Joe Biden‘s staffers have reportedly been ‘triggered’ by his inability to hold the tradition of the outgoing president taking ‘departure photos’ with White House employees.
Biden was set to depart the White House in January no matter who won after he declined to seek a second term in July.
Now, however, he’ll be handing the presidency back to Trump after Kamala Harris was soundly beaten by Biden’s predecessor.
The staff, however, has apparently reached a new low in terms of morale, launching into unhappy groupchats about not getting their goodbye pictures.
The photos are apparently a tradition when the president leaves, with one White House staffer calling the way Biden has gone about it ‘rather triggering.’
‘It’s just been one thing you can sort of count on as a reward for all of your service,’ one ex-staffer said.
This Biden administration employee waited eight months until after he’d departed to get a picture with the president.
‘And it’s parents feeling fulfilled, too, for all of their work and getting you to this place.’
Biden largely kept to the tradition earlier in his tenure, scheduling sessions with groups of departing employees in the Roosevelt room, even buying plane tickets for family members to tag along.
Then, the former official says: ‘They just took them off his schedule months ago, and no one knows why.’
Last week, the White House Office of Management and Administration sent out an email to staffers saying they were ‘pleased to invite all current EOP political appointees for a departure photo to celebrate your time and work while at the White House.’
However, family were not allowed to be included or flown in for the photographs, according to POLITICO Playbook.
‘These will be individual clicks (no guests) with the President in the Oval Office,’ it continued.
‘Instead of everyone being annoyed by no departure photos, now it’s only half of the people who are annoyed,’ a current Biden staffer said.
There’s apparently further envy about younger staffers getting their photos prioritized over more senior employees.
A group text of Biden staffers griped: ‘Like why did I see an intern turned staff assistant get a photo before me?’
Even the employees understand the absurdity of the situation but are still furious.
‘It makes me annoyed that i’m even this annoyed, but it’s the principle of the matter and a coveted white house experience to get a departure photo,’ went one groupchat.
Senior officials have been notified, to no avail and some are wondering about petitioning them for clarity on the situation.
‘These are the staffers who stood with Biden since Day 1, many since the lowest ebbs of the campaign,’ an ex-official wrote to his co-workers.
‘The staffers who gave everything to this President, who missed anniversaries, birthdays, their own doctors appointments, knowing democracy itself was on the line, deserve at the very least a proper goodbye from the man who says he owes them everything.’
Biden took some of the photos before leaving for his holiday in Nantucket with his family, where he was spotted this weekend.
Biden joined millions of Americans searching for a Black Friday deal with a shopping trip on Nantucket with first lady Jill and son Hunter.
His grandson Beau, 4, got into the act, leading his grandpa through the cobble stone streets of Nantucket by the hand.
The Biden family capped off their day of shopping at the town Christmas Tree lighting ceremony. Afterward Hunter helped his father step up onto a small platform to take a photo with the children’s choir, who entertained the crowd with traditional carols.
Biden scoured the stores, holding hands with his grandson Beau and petting a Dachshund, while pedestrians watched and shouted ‘we love you, Joe’.
