Jill Biden’s Vogue cover was ‘not particularly helpful’ as her husband fights for political future

After Biden's abysmal debate performance, Vogue's glowing cover story of his wife has faced intense scrutiny and backlash: 'Read the room, Vogue.'

Given a new report that President Biden’s “lapses” in speech, acuity and energy were becoming “alarming” to people around him in the months leading up to his politically devastating debate performance last week, it’s hard to know what Jill Biden was thinking when she signed up to be Vogue’s latest cover star.

It was “not particularly helpful” for the first lady to appear on the cover of the August issue of Vogue at this moment in time, Tina Brown, the former editor of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, told the New York Times.

The publication also faced backlash for its Jill Biden story, and not just among Donald Trump supporters. Responses to Vogue’s Instagram post for its August cover were overwhelmingly negative, with one person writing, “Read the room, Vogue,” while another said, “This is so absurd! How embarrassing for this magazine.”

Vogue’s August issue landed online on Monday — four days after Jill Biden’s 81-year-old husband gave a halting, stumbling debate performance “so disastrous” that there continues to be widespread talk of replacing him on the ticket, author and political journalist Daily, Jill Filipovic wrote for the Daily Beast. The Jill Biden story also was published the weekend after Jill, Joe and the rest of the Biden family gathered at Camp David to figure out how to “tamp down Democratic anxiety” about her husband’s fitness to beat Trump in November and serve a second term, the New York Times said in another report.

But even for Democrats hoping that Biden will drop out of the race — amid some reports Wednesday that he’s “weighing his options” — the Vogue story came with what could be seen as an ominous statement from Jill Biden. In the statement, added to the story in an editor’s note after last Thursday’s debate, Jill Biden said that the family “will not let those 90 minutes define the four years he’s been president.” She said, “we will continue to fight” and that her husband “will always do what’s best for the country.”

On Wednesday, Biden “made a forceful” pledge to remain in the race in an all-hands call with campaign staff members, saying, “I’m in this race to the end,” the New York Times reported. 

Unfortunately for Jill Biden and her husband’s campaign, her Vogue story added to the intense post-debate scrutiny about her role as her husband’s fiercest protector and most die-hard campaigner, the New York Times said.

In the cover image, Jill Biden looks “equal parts chic, powerful and beatific” in a Suffragette-white tuxedo dress designed by Ralph Lauren, as Filipovic said. But the image was a turnoff to the the editorial board of the right-leaning New York Post, who said that Biden’s wife clearly “adores the spotlight” and appears to be “clinging to power” for her own sake. “What the debate defined was Joe’s current unfitness for office — which Jill won’t admit because she’s not done being first lady,” the New York Post said.

Over on Vogue’s Instagram, some people of unspecified political leanings accused the first lady of engaging in a form of “elder abuse” for “pushing” him to run, or for “patronizing” him after the debate, praising him for answering “every question.”

The cover image also comes with the large cover line, “We decide our future,” which carries unintended implications, Filipovic said. Even though the phrase was used as a rallying cry to women voters at a spring rally in Minnesota, it suggests on the cover of Vogue that the Bidens, “a small, tight-knit family will decide for the rest of us,” Filipovic said.

Tina Brown said that Vogue covers have long been a rite of passage for first ladies, though there’s “always a risk” because an association with the high-end fashion magazine can be seen as elitist.

Jill Biden has appeared in Vogue three times during her husband’s four-year term. Up until recently, she’s largely been regarded as a well-liked and uncontroversial first lady, both Filipovic and the New York Times said. However, her Vogue appearances have incited criticism among conservatives, who have seen a liberal bias in the fact that Melania Trump was never given a Vogue cover while her husband was in office .

Indeed, Anna Wintour, Vogue’s editor-in-chief, is a Biden friend and political donor, the New york Times reported. In a response to the New York Times report on Jill Biden’s cover story, a Vogue spokesperson said “it’s no secret” that Wintour has been a supporter of Democratic campaigns for decades. The spokesperson also insisted that the story was newsworthy because it focuses on Jill Biden’s accomplishments as first lady and “the most urgent issues in 2024 and beyond,” including reproductive rights. The spokesperson, however, would not respond directly to a question for Wintour about whether she thought the president should bow out of the race.

Janice Min, the editor in chief of Ankler Media, who was previously the top editor of The Hollywood Reporter and Us Weekly, told the New York Times that the Wintour factor adds to the problematic nature of the story.

“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 said.

Min also said, “It’s 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.”

But if Biden had performed well at the debate, it’s possible that Jill Biden’s cover story could have appealed to his supporters. According to Filipovic, the magazine is aimed at college-educated, urban-dwelling women “who care about high-end fashion and lifestyle but who also choose to read longer-form articles about politics and culture.” College-educated city women also are more likely to vote Democratic than Republican, Filipovic said.

Unfortunately, the Vogue story has turned out to be “an embarrassment,” Filipovic said. On Wednesday afternoon, the New York Times, CNN and other outlets reported that Biden is “fighting for his political future,” with Democrats in “a panic” because polls show that Trump has widened his lead in the race and voters are increasingly concerned about the president’s fitness to serve for another term.

At the very least, the Vogue story counters the New York Post view that Jill Biden “adores the spotlight” or wants power for her own sake, Filipovic also said. A lifelong educator and college professor, Biden appears more comfortable in a supportive role, Filipovic. The story’s author also said she’s “very good at meeting the moment.” But if that’s the case, Filipovic said, Jill Biden needs to meet the moment by abandoning her usual cheerleader role and offering her husband “a very real talk.”