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.”
“I was really appalled at the way Karine Jean-Pierre evaded questions, continuously made ridiculous statements riddled with contradictions, and shut down any opportunity for students to engage with her on her complicity in the ongoing genocide through her close work with both the Obama and Biden Administrations,” another student told The Phoenix. “She spent so much time discussing how important healthy debate and dialogue is and shut down any opportunity to engage with students who found issue with her other statements.”
The former top Biden official and the intern from Swarthmore’s Black Cultural Center moderating the Q&A could not resist the urge to bring up Jean-Pierre’s black and “queer” identity. KJP expressed sorrow that her role speaking on behalf of the administration meant she “could never have my own voice.”
Even students who seemingly checked the same “identity” boxes were disappointed with her commentary.
“As a Black queer woman, especially as a public figure who claims to value minority rights, refusing to condemn the genocide in Gaza and your complicity on the grounds that ‘it’s too long-standing a policy,’ and ‘what about this, that, and the third president who built the system the Biden administration had to operate under’ is spineless and ridiculous,” one student said. “These are the very same grounds upon which figures representing our white supremacist government have defended massive violence, exploitation, and murder in the U.S. and abroad.”
“Proudly claiming your position as ‘just a mouthpiece’ for a genocidal administration the moment you’re asked to take a position of your own, despite repeatedly asserting the importance of achieving a position of power as a minority, is crazy,” the student continued. “Refusing to converse with students after talking about your love for discourse is crazy, proudly being a part of the Obama administration which deported three million people while claiming to care for migrant rights is crazy. There is so much more, even from this talk alone … Girl, bye.”
During her more than two-year stint in the White House, Jean-Pierre routinely drew criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for her often clumsy answers, question dodging, and, according to some, blatant lies. Jean-Pierre has since abandoned the Democratic Party, a move that some Democrats celebrated.
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