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Lester Holt channels America's anxiety in Biden's first sit-down of 2022
CNN
A version of this article first appeared in the "Reliable Sources" newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.
Presidential interviews are rare forums for journalists to channel the public's attitudes and see how the commander-in-chief responds. That's what "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt did with President Biden on Thursday, in Biden's first TV interview of the year.
Holt asked Biden if he acknowledged the "restlessness" that many Americans feel after two years of the pandemic. Biden said yes.
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In speeches, interviews, exchanges with reporters and posts on social media, the president filled his public statements not only with exaggerations but outright fabrications. As he did during his first presidency, Trump made false claims with a frequency and variety unmatched by any other elected official in Washington.