- President Biden mentioned he was “extraordinarily self-conscious” about being waited on within the White House.
- At a CNN city corridor, he mentioned he was “raised in a manner that you just did not search for anyone to attend on you.”
- In the primary week of his presidency, Trump bragged about the opulence of the White House.
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
President Joe Biden mentioned on Tuesday that he was uncomfortable with how a lot he was waited on by employees within the White House. President Donald Trump had bragged about its opulence at an identical level in his presidency.
In a CNN town hall — Biden’s first city corridor as president — Biden described how he was getting used to residing and dealing on the White House.
When the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper requested what it was prefer to be on the White House because the president versus the vice chairman, Biden joked that he would “rise up within the morning and take a look at Jill and say, ‘Where the hell are we?'”
He mentioned that whereas he had hung out within the Oval Office because the vice chairman, he had by no means been within the residence.
He additionally touched on the service he was receiving on the White House as president. “I used to be raised in a manner that you just did not search for anyone to attend on you,” he mentioned.
“I discover myself extraordinarily self-conscious,” he added, as a result of there are such a lot of White House employees members ready on him, together with anyone who “arms me my go well with coat.”
Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images
Biden’s description contrasts with how Trump, on the fifth night time of his presidency, described residing and dealing on the White House.
In a phone interview with The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman in January 2017, Trump bragged about lots of the White House’s options.
He instructed Haberman that “these are probably the most lovely telephones I’ve ever utilized in my life.”
He added that everybody who had come into the Oval Office was impressed. “I’ve had folks are available in, they stroll in right here they usually simply need to stare for an extended time frame,” he mentioned.
Trump famously used an outdated name button within the Oval Office to order Diet Cokes from his staff. It’s not clear what Biden is utilizing that button for now.
In his Times interview, Trump praised the White House residence, calling it “lovely” and “very elegant.”
Of the main bedroom, Trump mentioned: “There’s one thing very particular when you recognize that Abraham Lincoln slept there. The Lincoln Bedroom, you recognize, was his workplace, and the suite the place I’m staying is definitely the place he slept.”
Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images
“Knowing all of that, it is completely different, than, you recognize, simply pure magnificence and room dimension,” Trump added. “There’s lots of historical past.”
In the CNN city corridor, Biden mentioned the White House was very completely different from Number One Observatory Circle, the vice chairman’s residence, and described the relative freedom he had there. “You can experience a bicycle round and by no means depart the property and work out,” he mentioned.
He described the White House as extra restrictive, calling it a “gilded cage, when it comes to having the ability to stroll exterior and do issues.”
Biden mentioned that whereas he’d been president for less than 4 weeks, it felt like longer.
“And typically, as a result of issues are transferring so quick — not due to burden — it looks like 4 years,” he mentioned. “It’s not due to the burden, it is as a result of there’s a lot occurring that you just’re consistently specializing in one downside or alternative.”
