‘Extremely Bizarre’: Even College Students Hate Listening To Karine Jean-Pierre

Students at Swarthmore College are criticizing former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s recent campus speech that apparently contained “ridiculous statements riddled with contradictions.”

Jean-Pierre’s visit to the campus on Oct. 27 as part of her book tour sparked criticism from students who were put off by her bashing of the Democratic Party and disapproved of her defense of the Biden administration’s policies on the Israel-Hamas War, according to the college’s independent student newspaper, The Phoenix. Students described the former administration official’s presentation as “uninspiring” and “incomprehensible,” and left “questioning whether there was much at all of value to take away.”

“The most generous way I can describe the entire event with Karine Jean-Pierre, including her initial discussion and subsequent Q&A, is extremely bizarre,” one student said. “In fact, her overall message seemed like less of a coherent, well-thought-out political stance than a disjointed series of relatively uninspiring, and at times incomprehensible, takes that were nonetheless presented as some radical new vision for politics.”

“At one moment, Karine Jean-Pierre insisted that ‘being independent means refusing to silence your voice’ but perplexingly stated soon after that the most important thing to do right now is to be quiet and listen,” the student continued.

Another student found Jean-Pierre’s answers, particularly on Gaza, to be “truly inadequate.”

“We have a responsibility as Swarthmore students to talk about the values that we’re here to investigate, ask the hard questions in every space we’re in, and have these sorts of dialogues,” the student said. “Her refusal to truly answer my question shows resistance to engaging in the honest dialogue that is critical to a functioning democracy.”