The mental and physical condition of US President Joe Biden is a constant topic in the US election campaign. In recent days, Republicans have been sharing videos that do not make Biden look good. The 81-year-old appears disoriented and confused.
The White House, on the other hand, speaks of “cheap fakes”. The videos were misleadingly edited and manipulated, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre criticized in front of journalists on Monday. “That says everything about how desperate the Republicans are,” said Jean-Pierre.
In recent days, several video clips have been published by media outlets such as the New York Post and on an official Republican account on an online network. In one of the videos, which was also mocked by former US President Donald Trump, the 81-year-old president appears to be moving away from the other heads of state and government in a disoriented manner during a parachute jump demonstration at the G-7 summit in Italy.
The White House spokeswoman said that Biden had actually moved to wish the skydivers good luck with a gesture. “This has been thoroughly verified (…), including by conservative media,” the spokeswoman emphasized. “If you let the video run a little longer, you can see (…) what happened.”
NBC showed a longer shot of the scene from a different angle, showing Biden interacting with the skydivers just a few feet away, who were not seen in the circulating video.
Another clip circulating in Republican circles showed Biden in a close-up in the White House. The president can be seen standing still during a concert while politicians danced nearby. Biden appears frozen.
“The president stood there and listened to the music, but he didn’t dance,” Karine Jean-Pierre said. “I didn’t know that not dancing was a health problem,” she added.
There was anger in the White House a few months ago when special investigator Robert Hur called Biden a “well-meaning, older man with a bad memory” in a report on the document scandal. Biden keeps making rhetorical blunders and slip-ups.
Biden’s age has become one of the main points of attack in Trump’s campaign ahead of the presidential election in November. At 78, however, the likely Republican presidential candidate is only three years younger than his rival Biden.
Meanwhile, Democrats are concentrating on convicting Trump in the hush money trial. The November election will pit a “convicted criminal who only cares about his own well-being” against a “president who stands up for your family,” according to a video accompanied by footage of Trump in the courtroom.
Trump’s so-called “mug shot,” the police photo taken last year during the indictment for attempted election fraud in the state of Georgia, among other things, is also shown. “In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump for what he is,” the video continues: a criminal who has been convicted on 34 counts.
According to the New York Times, the commercial, entitled “Character Matters,” is part of a $50 million campaign for the contested swing states, i.e. all those states that cannot be firmly assigned to either the Democrats or the Republicans.