A Book So Bad It Shattered Liberals' Faith in DEI
Karine Jean-Pierre can't stop making history. Earlier this year, the former White House press secretary became the highest-ranking openly queer, French-born black woman with a hyphenated surname to publicly renounce the Democratic Party for being mean to Joe Biden. She is the only black female lesbian immigrant to publish a book about her time in the Biden administration. It is the worst political memoir ever written in the history of the English language.
This is not hyperbole. It's an especially vacuous genre and highly competitive, to be sure. But imagine writing a book so bad it could shame Democrats and liberals into second-guessing their cult-like devotion to DEI. That's what Jean-Pierre has done with Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.
In 2022, Jean-Pierre's promotion to White House press secretary was hailed—by Democrats and journalists (to the extent there's a difference)—as a triumph for diversity and representation. She is now widely viewed, in the words of a reporter who worked with her, as "the most incompetent and irrelevant White House press secretary ever." Former colleagues describe her as "ineffectual," "unprepared," and "kind of dumb." Looking back on the Great Awokening of 2020, one can't help but marvel at what Jean-Pierre has managed to achieve.
Democrats are finally starting to connect the dots, casting Jean-Pierre as a cautionary tale of what can happen when a desire to "make history" takes precedence over everything else. "If Democrats really want to help minorities, they have to stop defending incompetence," wrote Zaid Jilani, a former blogger at the left-wing Center for American Progress. "Karine Jean-Pierre was never good at her job, and it took progressives four years to admit it."
Jean-Pierre's book tour—if you can call it that—has been described as a "car crash" of "non-stop cringe." She fumbles her way through interviews, repeatedly invoking her lived experience as a trailblazing black woman and openly gay pioneer. The same people who celebrated her historic promotion—and the first to denounce her critics as bigots—are rolling their eyes. "Every time she falls back on identity politics instead of actually answering questions, she reinforces the worst stereotype about Democrats," a former White House colleague told Politico. It's truly remarkable.
Her egregious performance in an interview with the New Yorker's Isaac Chotiner—one Democratic strategist likened it to "Mike Tyson fighting a baby"—has forced many liberals to embrace the possibility that Jean-Pierre was utterly unqualified for her job. "I don't recall her ever transforming into a dervish of complete nonsense like this on the podium, but maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention," wrote liberal journalist Jordan Weissmann. (Fact check: He clearly wasn't paying attention because she's always been like this.)
One of many examples: After using the phrase "Joe Biden, blah, blah, blah" to deflect a simple question about the thesis of her book, Jean-Pierre told Chotiner the "broken White House" referenced in the subtitle is actually a reference to Donald Trump's administration—not the one in which she actually served. It's a strange thing to lie about—something a clueless person might blurt out when they get flustered. But in the author's defense, even a semi-talented communicator would struggle to defend this drivel.
Readers may be surprised to learn that Jean-Pierre became a professional spokeswoman because she was even less capable in a different field. Her parents wanted her to be a doctor, but she flunked the medical school entrance exam. So she switched gears and entered the Ivy League-to-Democratic Party pipeline, where talent barely matters when there's history to be made with every promotion. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but Jean-Pierre implies all of her jobs since have been plagued by "disloyal colleagues" who question her competence. Imagine that.
Independent, which is both mercifully brief (172 pages) and intolerably long, defies credulity at every turn. Jean-Pierre claims she never noticed Biden's cognitive decline despite meeting with him "at least once a day" for two-and-a-half years. (Unfathomable to anyone who saw him speak once.) Her observations reflect an alarming disconnect with reality. She denounces the media (fair enough) for "grilling" Democrats and "soft-balling" Republicans (um, what?). She recounts her disbelief when—days after that "one wobbly debate" where Biden bragged about beating Medicare, blah, blah, blah—not a single reporter asked a question about his "landmark efforts to bring about social justice." What else, she wonders, could explain this "ferocity" and disrespect, if not the media's latent disdain for powerful black women?
Like her rambling press briefings, Jean-Pierre's prose is riddled with contradictions that boggle the mind. Democrats should have been more loyal to Biden. That's why she left the party. She's an independent now because "no entity deserves blind loyalty." Multiple interviewers have noted the discrepancy. Jean-Pierre, who holds a master's degree from Columbia University, doesn't follow. Her blind loyalty to Biden might have something to do with the fact that Dr. Jill Biden was one of her "greatest sources of support" when the racist media was being unfair. The book makes more sense if you imagine the relentlessly vindictive spouse hovering over the keyboard.
It goes without saying that Kamala Harris—the "trailblazing, extremely qualified" and racially historic candidate—was also treated unfairly. Jean-Pierre "never really believed" that Kamala Harris could win, but any Democrat who agreed with her—or suggested Harris should compete for the nomination—was insulting all black women. For obvious reasons, she declines to note that Barack Obama was one of the party leaders most skeptical of Harris. Alternatively, she argues that Harris would have won if other Democrats had been more loyal or less racist.
It's easy to see why Democrats are so annoyed. Her absurd retelling of the 2024 election notwithstanding, Jean-Pierre has no useful suggestions to offer. They should "think creatively," "move nimbly," and "plan strategically" in pursuit of "bolder solutions." Empathy is key, of course. Stop supporting candidates who are "elected" instead of backing the "inspirational" ones. Democrats should look to the Grammy Awards for inspiration, she writes. Watching all those Hollywood millionaires denouncing Trump reminded her that "monumental change" was possible. One of Jean-Pierre's boldest ideas—something Democrats should definitely consider—is restarting the "vigorous conversation about being antiracist" that helped make White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo a bestseller.
Alas, Jean-Pierre is no longer a Democrat. A more discerning editor could have whittled down her meandering attempts to explain why anyone should care that she's an independent now, but they had to fill the pages somehow. In so many words, she explains that leaving the party was a tantrum-like plea for attention—a deeply personal quest for "new ways to be acknowledged" that is "also about self-care." She'll never vote for a Republican, or even a third-party candidate, so again she struggles to arrive at a coherent point. "I don't like to think of moving away from the Democratic Party as leaving something behind," she writes. "Instead, we're leaning into our own truth."
Jean-Pierre urges others to follow suit, to proclaim their independence and follow their own political compass. It's an incredibly brave thing to do, she admits, so it's important to carry around a talisman to "remind you of the values you hold." Suggestions include "a biography of a poet who spoke a better world into existence" or "a pebble from a beach where you dreamed and felt free." She is hopeful the book will provoke "more nuanced political conversations." It has certainly provoked a conversation—shockingly nuanced in the context of Democratic Party politics—just not the one she was expecting.
Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines
by Karine Jean-Pierre
Legacy Lit, 192 pp., $30
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