describes how he would go through the same struggles of not being able to see his own children when he was often consumed with his work in the past as vice president. He says this, all the while his wife is sitting next to and looking up at him and nodding at his every word. 

Although his wife doesn’t say a single word throughout the entire interview, she plays an important role, similar to the role Hillary Clinton played in her husband’s upswing when she appeared on NBC’s Today (Mast 2012: 142). To show that he embraces family values and is taking the stay-at-home order seriously, Biden is performing this interview, from his home where the viewers at home can see not one, but two American flags in the background. This works well in Biden’s pursuit to display sharp contrasts with his leadership styles with that of Trump’s because it shows that Biden and his wife are taking the pandemic seriously, unlike Trump.

Towards the end of the interview, he takes the opportunity to talk about Trump and uses the counterdemocratic code to present Trump as a non-empathetic and non-transparent leader. Biden even cites Franklin D. Roosevelt and paraphrases him by saying that “FDR made the case that, look, just tell the American people the truth… you gotta let them know what you’re doing, that you understand their pain” (Biden). Biden here uses FDR, a historical figure known by many as one of the greatest presidents in US history, as a democratic symbol to deviate himself from Trump and his leadership style. In his final effort to portray himself as empathetic and honest, codes accepted in a democratic society, Biden states that, “I don’t know what he [Trump] doesn’t understand about peoples’ fears” (Biden). By doing so he is portraying Trump as non-transparent, dishonest, and non-empathetic, characteristics that are unacceptable in a democratic society (Smith 2005:17).

Sources: 

Mast, Jason L. 2012. The Performative Presidency: Crisis and Resurrection During the Clinton Years. New York: Cambridge University Press.

MSNBC. “Joe Biden: People Are Frightened And Looking For Leadership | Morning Joe | MSNBC.” YouTube, 16 April, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkP0EsaBLhQ. 

Smith, Philip. 2005. Why War? The Cultural Logic of Iraq, the Gulf War, and Suez. Chicago:   University of Chicago press.