Latest news with #TheDailyShow
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
How did a tennis player ranked 864th in the world find a career in comedy? He learned how to lose
Editor's Note: This story is a part of Peak, The Athletic's new desk covering leadership, personal development and success through the lens of sports. Peak aims to connect readers to ideas they can implement in their own personal and professional lives. Follow Peak here. You may know Michael Kosta as a stand-up comedian and rotating host of 'The Daily Show' on Comedy Central. But two decades ago, he had another title: The 864th-ranked men's singles tennis player in the world. Advertisement The story of Kosta's time as a professional tennis player is the subject of his new memoir, 'Lucky Loser: Adventures in Tennis & Comedy,' published earlier this year. The book is a sometimes funny, sometimes poignant (and sometimes NSFW) tale about falling in love with a sport, chasing a dream and how ultimately losing a lot provided the tools for a second career. I reached out to Kosta with a simple pitch: Let's talk about losing and how we handle it. It turned out to be a conversation about the importance of our parents in building self-belief, why timing can be everything, and how to bounce back from a brutal loss. So I want to ask you about losing. But we should note, before you were a 'failed' tennis player, you won a lot. Did becoming a 'loser' change you in any fundamental way? You know, it's like a, I'm allowed to say I'm a loser, but no one else is type of thing. Because in that first 95 percent of my time as a tennis player, I was a winner, right? So when you start losing so much, which is what happens when you're pro, it is very jarring. It's not like I was a mediocre tennis player my whole life, and then I kind of understood the mechanics and rhythms of losing. It was a huge transition: 'Oh, s—, I'm not the number one player in the world. I'm losing a lot.' And it was a hard adjustment. Did you feel like it changed your identity or the way you look at the world? It humbled me and it toughened me up, but it doesn't eliminate your self-belief. It doesn't make you a coward or change my ability to believe in myself, because you still have to have those things to try to win a few matches at least in pro tennis, and obviously those lessons that you learn helped me a lot in my next career. You wrote in the book how it gave you a sort of armor to pursue comedy and take risks. I remember these older comics living in Michigan, 10, 15 years ahead of me. Maybe they were kind of trying to insult me, and I didn't pick up on it, but they would say: 'Hey, you know, I saw you yesterday and that looked like kind of a rough set, but you're back out here again today?' It gave me this armor that I almost didn't take it personally. And in a lot of ways, that's tennis. Advertisement I remember winning or losing in college, and our coach would sometimes make us run afterwards. Even if you won, you had to remember that you were capable of a higher level. And when you lost, you could see the running as punishment, but it was really just, this is a very long-form process. So that little thing that happened today in comedy, you bombed the set, that wasn't the success or failure. The success is continuing in the process of improvement. Which sounds very, very cliche. But you know what? It's cliche for a reason. I've always thought tennis seems like the most vulnerable sport in terms of losing. What do you think of that? Yeah, I agree. I think you're alone. Your face is not covered. There's no one to turn to. It's individual — look, HDTV has made it even worse. It's like in basketball, we really love basketball players because we can really see their faces. Tennis, more so, there's nobody else for the camera to show. It is incredibly vulnerable. It hurts a lot, and one of the more unique things about the sport of tennis — if you're in the finals and you lose, you have to stand there and do the ceremony with the winner. What other sport does the losing player or team stand out there? Losing is an indelible part of a tennis player's life. Roger Federer gave a speech last year in which he noted that he only won 54 percent of his points during his career. And you're thinking, 'Wow, one of the best players ever wins 54 percent of points.' Almost half the time, he's failing. I thought it was a great thing to share with young people — that there's going to be a lot of failure, a lot of grit. The other thing that I took from that speech and morphed it into comedy in some ways was that timing is everything. You say that in comedy: Timing is everything. He only won 54 percent of his points, but I would love to see how he did on break points, match points. He always brought his best at the right time. And that's an important part of comedy, too. Like, you can have a rough five minutes in your set. You can lose the audience. But as long as you get them back by the end, I think that's kind of most important. Advertisement So when you're up on stage and a joke doesn't go very well, it's the sports thing of thinking, 'All right, next joke, next joke…' Not even next joke. More like, 'This is a long match. You got another 52 minutes to go. You got a lot of time here.' And that was very much a tennis thing. That was very much similar to the self-talk you do in tennis. You get broken, you're down 2-0 in the first set. It's very easy to start thinking about, like, 'When's the next flight out of here?' But it's like, 'This is a long match. You can break back and get right back on serve.' In the book, you mentioned a match you lost when you were playing professionally, where afterward you just kind of went over to the track next door to the court and started running. What other rituals did you have after tough losses? Did anything make you feel better? Practicing always helped. But it was very hard to do that. I remember traveling with Raven Klaasen, who became a top-10 doubles player in the world. He helped mature me in a way that was like, 'You're not practicing fast enough after a loss.' And I thought, 'Oh, well, it's because I'm really sad about my loss.' And he was like, 'That's kind of the point. Get over it. Get out there and keep practicing.' I used to keep what I call a 'lessons journal,' and it was a loss journal. After I would lose, I would write down what I learned from that match. But I gave up on that. I didn't like that. I felt like I was over-analyzing the losses. I mean, sometimes you just lose. Sometimes the guy plays good. Sometimes you play bad. Sometimes it's windy. Sometimes you're jet lagged. I thought I was kind of digging into these failures too heavily. Yeah, a few years ago, some researchers were looking at failure. And the conventional wisdom is that failure is motivating. But they argued that people don't learn as much from their failures as we actually think because it can be so de-motivating. They argued that people still should try to learn from failure, of course, but one of the best ways to do that is actually to talk about them. When you finished playing your career, did you struggle to talk about the losing? I think I'm still trying to tell people about it — that's why I wrote the book. And honestly, as I've gotten older, I would say about losing — and this is true for comedy, too — instead of wallowing in or analyzing the defeat, it's really just like, 'Keep going. Just go do another set, go play another match, go do cross-court backhands. Go find an open mic.' And I think the best players — and Roger is definitely this way — they let it go. Their memory is short. One of the things that I learned about myself in writing this book was this match that I blew in South Korea. I mean, it affected me sooooo much. It still does. I still think about it. And it's like, now as I've gotten older and I've studied more people that have had success in comedy, it's like, 'Hey man, that hurt you too much. That should have just been a f—– up match. You blew it, water off a duck's back, keep going.' But the fact that it stuck with me so long is telling that I was taking these losses too personally for something that really wasn't. Why do you think you did that? Well, that's a good therapy question. Probably attaching too much (self) worth to outcome, still hoping my parents pay attention to me at the dinner table, wanting my picture in the paper. A lot of good reasons. Advertisement One of the things I always think about: Anytime I've moved up in my career or gotten to the next level, it feels like, yes, I've arrived — a reward for my hard work. And then what ends up happening is that I realize I have a whole new group of people to compare myself to. Who are actually better than your last group. Exactly. Tennis feels like the ultimate example of that. Because not only is there a group of people. They actually keep the ranking in the form of a ladder. Did you struggle with comparing yourself to other players? Yeah, even on my mirror to this day, in my bathroom, in my handwriting, it says, 'Comparison is the thief of joy.' Some smart person said that. I have to remind myself of that to this day. When I was playing tennis, there was this thing called 'Steve G Tennis.' It was an internet message board and he would post all of the results around the world. So if I was picking between going to Montreal or Mexico and I picked Mexico, I would lose in the first round or whatever. And then I would quickly go on Steve G and see that the Montreal draw was really weak and I would go, 'Damn it, I blew it!' So many players would do this, and I remember finally thinking, 'This is not helping me. This is hurting me.' Why did that quote connect? I remember as soon as I heard it, it connected with me and reminded me of my tennis days. There's Instagram and TikTok as a comedian now. How do I not pay attention to all my other peers? Every time I open up these apps, it's showing me everything they've done. So I just thought that was a good reminder: 'Don't focus on them. Focus on you.' You mentioned that when you were playing tennis, you would write jokes in your journal. I would always do this thing in my journal that would just say like, 'This is something that made me laugh today.' That was just a thing from a very early age that I started to do, when my mom would put me to bed when I was really young. We would just talk about something that made us laugh today. I've tried to do this with my daughters today. But my daughters usually tell me, 'Go away, Dad.' Then when I started playing pro tennis, it was less about, 'What's one thing that made me laugh today?' And it was more, 'What are funny ideas or jokes that happened throughout this experience?' So I guess I just leveled it up a little more. Now, why? I didn't think I was gonna be a comedian. I wasn't seeing it as comedy training. It just helped me. Did playing tennis and the experience of all of that losing in a short period inform your writing? It gave me a lot of time to write and gave me a lot of time to go experience stuff. So, I'm in the Netherlands. I've got six and a half days till the next tournament. Probably what I should have been doing is just staying at the courts every day and practicing. But I would take the train in Amsterdam, or I would go try to find something interesting and those experiences of cultivating my life outside of tennis really help you as a comedian. Advertisement To circle back to something you said at the beginning: You said you were able to still hold on to belief while losing, and whether it was belief that you're going to win the next match or belief that you can succeed in comedy in a new career. This might be another therapy question. But where does that belief come from? How does somebody build up belief? That's a very good question because you can't just say it comes from external reward. I think external reward is helpful, but we all know people who have had a lot of external rewards who are still self-conscious and not fulfilled. It has to come from within, and it's incredibly important to have self-belief. And self-belief is really the only reason I think anybody does anything. You have to believe you can do it. It probably comes from some form of unconditional support and love from one of your parents. (Laughs). For me, one of the biggest, most helpful tools I used as a tennis player that I also use now as a comedian is that I remind myself of previous achievements. For instance, a tennis example: All right, it's 5-4 in the third (set), I'm serving for the match. I'm feeling nervous. This guy's return is great. I can't believe I'm even in this position. He's ranked so much higher than me. I'll say, 'Self-belief, Michael. You did this. You served out this match a year ago in Toronto. Two years ago, to win the doubles future (event), you did this before. In high school, you won the state tournament with this exact same score.' And I do that with comedy every time. 'Oh my God, this crowd is tough. Oh, they were certainly hard on the opener. What am I doing here? You're gonna really open with a Trump joke? Half these people might have voted for this guy.' It's like, 'Michael, relax, you crushed two weeks ago, and you felt the exact same thing.' I was watching the PGA Championship and after Scottie Scheffler won, his dad gave him a hug. Some TV mics picked up his dad saying how proud he was. It's interesting to think that self-belief really can come from those people who believe in you unconditionally. Yeah, and I think probably as you are forming into a human. Because we know adults who hear it to this day, and it doesn't resonate. But I think when children are being formed, their personalities are being formed, you've got to tell them that they're enough, that you can do it, you can do hard things. And you might be able to get that from other people or places, but for me, that seems like a pretty natural answer. (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Opinion - No repeat of Biden: A medical panel must oversee presidents' annual physicals
If you were skeptical about information coming from the government before, you have even more reason to be now. The revelation that former President Joe Biden has an aggressive form of prostate cancer, coming after a slew of books and reports highlighting his physical and mental decline while in office, has raised even more questions about whether the public can trust the medical information coming from a president's personal doctor. To address these concerns, a president's annual physical should be performed by a panel of widely respected, independent physicians who then jointly release the information and their assessments. Of course, lack of public trust regarding presidents' physical or mental fitness for office has been raised by both political parties. Democrats repeatedly questioned President Trump's medical reports, especially his mental competency. For example, when 'The Daily Show' host Jon Stewart mentioned that the 6-foot 3-inch Trump, who has an ample girth, weighed 224 pounds according to his April physical, the audience laughed disbelievingly. To adapt an old hair-coloring commercial, only his doctor knows for sure. But what about Biden's last physical as president? Dr. Kevin O'Connor, who had been Biden's personal doctor since 2009, announced in February of last year that Biden was 'fit for duty.' O'Connor added that Biden was a 'healthy, active, robust 81-year-old.' In his announcement, O'Connor says that other specialists were included and that physicians in the White House Medical Unit 'have independently reviewed the chart, examined the President, and concur with my findings and recommendations.' Those specialists apparently were not made available for questions from the press. And when one clicks on NPR's White House weblink to O'Connor's report, it's been (surprise!) removed. That Biden's doctor could release a rosy medical assessment of the president's mental and physical health only four months before his disastrous debate with Trump raises serious concerns about the veracity of the findings, especially now that people associated with Biden are fessing up to their previous doubts. The prostate cancer diagnosis has only heightened suspicions that Biden, his family and his doctor were withholding important information. While some doctors concede that it's at least possible that the disease only recently emerged, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist who has worked for Biden — and the brother of Rahm Emanuel, who may seek the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination — said, 'He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021. Yes, I don't think there's any disagreement about that.' There has been some debate about whether, given his age, Biden's doctor included a test that can detect prostate cancer. But we can say for sure that Trump's doctor did, since it was released to the public. We have several other instances where presidents tried to hide their medical problems. For example, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a serious stroke in 1919, leading to speculation that his wife, Edith, was essentially running the country until Wilson finished his term in 1921. President Franklin Roosevelt contracted polio but tried to hide that from the public for years. President John F. Kennedy had back problems and Addison's disease, which affects the adrenal glands. And many Democrats raised the possibility that President Ronald Reagan was slipping mentally in his final years. He announced in 1994 that he had Alzheimer's Disease. Given the growing bipartisan skepticism about a president's health — even leading to discussions of invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution — what should be done? The president is not mandated to take an annual physical or release the results. The practice started with President Richard Nixon, and his successors have seen it as an important, though voluntary, practice. Given the public skepticism in these hyper-partisan times, the president's annual physical needs some changes. It should be done by a panel of independent physicians, such as the heads of a few medical schools and some relevant medical associations (such as family physicians, internists and mental health). The panel should release their findings and then face the press for questioning, highlighting any areas of disagreement. In other words, there should be no doubt that the president has been fully examined and that the medical team has no interest in omitting or glossing over problems. Before physicians are allowed to pronounce the commander-in-chief 'fit for duty,' they should recognize their duty to be honest with the public. Merrill Matthews is a public policy and political analyst and the co-author of 'On the Edge: America Faces the Entitlements Cliff.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
6 days ago
- Health
- The Hill
No repeat of Biden: A medical panel must oversee presidents' annual physicals
If you were skeptical about information coming from the government before, you have even more reason to be now. The revelation that former President Joe Biden has an aggressive form of prostate cancer, coming after a slew of books and reports highlighting his physical and mental decline while in office, has raised even more questions about whether the public can trust the medical information coming from a president's personal doctor. To address these concerns, a president's annual physical should be performed by a panel of widely respected, independent physicians who then jointly release the information and their assessments. Of course, lack of public trust regarding presidents' physical or mental fitness for office has been raised by both political parties. Democrats repeatedly questioned President Trump's medical reports, especially his mental competency. For example, when 'The Daily Show' host Jon Stewart mentioned that the 6-foot 3-inch Trump, who has an ample girth, weighed 224 pounds according to his April physical, the audience laughed disbelievingly. To adapt an old hair-coloring commercial, only his doctor knows for sure. But what about Biden's last physical as president? Dr. Kevin O'Connor, who had been Biden's personal doctor since 2009, announced in February of last year that Biden was 'fit for duty.' O'Connor added that Biden was a 'healthy, active, robust 81-year-old.' In his announcement, O'Connor says that other specialists were included and that physicians in the White House Medical Unit 'have independently reviewed the chart, examined the President, and concur with my findings and recommendations.' Those specialists apparently were not made available for questions from the press. And when one clicks on NPR's White House weblink to O'Connor's report, it's been (surprise!) removed. That Biden's doctor could release a rosy medical assessment of the president's mental and physical health only four months before his disastrous debate with Trump raises serious concerns about the veracity of the findings, especially now that people associated with Biden are fessing up to their previous doubts. The prostate cancer diagnosis has only heightened suspicions that Biden, his family and his doctor were withholding important information. While some doctors concede that it's at least possible that the disease only recently emerged, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist who has worked for Biden — and the brother of Rahm Emanuel, who may seek the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination — said, 'He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021. Yes, I don't think there's any disagreement about that.' There has been some debate about whether, given his age, Biden's doctor included a test that can detect prostate cancer. But we can say for sure that Trump's doctor did, since it was released to the public. We have several other instances where presidents tried to hide their medical problems. For example, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a serious stroke in 1919, leading to speculation that his wife, Edith, was essentially running the country until Wilson finished his term in 1921. President Franklin Roosevelt contracted polio but tried to hide that from the public for years. President John F. Kennedy had back problems and Addison's disease, which affects the adrenal glands. And many Democrats raised the possibility that President Ronald Reagan was slipping mentally in his final years. He announced in 1994 that he had Alzheimer's Disease. Given the growing bipartisan skepticism about a president's health — even leading to discussions of invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution — what should be done? The president is not mandated to take an annual physical or release the results. The practice started with President Richard Nixon, and his successors have seen it as an important, though voluntary, practice. Given the public skepticism in these hyper-partisan times, the president's annual physical needs some changes. It should be done by a panel of independent physicians, such as the heads of a few medical schools and some relevant medical associations (such as family physicians, internists and mental health). The panel should release their findings and then face the press for questioning, highlighting any areas of disagreement. In other words, there should be no doubt that the president has been fully examined and that the medical team has no interest in omitting or glossing over problems. Before physicians are allowed to pronounce the commander-in-chief 'fit for duty,' they should recognize their duty to be honest with the public. Merrill Matthews is a public policy and political analyst and the co-author of 'On the Edge: America Faces the Entitlements Cliff.'
The Citizen
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
Trevor Noah questioned over silence on Trump's claim of ‘white genocide' in SA
Last year, Noah said he still kept up with what's happening in South Africa, despite being out of the country. Comedian Trevor Noah has been accused of not being patroitic enough. Picture: Stephen McCarthy / Getty Images US actress Viola Davis' comments on Donald Trump's claims of a white genocide in South Africa have led to accusations that comedian Trevor Noah is not patriotic enough. Davis, who has visited Mzansi many times and has always expressed her affection for the country, recently expressed her anger at Trump's utterances about white people being murdered in South Africa. 'Spent a lot of time in Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl, and Durban… there is no argument. There is no justification. I've seen the ravages of apartheid. I've seen the townships — all Black. Full stop,' wrote Davis in response to a CNN roundtable discussion about alleged genocide in the country. The discussion took place after President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the White House last week, accompanied by a delegation. ALSO READ: PICS: 'The Woman King' star Viola Davis celebrates birthday in Cape Town Why Trevor Noah could be a target Other international South African celebrities, like Black Coffee and Charlize Theron, have been roped in, but Noah has seemingly taken the brunt. The criticism of Noah most likely stems from his role as the host of The Daily Show, where he has torn into the day's politics through satire. This has set an expectation that he should always comment on some of the biggest political activities. Last year, Noah told Radio 702 that he still follows what happens in South Africa, despite being out of the country. 'First and foremost, it's always home. My friends are here, my family is here, so the conversations are about what's happening here. I follow the politics, I follow the news…the only things you have to experience yourself are widespread load shedding, a traffic jam [that turns] into a roadblock,' said Noah at the time. Some South Africans seem to be irked by his silence, especially when he's aware of what is happening. World renowned South African celebrities such as Trevor Noah, Charlize Theron and DJ Black Coffee have South Africans asking where their voices are as African-American actress Viola Davis shows support for SA among an onslaught of misinformation from the USA. — All Things Current Affairs (@A_T_C_A) May 26, 2025 One person on X counted all of Noah's social media numbers—his Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter) pages—and said Noah should have refuted Trump's claims because of his global influence. ALSO READ: 'It was very lonely': Trevor Noah reflects on his time on 'The Daily Show' Outspoken Black Americans A group of 59 white South Africans recently landed in the US after being granted refugee status by the Trump administration. Several Americans have commented on this, slamming the fiasco. US rapper Vic Mensa recently went on TikTok to give a brief lesson on the history of modern-day South Africa in a video titled 'South Africa, Colonization, and the Right to Exist.' #southafrica #colonization ♬ original sound – Vic Mensa @vicmensa does the colonizer have the right to exist? nations & empires are founded by conquest, not by god given right during my time in south africa i wrote a few essays, i think ill post one on substack later – let me know if you want me to send it to you #colonizer 'By now I'm sure we've all seen the foolishness of white South African 'refugees' escaping an imaginary genocide,' he said in the intro of the video. 'When I was in South Africa one of the most infuriating things was learning that the European 10% minority of the population held 90% of the wealth, that sh*t boiled my f*cken blood,' shared the rapper. Social commentator Dan Corder took to social media to clarify the situation. Seasoned comedian DL Hughley initially shared Corder's video, which was liked by Davis and US comedian Wanda Sykes. NOW READ: 'Never say never' — Jack Parow speaks on refugee status amid European success
New York Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
White House reporters speak out on whether Biden's mental decline was deliberately hidden
Advertisement White House reporters who covered the Biden administration are speaking out about whether they were duped into thinking the president was mentally fit for office and if West Wing staffers attempted to hide the truth from Americans. CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson's 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again' was released on Tuesday and has created plenty of chatter among the White House press corps while putting the issue back at the forefront. The book details Joe Biden's mental acuity concerns while in office, accusing the Biden White House of lying to reporters and voters. Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy responded by posting multiple videos to X showing him questioning Biden and the White House about the then-president's cognitive decline, only to be quickly dismissed. Advertisement Other White House reporters found it odd that CNN is tied to the book, while some had strong feelings about whether there was truly a 'cover-up.' One White House reporter truly believes the White House clearly tried to hide the truth from everyone. 6 White House reporters who covered the Biden administration are speaking out about whether they were duped into thinking the president was mentally fit for office. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock 'This was a cover-up by any definition, but a quixotic one for the Biden team to have undertaken, for at the end of the day, there is only so much a White House staff can do to shield the President of the United States from exposure to the press and public. The cover-up had both private and public-facing dimensions,' the White House reporter told Fox News Digital. Advertisement The reporter said the private dimensions included 'secretive strategizing and decision-making,' while the public strategy featured 'brazen lies' such as video of Biden appearing confused being chalked up as 'cheap fakes' and 'the silencing of reporters who pressed the issue early on.' Doocy and a handful of other bold reporters were regularly shut down by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre if they dared to ask about the president's fitness for office. 6 CNN's Jake Tapper (pictured) and Axios reporter Alex Thompson's new book details Joe Biden's mental acuity concerns while in office, accusing the Biden White House of lying to reporters and voters. CNN 'The subject that was denounced as so rude and fringe-y to ask about back then eventually emerged as the defining issue of the Biden presidency,' the White House reporter said. Advertisement A second White House reporter echoed the thoughts of 'The Daily Show' host Jon Stewart, who on Monday blasted CNN for relentlessly promoting 'a book about news they should've told you was news a year ago for free.' 'Sources are always more eager to talk after the fact, but it's not a good look that CNN — a heavy hitter with plenty of weight to challenge the White House as the decline happened — barely scratched the surface of the story that Tapper now reports,' the second White House reporter told Fox News Digital. 6 Fox News broadcast journalist Peter Doocy at a daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 11, 2025. AFP via Getty Images 'Late work still deserves half credit, though,' they added. A third White House reporter initially believed the 82-year-old Biden was merely aging, or perhaps suffering from COVID side effects, and doesn't think the press is culpable. 'You know, it's one of those things; the guy is old. He speaks like an old person, and it's getting more pronounced as time goes by,' the third White House reporter said of Biden. 'I noticed, personally, a dramatic difference between when he took office and the start of the second year. I suspected, and wondered, if it might be because of COVID and the aftereffects of COVID. He had it twice, I think… I know it's been reported that a brain fog kind of thing can happen after you've had it. I left it at that,' they continued. 'I remember a very different Joe Biden in 2014, 2015. He was a decade younger, so that makes sense.' Advertisement The third White House reporter 'doesn't get' the notion that journalists should have been able to uncover the truth about his declining health at the moment. 'How? How exactly do you report that? If you're a White House reporter, you have responsibilities to explain what happened that day. Like in any White House, there is usually something happening every single day,' they said, noting that reporting on Biden's mental acuity concerns would be a major enterprise story. 'People are not going to confirm medical stuff at all, not likely going to tell you what he's like in private… or in Wilmington, because it makes him look bad,' they said. 'Now, the Biden White House didn't leak. It just didn't, so if you want to go after that story, you're going to spend weeks on it, and you may not get anything. In the meantime, you're not doing other things.' That same White House reporter is 'puzzled' that Jean-Pierre has taken so much heat for regularly insisting Biden was fit for office. Advertisement 6 A handful of other bold reporters were regularly shut down by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (left) if they dared to ask about the president's fitness for office. Getty Images 'To the extent that she says, 'He's more energetic than I am,' that's just silly, and she probably shouldn't have said that. On the other hand, to have her come out and say, 'Oh, no, no he's actually incapable of doing the job and ought to resign,' that's not realistic,' the White House reporter said, adding that Jean-Pierre and other top Biden staffers had skin in the game. 'I mean, come on, you cannot expect the chief of staff to say, 'This guy cannot do the job,'' they said. The third White House reporter isn't sure Biden's age impacted his job performance and believes a lot of his shortcomings were simply 'policy issues.' Advertisement 6 White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calls on a reporter during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. AP 'What would he have done much differently if he was younger? I don't know,' they said. 'Until you can show me that he did bad things because he wasn't up to the job at that moment, you know, I take it with a grain of salt.' Margaret Chadbourn covers the White House as a Cheddar correspondent, with a seat in the briefing room, and is a WHCA member. She believes the entire Biden saga has hurt trust in the media because Americans are asking what was missed, and why it was missed. Start your day with all you need to know Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Advertisement 'Reporters need to do some soul-searching, maybe, perhaps, and question did they cover Biden the way they should have, through the lens they should have, asking the questions they should have, taking the facts and putting them together, or should they have looked for more facts,' Chadbourn told Fox News Digital. 'Should they have done more research?,' Chadbourn continued. 'I just think there is a whole timeline that the media and reporters need to look through, not just Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson writing a book.' Chadbourn, who has been covering Biden on and off since 2005, said he was always affable and always 'came alive interacting with voters.' But as his legacy is defined, she believes there is anger among Americans over what people perceive as 'misinformation about his health.' 6 President Joe Biden walks off stage during the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images 'Not as a media critic, but as a journalist, a political reporter, we need to see what was there that we perhaps missed,' Chadbourn said. The first White House reporter who spoke anonymously believes the truth will eventually come out. 'We will learn more about all this as time goes by: first, in aides' memoirs, where they will, for money, traffic the pitiable incidents and sad details they knew about at the time, and helped conceal; and secondly, through archival disclosure, as we get our hands on the White House memoranda, emails, and texts that will show the day-to-day mechanics of the cover-up—and maybe answer the question of who was running the country,' the reporter told Fox News Digital.
