President Joe Biden has decided to skip out on the traditional Super Bowl Sunday interview for the second year in a row, but some aren’t so certain it’s the best idea.
According to one veteran Democratic campaign operative who spoke with NBC News, the interview would have been a good time for Biden to address the three United States service members who were killed in an airstrike in Jordan.
“Either he doesn’t have anything to say, or his team is worried about what he might say or how he’d say it,” the campaign veteran said. “Regardless, it’s a problem.”
The decision to skip the interview comes as the administration feels many voters are exhausted from the current political season and wouldn’t respond well to an interview from Biden at this time, CNN reported.
While some questioned if Biden was even offered a spot for an interview, a senior administration official told the media outlet that CBS, which is carrying the big game this year, had offered to do a 15-minute sitdown that would air online, with three to four minutes airing during the game’s coverage.
For the last 15 years, the sitting president has had an interview on Super Bowl Sunday, no matter the host network.
Former President Donald Trump had three pre-game interviews during his four years in office. However, the tradition was largely started by former President Barack Obama.
“We hope viewers enjoy watching what they tuned in for — the game,” White House communications director Ben LaBolt said in a statement.
Trump was quick to jump on the opportunity to one-up his expected 2024 presidential opponent, saying in a post to Truth Social that he would be happy to sit down for the interview since Biden declined.
“Crooked Joe Biden has just announced that he will not be doing the big Super Bowl Interview. A great decision, he can’t put two sentences together. I WOULD BE HAPPY TO REPLACE HIM - would be ‘RATINGS GOLD!’” Trump posted.
Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign communications director, offered a response to Trump, who he noted was not the president.
“First of all, these offers are only for presidents — not for the loser,” Tyler said in a statement. “Second of all, no one tuning in to watch football this Sunday wants to hear Donald Trump say a damn thing about anything.”
Still, Trump argues that Biden has declined the interview because his cognitive state is failing, something that the former president never fails to mention and Americans are growing more concerned about.
However, Biden’s aides argue he has done network interviews before and will do them again when they are looking to make a message clear to the country.