Swamp Bagels: Biden praised for stopping at ‘local DC bagel shop’ — it's owned by his COVID Czar

Free promo from the Big Guy.

President Joe Biden was lavished with praise for stopping at a local D.C. bagel joint in the Georgetown neighborhood of the nation’s capital. It turns out, Biden wasn’t so much spontaneously shopping local as he was doing a free promo for his new adviser.

The news media breathlessly commended the newly-inaugurated president’s motorcade stroll through D.C., as if Joe Biden hadn’t been spending the last 50 years living and working in the nation’s capital.

NBCWashington @nbcwashington

New President Joe Biden is already being spotted in D.C. neighborhoods. Biden attended Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown and then his motorcade made a stop at the deli Call Your Mother nbc4dc.com/up8WKTk

And one particular detail was reported incessantly in the media: the president’s pit stop to a local deli.

After attending church, Biden’s motorcade stopped at Call Your Mother bagels (which is, admittedly, an above average bagel shop for D.C. standards).

Reuters reports: 

Biden waved at a crowd of cheering supporters near the shop, while his son Hunter waited at the takeout window before returning with a bag of bagels and some beverages.

Andrew Dana, 35, one of the shop’s owners, said the Bidens’ visit came as a surprise.

“To have the president out and about visiting local business is really encouraging,” Dana told Reuters. “We love the positive vibes.”

Legacy media activists commended Biden for the seemingly spontaneously visit to local shops, unlike the “Bad Orange Man” who they continue to obsess over. 

The Washington Post’s Seung Min Kim tweeted:

Seung Min Kim @seungminkim

“Biden has now visited the same number of restaurants that Donald Trump did in his entire four years in office. The former President never dined anywhere in DC other than the steakhouse in his Pennsylvania Avenue hotel.”

washingtonian.comBiden Makes First DC Restaurant Visit as President to Call Your MotherThe bagel spot is co-owned by his administration’s Covid czar.

Anti-Trump activist Peter Baker of the New York Times fired off a tweet of his own:

Peter Baker @peterbakernyt

The Bidens stop at Call Your Mother, the bagel shop in Georgetown, en route back to the White House -- already a big change. Trying to remember but can't recall Trump ever stopping anywhere in DC other than his own hotel.

Man of the people? Not so much. Left unreported in many of these stories is the fact that Biden’s new White House adviser, Jeff Zients, is a co-owner of the bagel shop. 

Washingtonian @washingtonian

Biden’s new Covid "Czar" is a former Obama economic advisor—and Call Your Mother co-owner

washingtonian.comNew Covid Czar Also Owns DC Bagel Shop Call Your MotherFormer Obama economic advisor Jeff Zients is an investor in the popular deli.

Zients, who has no background in the healthcare or medical industry, has been selected as Mr. Biden’s “COVID Czar.” The media has deemed him “Mr. Fix It” because apparently he has “the ability to navigate thick bureaucracies.”

And his resume is impressively swampy. 

Zients is a member in good standing of Washington D.C.'s top-tier revolving door lobbying, government, and consulting class. He has made a career for himself by moving seamlessly through these massive conflicts of interest. As the White House COVID response coordinator, Zients is now occupying a role previously held by Dr. Deborah Birx. In between government stints with the Obama and Biden Administrations, Zients was most recently a Biden campaign bundler who was serving on the board of Facebook while also working as the CEO of an investment firm that is chaired by a democrat megadonor.

Not all Democrats have been thrilled with the Zients pick.

“Biden needs to hear from fewer wannabe Warren Buffetts, and more people with their finger on the pulse of middle America,” Jeff Hauser, who runs the leftwing Revolving Door Project, commented on Zients when he was leading Mr. Biden’s transition team. 

In one of his first acts as president, “Quid Pro Joe” gave some major publicity to a bagel shop owned by a man he now employs in the White House. Something tells me the media won’t be asking questions about how this potentially violates the Emoluments Clause, a provision in the Constitution that was often used to target President Trump. Did Zients at least hand over 10 percent to the big guy?