The NY Post Editorial Board took a moment today to look back at the whole “cheap fakes” phenomenon promoted by most of the media in 2024. In light of the new book by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, which confirms Biden was struggling with age-related decline in 2024, the NY Post takes a victory lap. In particular, the editorial board singles out the Washington Post fact-checker column.
If there was such a thing as shame anymore, the Washington Post’s pompous “Fact Checker” column would close up shop.
New revelations in “Original Sin,” a book about President Joe Biden’s decline, show how the White House covered up the obvious — and propaganda outlets like the Fact Checker shamed any media that broke ranks.
Take Biden’s wandering off from a group of world leaders at last June’s D-Day celebrations: The New York Post’s front page read “MEANDER IN CHIEF,” which sent Fact Checker writer Glenn Kessler into a fit of apoplexy: “ ‘Cheapfake’ Biden videos enrapture right-wing media, but deeply mislead” was his headline.
To be fair, that particular column was co-written by Kessler but the first name on the byline was Adriana Usero who wrote at least two similar articles about “cheap fakes.”
But the one titled “‘Cheapfake’ Biden videos enrapture right-wing media, but deeply mislead” was aimed directly at the NY Post which had made the video into a cover story.
Today’s cover: Biden wanders away at G7 summit before being pulled back by Italian PM https://t.co/7x25op0b2E pic.twitter.com/onVysLvVqv
— New York Post (@nypost) June 14, 2024
Here’s how the story associated with that cover opened:
Mamma mia, Giuseppe!
President Biden started to wander off during a skydiving demonstration at the G7 summit in southern Italy Thursday, with the host nation’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni pressed into action to pull him back toward the group.
As the leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies applauded the evening parachuting presentation, the 81-year-old US president’s attention visibly wandered away from where the others were looking.
And here’s how the Washington Post fact-checkers framed that response:
On June 13, at about 1 p.m., the RNC posted a clip it captioned, “What is Biden doing?” The post has been viewed more than 3 million times. Biden is seen with other Group of Seven leaders watching skydivers in Italy, carrying the flags of the nations. Biden turns and walks a few steps to chat with one of the parachutists, the only leader to do so. Then Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni turns him back to the other leaders. In one feed distributed by news services — the one used by the RNC — it’s not entirely clear who Biden is talking to, but an alternative feed, also distributed by news services, makes it clear that Biden is having a conversation.
The New York Post jumped on the RNC clip, posting a story less than two hours later and embedding the RNC post. When the White House cried foul, saying the video had been taken out of context, the newspaper buried that comment in the bottom of the story, while noting that the video feed had been distributed by news services. (None characterized it as the RNC did. C-SPAN, for instance, titled its video: “President Biden & G-7 Leaders Watch Skydiving Demonstration.”)
I guess the simplest way to put this is that everything the NY Post said was true and everything the Washington Post said was also true but with the addition of some special pleading. The fact-checkers aren’t actually checking any facts here. The video shows what it shows. So the NY Post writes this: “President Biden started to wander off during a skydiving demonstration at the G7 summit…” and the Washington Post writes this: “Biden turns and walks a few steps to chat with one of the parachutists, the only leader to do so.” The NY Post is suggesting Biden lost focus and the Washington Post is claiming he had another purpose (to talk to a different parachutist).
The Washington Post is equally upset that a tweet from a Biden administration staffer (see the link above) didn’t settle the matter. The Washington Post notes that the NY Post “buried that comment” as if a tweet from Andrew Bates should have been taken as the final word.
In retrospect it all looks a little different though, doesn’t it. We’ve had statements from several reporters, not just the author of “Original Sin,” who have said the White House lied to them about Joe Biden’s condition in an effort to conceal his decline. In other words, the NY Post was right to downplay the comments from Andrew Bates and to trust its own eyes. The White House crying foul did not explain anything, it was just an attempt to deceive and bully reporters. And when that effort didn’t work on the NY Post, the Washington Post swung into action to bully them further.
I get a little worked up by this particular “cheap fake” because I wrote about it at the time. Here’s what I wrote on June 21, 2024:
So the first problem with this analysis is that there is no fake in this cheap fake. But the bigger problem is that if you actually observe what is happening, it’s extremely clear that Biden did wander off. There is a landing area directly in front of the gathered G7 leaders who are clearly aware there are cameras placed in front of them to capture their reactions to the spectacle. This is a standard photo op and they are supposed to be presenting themselves as a unified group of world leaders. All of them are looking in the same direction except Biden and then, as he looks off to the side, Macron of France also looks in that direction.
Now watch what happens closely. As Biden wanders off to the right of the screen, Ursula von der Leyen from the EU Commission says something that he apparently doesn’t hear. He walks away and she looks over at him. Macron then helpfully steps into the gap that Biden has created from the rest of the group and Italian PM Meloni also walks that way, seeming to catch Macron’s eye as she does so. Basically, the whole group of leaders repositions itself so Biden isn’t off by himself. Finally, Meloni grabs his arm and turns him around toward the cameras. Watch for yourself:
This clip shows exactly what people said it did. It’s Joe Biden wandering away and having to be pulled in by an entire group of leaders who are trying to prevent him from ruining the photo op. And really, they were right to do it because a photo of Biden off on his own or with his back turned to everyone else could become its own story, i.e. America Loses Interest in Euro-Leaders or something of that sort. There’s no escaping the fact that Biden lost focus on what he was supposed to be doing in this moment and everyone there noticed and tried to cover for him.
Here’s the video I was describing.
Here’s the full video of Joe Biden getting lost and wondering away as a parachuter landed at G7.
There’s no defending Biden’s cognitive abilities anymore.
He needs to resign immediately.pic.twitter.com/q03dpnMjEd
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) June 14, 2024
The context here is not that Joe Biden was talking to someone else. He’s not there as a tourist on vacation. He’s there as the President of the Unites States to do a photo op with European leaders. Looking back, I found that in another one of her cheap fake articles the Washington Post’s Adriana Usero clearly understood how photo ops were supposed to work.
The optics of these endeavors are just as important, beginning the moment a president walks off Air Force One. High-profile leader-to-leader diplomatic visits are especially detail-oriented, with an eye toward striking visuals for the cameras.
Yes, that’s right. The optics are indeed the point of a photo op, especially ones with a bunch of world leaders. So when the most powerful leader in the world turns away to talk to some random guy out of frame that’s a problem. It doesn’t matter that Biden was having a conversation and not disappearing into a bush like Homer Simpson. What matters is he wasn’t on task. He literally wandered off to do his own thing. The other leaders knew it was a problem immediately.
Bottom line: The NY Post was right and the Washington Post was wrong. I was right and the Washington Post was wrong. You (if you were one of the many, many Hot Air readers who also saw it at the time) were right and the Washington Post was wrong. This wasn’t some minor story either. This was the biggest story of the 2024 election. It was the Biggest Lie of 2024 (and 2023 and 2022…). Even a year later it’s worth remembering who got it right and who got it wrong.
