There is a reason that Joe Biden rarely gives live interviews – he’s really bad at doing them. In a gesture to allow Sleepy Joe to tout the passage of the $1.2T bipartisan infrastructure bill, he sat down for a virtual interview with a Cincinnati television station. I’m not sure he reassured anyone who might be alarmed at the huge amount of taxpayer money the bill will deliver for infrastructure projects around the country.

Biden began the interview by apologizing for being late. Kyle Inskeep of Cincinnati’s WKRC-TV graciously noted that Biden is a busy man. Biden smiled and chuckled when that was said. Even Biden knows he’s not doing anything. You just know his staff was holding their breath as the interview began.

In the Cincinnati and northern Kentucky area, where this television station has its viewership, one infrastructure concern is a bridge, the Brent Spence Bridge. The news anchor led off with that topic and how the bill’s passage will allow funding for repairs. Biden mumbled and fumbled as he does when speaking off the cuff but did look down at his notes and read off a few talking points. The anchor let Biden ramble on, moving on to other topics.

One remarkable utterance from Biden was about gas prices. Biden blames it on price gouging, not his hideous pursuit of destroying the fossil fuel industry in the United States. He said he’s instructed his Department of Justice to investigate price gouging. You can’t make this nonsense up. The reason the price of gas is up across the country is because of supply and demand. This isn’t rocket science. The economy is rebounding from the pandemic and people are driving to work again. As America gets back on the move, there is more demand for gas. Businesses are re-opening and more energy is being used. Surely even Slow Joe can figure this out. He is doing all he can to appease the keep-it-in-the-ground movement of radical progressives while going hat in hand to OPEC and begging them to release more oil. His predecessor put policies in place that allowed the United States to become energy independent. In order to prove he isn’t that guy, Biden came into office hellbent to destroy all that and run American energy producers out of business. Jobs lost, pipelines shut down, and higher gas prices all contribute to the crisis as consequences of Biden’s incompetence to deal with energy issues. So, Merrick Garland’s merry band of minions will investigate nonexistent price gouging.

‘Gas prices are up, exceedingly high,’ Biden continued. ‘That’s why I have the attorney general taking a look at whether or not these gas companies are gouging people.’

To his credit, Inskeep asked Biden about his dismal poll numbers. He brushed it off and acted as though he doesn’t pay attention to polls, which is what all politicians say when they are not doing well. He then admitted he looked at poll numbers before he began the interview and said his numbers really aren’t all that bad.

‘Well look, the poll I saw just before I walked in on another station was my polling number is down, but it’s 48 percent to 52 percent,’ the president said.

‘But look, the point is I didn’t run because of the polls.’

He added that Americans were feeling more uncertain right now because of the ongoing pandemic and rising prices at the pump.

‘A lot of people are worried,’ Biden said. ‘Think about this. Look what 750,000 people have died because of COVID. The psychological scars that has put on so many people. Schools have not been opened because of COVID.’

He said ‘we’re in a situation when there’s a lot, a lot of anxiety.’

I’m not sure where Biden got that 48% favorable number, I think his staff must be giving him numbers that lessen the blow. If he looks at the Real Clear Politics average, he’s at 42.8% approve, 51.7% disapprove. None of the polls listed from the middle of October through last week have Biden at 48% approval. Anyway, he’s right, Americans are anxious. Biden doesn’t inspire confidence that he and his administration have a clue as to how to do much of anything, other than spend taxpayer money. It’s pretty ballsy of him to bring up schools being closed since he’s beholden to teachers’ unions and recklessly supported school closures for over a year during the pandemic. He’s complicit. Biden turned a blind eye to the traumatic effects of keeping children out of school and away from their friends and schoolmates. It’s not just psychological damage, they’ve fallen behind in their studies.

Biden’s live interview was an unannounced one, which strikes me as odd. A local news affiliate would get a lot of mileage from promoting an interview with the president, right? Biden’s live interviews are rare, few, and far between. It’s reported that his staff holds their breath when he speaks without a script. It’s justifiable since he usually says something that has to be cleaned up by his press secretary afterward. Will the White House press corp ask about Biden’s reasoning that it’s price gouging that is driving up the price of gas? I hope I’m wrong but that is part of the problem – Biden is shielded from accountability by most of the media.

Biden is lying when he says he doesn’t pay attention to polls. He and his staff certainly do. Biden is a career politician. He’s begun every day for the last 50 years looking at poll numbers and ended every day doing the same. The good news for Republicans is that he and his administration continue to misread the frustration and anger of the general public over his actions in office. There’s a red wave coming in 2022 and it has nothing to do with price gouging on gas.