BIDENGAIT: Partisan Attacks On a Stiff Octogenarian Aren’t Always Fair — But Resonate for a Reason

Colby HallJun 17th, 2024, 2:48 pm
 

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Cable news programmers have discovered a new angle in the ongoing debate about how the media should cover this presidential election campaign: the spread of so-called “cheapfake” videos, which rely on misleading edits and other simple tricks to paint an uncharitable picture of public figures.

In recent months, President Joe Biden has been the subject of a relentless stream of such videos.

To be clear, 81-year-old Biden is the oldest sitting president ever to seek re-election. Anyone who has paid any attention to his demeanor, pace, and gait can easily see that he is stiffer and slower than he was in the 2020 run for office.

Of course, everyone ages. Yet not everyone is the leader of the free world, running to stay in office for another four years as the frontman for democracy, as it were. If he wins another term, he will be 86 when he exits the White House. That has emerged as a defining issue of this campaign.

In the last week or so, we’ve seen a spate of viral clips, mainly promoted as partisan attacks by RNC Research and MAGA pro-Trump surrogates, seeking to hammer home Biden’s age as a major issue.

There was the clip of Biden “searching for an invisible chair” during the D-Day anniversary event in Normandy, which didn’t look good but made sense when you watched the unedited showing there was, in fact, a chair that Biden sat down in a few seconds later.

There was the Juneteenth celebration on the White House lawn during which Biden was said to be “frozen” while others around him danced and celebrated.

Then there was Biden approaching parachutists at the G7  to give them a thumbs up, which conservative media presented as him wandering away from other world leaders. A broader shot made clear he was walking away to address the parachutists — a far cry from “Meander in Chief,” as he was dubbed by the New York Post.

Over the weekend, another episode: former President Barack Obama grabbed Biden by the arm at the end of a Jimmy Kimmel-hosted fundraiser, before putting his arm around his former vice president as they walked off stage.

Embarrassing that the president had to be led off stage! cried a slew of commentators, including Piers Morgan, Clay Travis, and Fox News sneaker expert Raymond Arroyo.

The entire context of the clip is a little more forgiving: it’s clear Biden was already leaving the stage when he stopped to bask in the applause of the well-heeled audience. Does Biden bask a bit more slowly today than he did yesteryear? Yes, that’s fair. Did he look frozen? If that’s what you’re looking to see, then absolutely. Did Obama do Biden any favors by grabbing him and guiding him off stage? Nope.

Don’t take my word for it; ask Fox’s Brit Hume, who, despite a lack of any medical qualifications, diagnosed Biden as “senile and decrepit” before pointing out that Biden was doing just fine before Obama got in the act:

What Hume is noting here is that the White House seems hyper-aware of how carefully they have to produce every public event with Biden, because the slightest misstep will be unfairly amplified by — and for — those eager to confirm their predisposed perspective.

It’s how opinion media works these days: everything is a Rorschach Test. Caricatures and stereotypes exist because they are rooted in the truth. That’s precisely why these sometimes unfair attacks resonate, even if they are irresponsible and obfuscate a much more serious national discussion in which we should be engaging:

How did America become such a gerontocracy? And how are the candidates for the 47th presidency two guys who leave wide-open criticism about their cognitive failings?  We’ve painted ourselves into a political corner in which the only candidate Biden can possibly defeat is Trump, and the only candidate Trump can possibly defeat is Biden. Woof.

There is a reason why these repeated attacks resonate, and part of it is due to massive changes in how the electorate consumes news. Part of it is practical: Vertical video clips viewed on phones limit a broader view, both literally and figuratively, given the narrowcasting algorithm delivering news. The other reason is, quite frankly, the programming priority of conflict over skepticism. Do facts matter in an opinion-media landscape? Not when we are reminded each and every one of us has our own “truth” that must be respected.

There are young 81-year-olds, and then there’s Biden. So, the kernel of truth in these attacks gets exploited and ends up mattering more in terms of the perception than a misleading edit, a bad crop, or a visual only interpreted as confirmation of what someone already believes. And that might be deeply unfair, but it often turns out to be bad news for Biden.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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Colby Hall - Founding Editor

Colby Hall is the Founding Editor of Mediaite.com. He is also a Peabody Award-winning television producer of non-fiction narrative programming as well as a terrific dancer and preparer of grilled meats.