Not gonna hate on Chris Hayes.

[Emrys]

17. I'd have some sympathy with what you say and be prepared to cut Hayes some tentative slack,

if he hadn't, when cornered, DOUBLED DOWN.

It's there in the quote, for heaven's sake:

Lol are people really mad that I said the president of the US has a big ego? This a *definitional requirement* for being President of the United States! It's precisely *why* it's so hard to let go of power and why it's so remarkable that he did! Which was the point I made.

Hayes is and was absolutely not using "ego" in its positive connotations people have set out above, but conflating it with the idea of hubris: "excessive pride or self-confidence."

Biden is a proud man. He has much to be proud about. But that's never come across as his prime drive. He wasn't known as the poorest legislator in Congress for nothing, he didn't offer Obama unstinting loyalty and support for nothing, he hasn't handed over the reins to Harris with exceedingly good grace for nothing.

He's a rare bird, and in these cynical times, it's hard to trust appearances, but with Biden it's always been what you see is what you get - sometimes, as he in his humility has acknowledged, for better or worse. That's what makes him remarkable, even to an old cynic like me.

The media, apparently including Hayes, can't process that.