‘Uncle Joe’ Biden reportedly prone to angry outbursts in private

US President Joe Biden is prone to outbursts of yelling and cursing in private, in contrast to the grandfatherly demeanor he displays in public, according to a US media report Monday.

“God dammit, how the fuck don’t you know this?!” “Don’t fucking bullshit me!” and “Get the fuck out of here!” are some of the rebukes Biden’s staff have been on the receiving end of, the Axios news site reported, citing current and former aides to the veteran politician.

Biden’s known temper was said to have caused some staff to avoid entering a room alone with him.

As “Uncle Joe,” Biden is known for his personal warmth and folksy manner. But he also has a propensity for public gaffes, and his often rambling delivery on the campaign trail has been met by a social media campaign raising questions over his mental agility.

The angry side of Biden rarely comes out in public. An exception was in January 2022, when he was recorded on a hot mike calling Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy a “stupid son of a bitch.”

According to the report, Biden’s anger mainly comes in the form of an interrogation of knowledge of certain issues, as part of his meticulous policymaking style.

According to some aides, a grilling by Biden is like an initiation ceremony and a sign of respect. The fiery demeanor, staff said, reflects the commander-in-chief’s high expectations at the office.

Some staff members believe Biden should sometimes show off his hot temper to fend off fears among the public that he is too old and fragile to hold the top job.

According to Chris Whipple’s book, “The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House,” former White House press secretary Jen Psaki recalled that she told Biden: “I’ll know we have a really good, trusting relationship when you yell at me the first time.”

“Psaki wouldn’t have to wait long,” Whipple wrote. He noted that Biden’s anger was “not as volcanic” as former US president Bill Clinton’s.

“No one is safe,” a Biden administration official told Axios. Some aides highlighted the president’s anger in 2021 at Jeff Zients, then-COVID-19 czar, when the country faced a scarcity of testing kits during a surge in Omicron variant cases.

Zients’ spokesperson responded: “I’m not going to speak to what internal convos may or may not have happened between Jeff and the president.” The White House refused to comment on the incident.

Ted Kaufman, who served as Biden’s chief of staff while the latter was a senator for Delaware, said that the new president’s behavior was motivated by his desire to craft good policy.

“If there is something that’s not in the brief, he’s going to find it,” he told Axios. “It’s not to embarrass people, it’s because he wants to get to the right decision. Most people who have worked for him like the fact that he challenges them and gets them to a better decision.”

Biden’s defenders said that although the president can be tough, he is warm and makes his staff feel like family, encouraging them to remain in his service long-term.

Jeff Connaughton, a former staff member, has been less sympathetic to the president’s behavior.

In his book, “The Payoff: Why Wall Street Wins,” Connaughton called Biden an “egomaniacal autocrat… determined to manage his staff through fear” while Biden served as senator.

He recalled a time when a 23-year-old fundraising staffer told Biden it was time to make some calls to raise money, to which the lawmaker responded: “Get the fuck out of the car.”

He told Axios that the commander-in-chief “hides his sharper edge to promote his folksy Uncle Joe image — which is why, when flashes of anger breakthrough, it seems so out of public character.”

AFP contributed to this report.