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The timing of Vogue including first lady Jill Biden on the cover of its August issue Monday sparked intense reaction on both the right and the left following her husband's disastrous debate performance last week.
The highly favorable piece from the liberal magazine with the cover line, "We will decide our future," was already completed pre-debate, but was updated Sunday when Vogue spoke to the first lady about President Biden's future in the White House. Biden told the magazine that her husband "will always do what's best for the country" and that her family will not allow the president's brutal debate performance to define his presidency and will "continue to fight."
"The debate on June 27 spurred a discussion about whether President Joe Biden should remain the Democratic nominee," Vogue wrote in a note at the top of the cover story. "Dr. Jill Biden, the first lady and Vogue’s August cover subject, has fiercely defended her husband and stood by him. Reached by phone on June 30 at Camp David, where the Biden family had gathered for the weekend, she told Vogue that they ‘will not let those 90 minutes define the four years he’s been president. We will continue to fight.’"
First lady Jill Biden arrives at federal court, June 4, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Since Biden's showing against former President Trump last week, calls from liberal media allies have abounded for the president to drop out of the race over concerns about his mental fitness and cognitive ability. There have also been reports of concerned donors and Democratic Party "panic" over his performance, but the campaign has thus far held firm that Biden isn't going anywhere.
The Vogue story focused on interviews and photos done before the debate, which lauded the first family, framing the race between Biden and Trump as one between democracy and tyranny. Anna Wintour, Vogue’s longtime editor-in-chief, has held multiple fundraisers for the president.
When Vogue went live on Monday with its August magazine cover, the comments on the fashion magazine's post were largely critical of what they believed to be an overtly political editorial move.
Instagram influencer Alexandra Peirce posted in the comments: "I swear, I thought this was satire. Lmfaooooooo how embarrassing."
"Read the room, Vogue. No one is buying into your propaganda for inflation, WW3 and illegals," one user said.
"Those 90 minutes most definitely did define the last 4 years of this administration!" a third reader said.
Many users commented about how Former First Lady Melania Trump, who was shunned by the magazine, never graced the magazine's cover as is tradition for first ladies. Notably, Biden's August cover story is her third appearance in Vogue during Joe Biden's four-year term in office.
"Melania Trump is an actual super model who speaks 5 languages but she's NEVER been on the cover of Vogue. Jill Biden commits vicious elder abuse on the world stage and now has two Vogue covers to show for it. Congrats Jill, you'll be great in ‘The Devil Wears Depends,’" Fox News host Jimmy Failla wrote on X.
"Jill Biden, who has been covering up her husband’s dementia for years and is guilty of elder abuse, is on the cover of Vogue for July. This is why she and Hunter won’t tell him to step down, they won’t matter the minute he says he isn’t running," OutKick founder Clay Travis posted to X.
C.J. Pearson, a co-chair of the GOP Youth Advisory Council, said on X: "Outside of how tone deaf this following Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance, it is even more absurd that Jill Biden somehow graced the cover of Vogue and @MELANIATRUMP was never given the opportunity."
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Janice Min, the editor-in-chief of Ankler Media, who was previously editor of The Hollywood Reporter and Us Weekly, told the New York Times that it is "not a great look when the president refuses to give news outlets one-on-one interviews but his wife has her third Vogue cover during an election where voters are saying over and over again it is all about the economy."
First lady Jill Biden departs from federal court, June 5, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
"Is the Vogue audience really the path to victory in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada?" she asked. Min noted that Wintour is a well-known Democrat and Biden supporter.
"In an era where trust is in question, and Donald Trump is telling people the system is rigged and people believe him, I have to wonder about the wisdom of speaking through a publication edited by one of Joe Biden’s biggest fund-raisers," Min added.
A representative for Vogue and Wintour told the New York Times: "It’s no secret that Anna has been a supporter of Democratic campaigns for decades. Our August cover story is a look at the tremendous work Dr. Biden has done, and the most urgent issues in 2024 and beyond."
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An article in The Washington Post, in contrast, described the image as "saintly" which "burnishes the image of the first lady as dedicated, but not arrogant."
"Pure," the outlet continued. "A savior, even: the only person who truly has her husband’s ear. Who can convince him whether he should press ahead with a campaign in deep crisis since last week’s debate, or step aside."
While Vogue describes Jill as "down-to-earth Dr. B" fighting to meet the needs of American's "core values," the first lady's cover outfit, a white Ralph Lauren tuxedo dress and Irene Neuwirth earrings retail for around $10,000. In the Vogue interview, Biden also admits that her "go-to clothes for traveling" are knit cashmere dresses by luxury fashion designer Gabriela Hearst, which retail for $1,550 a piece. She said she has them in all nine colors.
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"It will dismay the candidate’s detractors from both parties — people always anger at the sight of expensive clothes, forgetting the reach and potential for revelatory image-making of women’s magazines like Vogue, and the religious undertones are startling," the Post article said.
The New York Post editorial board went so far as to say that Jill Biden's Vogue appearance proves she is "clinging to the reins of power."
"Staying in the race can’t be good for Joe Biden’s failing health; it puts him on course to end his career in a landslide, humiliated after trying to hang on when he obviously can’t function," the editorial said.
First lady Jill Biden exits the Executive One Foxtrot upon her arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. (John Ochieng/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
"But Jill wants him to ‘continue to fight’ because she has her eye on four Vogue covers in a second term," it read.
The Washington Examiner wrote, "First lady Jill Biden’s appearance on the cover of Monday’s Vogue magazine would be darkly humorous if it weren’t so disturbing and condescending."
"These alarming moments circulated on social media and in the news, with many pundits opining that it was Jill, not Joe, who so badly wants ‘four more years,’" the article wrote. "Her tone-deaf appearance on the cover of Vogue confirms these speculations, but it’s the contents of the in-depth article that prove just how out of touch with reality she and her avid supporters really are. "
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and to Vogue for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
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Fox News' David Rutz contributed to this report.
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