It’s one of the top issues on the minds of Americans, a drain on their wages every day, and something that Joe Biden had first insisted was a mirage and then would shortly disappear. With inflation now at its second 40-year record high in a row, NBC’s Lester Holt asked Biden about his “temporary” comment in July and the following seven months of escalating inflation ever since.

In response, Biden called Holt “a wise guy” and offered a non-sequitur, rambling answer that blamed a supply-chain crisis that Biden’s White House spent months denying:

NBC's Lester Holt asks about Biden's definition of "temporary" inflation. Biden says, "I think you're being a wise guy with me a little bit. I understand that's your job."

Biden then explains inflationary pressures and why he thinks it'll "taper" off this year. pic.twitter.com/OVatgxsTGd

— The Recount (@therecount) February 11, 2022

Transcript via Mediaite:

HOLT: I think it was back in July, you said inflation was going to be temporary. I think a lot of Americans are wondering what your definition of temporary is.

BIDEN: Well, you’re being a wise guy with me a little bit. I understand that your job, but look at the time what happened was the– let’s look at the reasons for the inflation. The reason for inflation is the supply chains were cut off, meaning that the products for example, automobiles, the lack of computer chips to be able to build those automobiles so they could function they need those computer chips. They were not available. So what happens? The number of cars were reduced, new cars reduced. It made up at one point, one third, the cost of inflation because the price of automobiles were up. So what I did when I went out and made sure we started to make those domestically. We got intel to come in and provide $20 billion to build a new facility. A number of organizations are doing the same kinds of things.

HOLT: When can Americans expect some relief from this soaring inflation?

BIDEN: According to Nobel laureates, 14 of them that contacted me and a number of corporate leaders. It’s ought to be able to start to taper off as we go through this year. In the meantime, I am going to do everything in my power to deal with the big points that are impacting most people and their homes.

Where to start with this bizarre and lifeless dodge? Economists didn’t start ringing alarm bells in July, either. They began warning about inflation in May 2021 based on April numbers, and the White House ignored those warnings entirely. Two months later, Biden called it a “temporary” issue, suggesting not that supply chains were the issue but that it was a leading indicator of economic growth. Contra Biden’s explanation on auto-industry supply chains, the White House didn’t bother to do anything about supply chains until announcing some lip-service, superficial efforts to get more shifts at the ports in October. And even then, Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain referred to inflation and the supply-chain crisis as “high-class problems.” Remember this tweet?

This 👇👇 https://t.co/ymh53nEHAg

— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) October 14, 2021

That wasn’t from July 2021. It reflects the attitude the White House and Biden took about inflation and supply chains until they belatedly realized that smart-ass quips like this demonstrated their disconnect from voters. In other words, Holt’s not the wise guy in this equation.

Biden’s team has fumbled this for months, both substantively and on messaging. Furthermore, automotive inflation isn’t what worries American families at the moment. It’s the inflation that is socking food and energy, an inflation rate that’s running 10.8% annualized on those items. It’s the supply chain crisis that still exists and leaves grocery store shelves empty. Biden’s answer to Holt is entirely a non-sequitur to the issue, and a dishonest one to boot.

Furthermore, Biden appears to be confusing a few things here. The “14 Nobel Laureates” line is his usual defense of Build Back Better, not a usual response on inflation. It’s almost like Biden rehearsed canned answers and got confused between them. On top of that, the “taper off” claim is itself a non-sequitur. Inflation isn’t “tapering off” on its own, clearly, and Biden’s suggestion that it will do so sounds like he has no idea how to address it. Even if it does “taper off” by the end of the year, inflation’s impact is both cumulative and compounding. The damage being done while Biden twiddles his thumbs will not be reversed at the end of the taper.

Finally, Biden’s crankiness on having his soooooper-geeeeenius challenged, this time by Holt in a network interview, remains one of his most enduring and revealing traits. Biden is intellectually far in over his head, failing and flailing, and thus he has to belittle anyone who hints at that reality. He’s a fragile man who defied the Peter Principle for decades, but who has finally become a spectacular example of it.