(DailyVantage.com) – Social media erupted with criticism after First Lady Jill Biden attended what may be one of President Joe Biden’s final Cabinet meetings at the White House. The meeting, held on Friday for the first time since October 2023, featured the First Lady speaking about the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research.
President Biden introduced Jill Biden’s presence by noting that first ladies have occasionally joined such meetings across administrations for specific reasons, emphasizing the importance of the topic she was there to address. “It’s all yours, kid,” he said as he handed the floor to his wife. According to The New York Post, Jill Biden read from a binder about maternal health initiatives for four-and-a-half minutes, while President Biden only spoke briefly at the beginning.
Jill Biden’s involvement in the meeting quickly sparked controversy online, with many questioning her influence within the administration. The New York Post noted that Jill Biden is regarded by insiders as the most influential first lady since Edith Wilson, who controlled access to her husband, President Woodrow Wilson, after he suffered a stroke in 1919.
Greg Price, a digital strategist, highlighted this comparison by saying, “She’s literally Edith Wilson except right out in the open in a 24/7 news cycle and nobody in the media cares.” Former Trump adviser Steve Cortes commented on Joe Biden’s perceived reliance on Jill, stating, “A visibly exhausted Joe Biden just held a full Cabinet meeting for the first time in 11 months and immediately turned the mic over to his wife, Jill. Who is running the country?”
Political commentator Kate Hyde noted the unusual nature of the situation, saying, “Jill Biden is kicking off the first cabinet meeting the White House has had in almost a year and we’re expected to act like this is normal.” Podcaster Tim Young speculated on Jill’s role, suggesting, “Jill Biden is the head of the table at the cabinet meeting. No one voted for her to be there… this must be part of her deal to have Joe drop out of the race.”
Other critics, like Sean Davis of The Federalist, sarcastically pointed out that the First Lady holds no constitutional authority, while T. Becket Adams of The Hill mused about the power vacuum in the U.S. government being filled by the president’s wife. Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., bluntly asked, “Is this who’s running the country?”
In response, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates defended Jill Biden’s participation, stating that she was there to highlight important work on women’s health research, which the administration is leading. Bates criticized the backlash as “conspiracy theories that devalue historic progress researching women’s health,” suggesting that such reactions reflect broader political attitudes towards women’s issues.
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