Ex-Biden spokesperson suggests Trump may not have ‘energy’ to do the job, ‘desperate’ to show he’s in charge

Former Biden deputy press secretary Andrew Bates suggested on Saturday during an interview with MSNBC that President Donald Trump may not have the “energy” to do his job, and said he was “desperate” to show he’s in charge. 

Bates joined MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart, who asked about Trump’s clash with Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills, over transgender women in sports. Trump told her at the White House that she must follow his executive order or the state wouldn’t receive federal funding, to which she replied, “we’ll see you in court.” 

“Yeah, I think this is someone who’s desperate to show that he’s in charge. I don’t know if he has the energy to do this job, maybe that’s why he’s basically letting Elon Musk be the acting president. But I think you see him lashing out. You see him trying to take as much power unto himself as he possibly can,” Bates said. 

Bates also questioned whether Trump felt “secure” in his role. 

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“He’s even letting the richest person in the world rummage through our Social Security information, our IRS data. So I don’t know if he feels secure about his role in this government or not, but it’s obvious that a lot of Americans are getting more and more concerned, especially when you see the backlash at these constituent town halls,” Bates said.

Capehart’s other guest, Jennifer Horn, a co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, issued a dire warning in reaction to Trump’s clash with the Maine governor. 

“And the idea that anyone, that the executive office, that the President of the United States has unguarded, unlimited authority or decision-making power without guardrails is, and that he can declare himself that he is the federal government, that is the absolute definition of a dictator,” she said. 

Horn warned the American people were standing at a “precipice.”

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP)

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“It is we, the people who are going to decide whether or not the President of the United States of America leads us into the greatest, most tragic collapse of democracy in the history of man. Or the American people going to come together and lift it up and protect us and hold him and the Republican Party accountable,” she continued. 

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Capehart also criticized Musk and Trump, saying “under any other circumstances, any other circumstance, what Elon Musk is doing would be considered hacking.”