Former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones says Biden’s staff needs to ‘let Joe be Joe’

Former Sen. Doug Jones told NBC News on Friday that he wanted President Joe Biden’s staff to let the president face the public more often, despite any fears about “gaffes.” Jones argued that Biden deeply connects with people and should be given more opportunities to do so.

“He wears that office very well, he can be very presidential, but I think they overcorrected. And I think they need to let Joe be Joe,” Jones told NBC News journalist Chuck Todd on “The Chuck ToddCast.”

He continued: “The pandemic has created a little bit of a problem. I mean, after all, he is 78 years old and there needs to be a level of protection around the president. But he can connect with people so well — I’ve never, hardly except for Bill Clinton and a few others, had somebody that can connect on a personal basis. And I think they need to get back to that.”

Jones, who won a 2017 special Senate election before losing his seat in 2020, pushed back at the idea that Democrats are destined to lose congressional majorities in the midterm election this fall.

“I’m tired of listening to the damn Debbie Downers that went, ‘Oh, my God, woe is me, all is lost, all is lost.’ That is just not the case,” Jones told Todd. “We have got a slate of candidates around this country who, I think, can do very well.”

The former senator urged Democrats to use the investigation into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, saying: “Democrats have to bring that home a little bit. I think every Democrat needs to ask their opponent: what would you have done if you were in Mike Pence’s place that day?”

He added, “I’d make it absolutely part of the midterm conversation, because our entire democracy is at stake. And we came so close to losing it.”