The Passionate, Lightly Rabid Subculture of Jen Psaki Superfans
These are the online subset of Democratic Party loyalists acting as resident Twitter cheerleaders for all things President Biden, including Psaki.
NewsPolitics
Psaki nation is in mourning. Last week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said she will likely leave her post by next year to spend more time with her family, including her two young children. “I don’t want to miss moments. I don’t want to miss things, and I’m very mindful of that as well,” Psaki told CNN’s David Axelrod. The White House Press Secretary gig is notorious for burnout, and Psaki made it clear from the jump that she didn’t intend to hold on to the post for very long, telling the New York Times in January, “I think there frankly needs to be diverse spaces and voices as communicators. Women, certainly, but beyond that.”
Despite the predictability of it all, Psaki’s biggest supporters are voicing what might best be described as grief, an outpouring that’s representative of an emergent online subculture: Jen Psaki superfans.
These are the online subset of Democratic Party loyalists acting as resident Twitter cheerleaders for all things President Biden, including Psaki. Their mission is simple: Gas up the major players of the Biden White House and snarl at its enemies, whether they’re Republican politicians or right-wing journalists. With Biden busy behind the scenes (and refraining from tweeting out every little thought, unlike his predecessor) and Vice President Kamala Harris focused on meeting world leaders and walking a lot, Psaki—the most front-facing representative of Biden’s administration—has become a natural figure to latch onto, in the most extreme cases inspiring memes, fevered tweets, and even a small but surely growing bit of Psaki fanfiction.
The “yas queen” energy of it all makes her competency not only into a likable trait, but somehow a heroic one as well.
The most typical of Psaki’s vocal aficionados are of the average pundit variety. “Really sad and disappointing news that Press Secretary Jen Psaki plans on stepping down later this year or early next year,” tweeted singer and self-described political junkie Ricky Dalvia, who has amassed a following of over 300,000 thanks to a steady stream of dependable content lambasting the Republican Party. “She’s literally one of the best destroyers of bullshit I’ve ever seen.”
In response to the news, journalist Eric Boehlert plugged an episode of his podcast Press Run, which he recorded one month prior, in which he praises Psaki’s tenacity and wit, particularly in the face of ever-needling Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, who is regarded among Psaki fans as her unofficial nemesis. “She’s our real-life C.J. Cregg who has bought smarts and wit back to the White House briefing room, after four years of the Trump infection, where mindless sycophants at the podium waged war on the free press,” he said, referring to Press Secretary Cregg from liberal favorite The West Wing, portrayed by actor Allison Janney.
He continued, “Working hard to reestablish an open, professional relationship with the Beltway press corps, Psaki has perhaps done more than anyone in the administration — including Biden himself — in terms of changing the tone in our politics, and creating a new path forward towards a transparent form of government, in the wake of the Trump’s ransacking of the norms.”
Evan Hurst at Wonkette was a touch more graphic: “Press Secretary Jen Psaki is kind of badass at her job, and it’s because of the extremely non-combative way she is just FINISHED WITH YOUR SHIT. It’s just like… some kind of assassin thing where some idiot asks her an idiot question and she handles it so quickly and quietly and effectively, the poor idiot’s liver is bleeding out before they even feel a thing.”
Psaki is very good at her job. She’s professional and affable, and the fact that she doesn’t appear to resent the very existence of free press puts her in significantly better standing than the revolving door of compulsive liars who held Psaki’s job during the Trump administration: Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the largely absent Stephanie Grisham, and, finally, Kayleigh McEnany. Whether this bare minimum warrants admiration is a question that, when posed to her loyal fans, is likely to receive a resounding “yes!”
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