Clearly Joe Biden didn't mean that thing he said about having zero tolerance for disrespectful staffers

Remember T.J. Ducklo? He's the deputy press secretary for President Joe Biden. Or, rather, he was the deputy press secretary for President Joe Biden. He lost that gig after getting busted for threatening then-Politico journo Tara Palmeri for reporting on his romantic relationship with Axios reporter Alexi McCammond. Oh, it was a scene, man.

scoop by me: WH comms aide TJ Ducklo threatened to "destroy" Politico's Tara Palmeri for reporting on his relationship with an Axios reporter and accused her of just being "jealous" of his girlfriend. Jen Psaki and Kate Bedingfield then defended him https://t.co/fnwfvHsoEq
— caleb ecarma (@calebecarma) February 12, 2021

Of course, Ducklo didn't lose the gig immediately; Biden had to punish him first. By ... having Ducklo send a personal note to Palmieri and then placing Ducklo on a one-week suspension without pay. A playful slap on the wrist, essentially.

Anyway, Ducklo became Biden's former deputy press secretary when he resigned (resigned, i.e. not fired). But at least he was outta there.

Biden 3 weeks ago: "If you’re ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot, on the spot. No if, ands, or buts. Everybody — everybody is entitled to be treated with decency & dignity." pic.twitter.com/0QDHnyU3Jo
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 12, 2021

At least Biden's promise — which he had made only a few weeks prior — about purging his administration of disrespectful people still held up. Sort of. But not really, because Biden didn't actually do anything "on the spot" or even do anything at all. Oh well. The important thing is that Ducklo learned a very valuable lesson. And that lesson is: "We didn't actually mean any of that stuff we said about holding people accountable for highly inappropriate behavior and harassment and we'd love to have you back on our team again."

On Friday, Biden’s campaign confirmed to the Lookout Ducklo, 34, will serve as Senior Advisor for Communications to the campaign, which is expected to be based in Delaware. Ducklo — currently the chief communications officer for Metro Nashville Mayor John Cooper — will leave his job with Metro at the end of June and join the campaign sometime in mid-July.
...
“T.J. has an incredible understanding of the media, which will be valuable to the campaign,” said former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

He also has a history of threatening and harassing female members of the media, but hey! Nobody's perfect, right? He's a great guy once you get to know him:

Several current and former White House staffers have continued to support Ducklo, pushing for his return in recent months.
“T.J. is loyal, deeply invested in the President and his agenda, trusted by the President’s team and knows what real people outside D.C. care about,” said a White House aide who spoke to the Lookout.

Doesn't that just give y'all the warm fuzzies? We love a good redemption arc, especially when the redeemer had promised to make an example of the garbage person who did the garbage stuff and then later completely backtracked as if they'd never made that promise in the first place. Definitely something we look for in a president.

Biden once told staff he would fire them for being disrespectful. Guess he left off the part where he’ll hire you back 🤷🏻‍♀️

Something something restoring decency?? https://t.co/jXzljitEFu pic.twitter.com/CmrfI5Y02w
— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) June 16, 2023

Eh, it's not like Joe Biden ran for the presidency on a platform of restoring decenc— oh, wait. Oh well!

Which reporter is he gonna threaten this time?
— Deacon Frost (@DeaconFrost95) June 16, 2023

Stay tuned to find out who the lucky lady (or, more likely, ladies) will be!

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