Washington Post Torches Biden Press Secretary’s Book

Even the liberal Washington Post isn’t buying what Karine Jean-Pierre is selling.

In a blistering review published Wednesday, the Post’s book critic, Becca Rothfeld, shredded the former Biden press secretary’s new memoir, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines. Her verdict? A tone-deaf, grievance-filled rant dressed up in the empty language of self-help slogans.

According to Rothfeld, Jean-Pierre’s book isn’t a serious critique of the Democratic Party’s failures — it’s a personal pity party over how her old boss, Joe Biden, and his team were treated by fellow Democrats as his presidency crumbled.

“Jean-Pierre’s central complaint boils down to a vague sense of personal grievance,” Rothfeld wrote, adding that the former press secretary devotes much of her book to blaming Democratic insiders for being “mean” to Biden, “mean” to her, and “mean” to Kamala Harris.

The critic didn’t hold back. Instead of grappling with real policy failures — on immigration, inflation, foreign policy, or national security — Jean-Pierre spends her pages preaching vague “out of the box thinking” and “self-care.” Rothfeld slammed it as “squishy and congratulatory therapy-speak,” calling the book dated before it even hit the printers.

“Jean-Pierre is an artifact of an age that looks recent on paper but feels prehistoric in practice — the age of pantsuits, the word ‘empowerment,’ and the cheap therapeutic entreaties to ‘work on yourself’ and ‘lean in,’” Rothfeld wrote.

The Post even mocked Jean-Pierre’s decision to declare herself an “independent,” calling it “a style, not a strategy.” Rothfeld compared her language to a “SoulCycle instructor,” saying her feel-good clichés reflect “the Democrats’ total aesthetic and intellectual driftlessness.”

It’s a remarkable takedown from one of America’s most reliably left-leaning papers — and it underscores just how far Jean-Pierre’s star has fallen since her days spinning for the Biden White House.

Jean-Pierre’s memoir, released Tuesday, paints herself as a principled outsider who couldn’t “stomach” how Democrats forced Biden out of the 2024 race. But even sympathetic observers have questioned whether she’s rewriting history to protect her own image as the administration unraveled amid historic disapproval ratings and growing concerns over Biden’s mental decline.

In the end, Rothfeld summed up Jean-Pierre’s book as the perfect emblem of modern Democratic politics — all slogans, no substance.

“It is incredible,” Rothfeld concluded, “that someone who writes in such feel-good, thought-repelling clichés was hired to communicate with the nation from its highest podium.”

Jean-Pierre has yet to respond to the criticism.