Biden strategy: Tell voters videos of stumbles, gaffes are 'cheap fakes'
The videos of Joe Biden's gaffes, stumbles and bumbles are legion. Just recently, he was on camera hesitatingly wandering away from a group photo op at a G7 event. Another national leader gently guided him back. He's been on video wandering away from Secret Service across the White House lawn, trying to shake hands with…
Joe Biden waves to the crowd as he prepares to deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, March 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Official White House photo by Adam Schultz)
The videos of Joe Biden's gaffes, stumbles and bumbles are legion. Just recently, he was on camera hesitatingly wandering away from a group photo op at a G7 event. Another national leader gently guided him back.
He's been on video wandering away from Secret Service across the White House lawn, trying to shake hands with people – twice. He's even wandered around on stage while Jill Biden was speaking.
But you should not believe what you see, under a new strategy that has appeared from the White House. They are "cheap fakes."
Fox News reports that the White House is trying to defuse the impact of those startling images of an elderly president, who already has been described by a federal special counsel has having diminished capabilities.
While experts describe the images of a faltering and failing chief executive as troubling, the Biden campaign pushback appears to be aiming at pressuring social media platforms to suppress them.
It is Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, who launched pushed agenda talking with Fox: "The discredited right-wing critics of President Biden who spread other debunked lies, including that the 2020 election was stolen, are clearly threatened by the wide range of nonpartisan fact-checkers that have pulled back the curtain on the cheap fake smears they’re forced to rely on – since the last thing they want to discuss is Joe Biden’s agenda to cut taxes for working families and keep bringing violent crime to historic lows. Their panicked reaction to mainstream reporters, including at The Washington Post, NBC News, and PolitiFact, citing misinformation experts taking anti-Biden cheap fakes apart says more than we ever could."
But Fox explained, "In recent weeks, videos of Biden from various events appear to show him 'confused.' One video shows him turning away from the group of world leaders at a D-Day anniversary event in France to speak to a parachuter. Another video appeared him being uncertain of when it was time to sit down, and another video this week showed him being led off the stage by former President Obama at a fundraising event."
It was White House spokeswoman Karine Jean Pierre who joined the attack on those videos as "cheap fakes."
The Media Manipulation Case Book defines that as "altered media" that does not require advanced technology, like "photoshopping (including face swapping), lookalikes, as well as speeding and slowing video," the Fox report noted.
Pierre continued, "We've been calling it ‘cheap fakes.’ That is something that came directly from the media outlets in calling it that, the fact-checkers … calling it that. And so we're certainly going to be really, really clear about that as well. And calling it out from where we are, from where we stand."
Awkward pic.twitter.com/3KNLco85hj
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 6, 2024
Crooked Joe Biden—who is hardly ambulatory at this point—had a really hard time getting into the SUV pic.twitter.com/KjoUFFeJow
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) June 19, 2024
Heritage Foundation tech researcher Jake Denton disagreed.
"It's very clear what's going on here," he said. "They're trying to push a new term underneath the school of misinformation to try and pressure social media companies to take action on videos of this nature."
He told Fox, "This kind of requires a ramp-up stage where you allege that something is a ‘cheap fake,’ or that it's malicious in some way related to misinformation, and then you have essentially the evidence, the fact pattern, whatever, to go and push the social media companies with takedown requests, because it's misinformation regarding an election. So to me, that's kind of the seed that's being planted here."
He cast doubt on the various "fact-checkers" who pursue a leftist ideology under the guise of truth.
"They're experts, but what are they really analyzing? There is truth that there's a need for expertise in deepfake production, but when it comes to something like a cheap fake or just the broader term of misinformation, you're largely just sifting through junk on social media and saying what's real and what isn't; it's not really a very scientific or professional exercise."
He pointed out that the videos do reflect Biden's cognitive ability, and said, "It looks horrible because it is."
A report at the American Center for Law and Justice noted, "You’ve probably seen it with your own eyes: Joe Biden, dazed and confused, appearing lost and requiring physical guidance from someone to go where he’s supposed to go next. This scenario has played out multiple times in public and on the world stage. Quite frankly, it’s sad."
It cited the newer video of Biden onstage in Los Angeles, where "it showed him staring into the crowd before former President Barack Obama grabbed his hand, put his arm on Biden’s back, and slowly led the president off stage."
It explained, "But don’t worry. The Left insists that you ignore what you’ve seen and heard. Instead, chalk it up to a massive misinformation campaign from the Right. At least, that’s the talking point the Left has collectively decided to go with. In other words: Your eyes are lying to you."
Leftist media personalities like Joe Scarborough, the report noted, already were picking up the theme, stating, "They know exactly what they’re doing. We’ve seen it now, these cheap fakes that the RNC keeps pushing."
And the leftist Washington Post took time away from its own internal wars between editors and writers following a plunge in its revenue to join the chorus, insisting those videos of Biden's actual behavior are "deceptively edited."
The ACLJ noted, "So far, the Left has offered zero examples of 'manipulation' or 'editing' to the viral videos of Biden."
"So where does that leave American voters? George Orwell’s eerily prophetic words from his novel 1984 answer the question for us: 'The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.'"
See Greg Gutfield's commentary on the topic:
For 25 years, WND has boldly brought you the news that really matters. If you appreciate our Christian journalists and their uniquely truthful reporting and analysis, please help us by becoming a WND Insider!
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@wndnewscenter.org.
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!