ElectionLine’s View From Abroad: Former White House Foreign Press Group Chief Kéthévane Gorjestani Says Biden’s Media Handlers Must “Let Joe Be Joe” If He’s Going To Beat Trump

Welcome to ElectionLine’s A View From Abroad series, in which we speak with media figures who don’t live in America but keep a close eye on its politics. Every few weeks, these smart observers will provide a unique perspective on what promises to be a fraught and unpredictable campaign for the White House. This week, our interview is with Kéthévane Gorjestani, the foreign affairs correspondent for France 24, the international news network.

Kéthévane Gorjestani spent time as president of the White House Foreign Press Group, meaning she helped spearhead efforts to get more access to Joe Biden. While Trump was at the White House press podium “all the time,” Gorjestani says there was a feeling among the media corps that Biden’s handlers were more reluctant to engage. The France 24 journalist thinks this has been to Biden’s detriment.

Gorjestani argues that the president’s blunders or moments of brain fog appear worse when he is on-script. “Let Joe be Joe,” she says, turning to a phrase she has heard in Washington D.C.

Gorjestani explains: “At least part of his team is trying to shield him from making a mistake or saying something that makes news that they don’t want him to say. But there’s also a wide agreement among reporters that Joe Biden is never as good as when he’s off the cuff. It comes with its risks, but all leaders have these risks when they sit down for interviews or press conferences.”

The risks and rewards have been evident in recent weeks. On the downside, it gave America the bizarre spectacle of Biden outlining a timeline for a Gaza cease-fire while clutching an ice cream. The Let Joe Be Joe strategy also helped Biden to a sparky display on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

“You look at the State of the Union, all the unscripted moments where he’s responding to heckling from the Republicans, that is the best response to the criticism or the concerns about his age,” Gorjestani adds. “He’s more than capable to engage with antagonistic calls and questions — and he’s good at it.”

Gorjestani was born in Washington D.C. and is a French-American, though she was originally from Georgia. She has been presenting on the French state-backed news network France 24 since 2010, spending four years as a correspondent in Washington. Gorjestani recently moved back to Paris, where she now serves as France 24’s foreign affairs correspondent, but she keeps a close eye on the White House.

France 24 has an English language service that broadcasts in the U.S. and, unlike its American counterparts, Gorjestani says it has a duty to impartiality, with an emphasis on spotlighting facts and analysis over opinion. American news junkies tell her that France 24 is a channel of choice because they are “tired of the pundits.” A similar argument was put forward by the BBC’s Justin Webb in a separate  View From Abroad column for ElectionLine. 

Gorjestani says the French are somewhat bemused by the U.S. election. “How is it possible that a country like the United States cannot come up with a better choice than two old guys that nobody wants,” she says, surmising the mood among her fellow nationals. 

She has little doubt that Emmanuel Macron would prefer a Biden second term over the return of Trump, even if he forged a viral bromance with the latter. Remember the white-knuckle handshakes the pair shared during their encounters? Gorjestani says this was Macron mixing pragmatism with politics. “European leaders understand that if you get on Trump’s bad side, you’re not going to get anything good out of it for your country,” she adds.

Gorjestani believes there will be genuine jitters at the Élysée Palace over Trump’s threats to ditch NATO, but suspects that there are many MAGA sympathizers in France, not least because of the continued support for far-right politician Marine Le Pen.

For all Trump’s America-first bravado, Gorjestani says foreign journalists were treated well by his White House. “The administration was very much willing to speak to reporters, including foreign reporters. We were probably treated better than the so-called ‘lamestream media,’ because we were not seen to be taking sides,” she adds.

The Trump of 2024 is producing different challenges, not least because people have become inured to his caustic brand of rhetoric, Gorjestani says. “No one has yet figured out the exact remedy or mathematical recipe for how much airtime, how much analysis, how much context [to afford Trump],” she explains.

Trump may be more willing to engage than Biden, but his freewheeling polemics present problems of their own.