After President Joe Biden faceplanted during the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation ceremony last week, the corporate media immediately began running PR for the president, waving away legitimate concerns surrounding his mental and physical fitness.
“Biden ‘fine’ after fall onstage at Air Force Academy graduation,” reads an NBC headline, framing their story around the totally impartial word of a White House aide. Politico ran a similar story titled, “Biden falls on stage at Air Force graduation but is ‘fine,’ according to spokesperson.” Reuters’ headline read, “Biden trips and falls during graduation ceremony, recovers quickly,” and Newsweek had the creative angle of blaming the whole thing on the Secret Service.
But the most shameless piece of media manipulation after Biden’s tumble comes from The New York Times, which ran a piece titled “Inside the Complicated Reality of Being America’s Oldest President.” You have to hand it to the Times. It takes some truly dedicated propagandists to spin a story about Biden falling before the world on national television into an opportunity to praise the president for his “sharp[ness],” “fit[ness],” and “striking stamina.”
“The two Joe Bidens coexist in the same octogenarian president: Sharp and wise at critical moments, the product of decades of seasoning, able to rise to the occasion even in the dead of night to confront a dangerous world,” read the Times article. “Yet a little slower, a little softer, a little harder of hearing, a little more tentative in his walk, a little more prone to occasional lapses of memory in ways that feel familiar to anyone who has reached their ninth decade or has a parent who has.”
The Times used statements from White House aides, foreign allies, and Democrat politicians to argue the president is mentally and physically fit and that his observable ailment is no cause for concern.
“People who deal with him regularly, including some of his adversaries, say he remains sharp and commanding in private meetings,” the piece affirmed. “Diplomats share stories of trips to places like Ukraine, Japan, Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia in which he often outlasts younger colleagues. Democratic lawmakers point to a long list of accomplishments as proof that he still gets the job done.”
According to the Times, unnamed “friends” of Biden say the phrase “’sharp as a tack’… has become something of a mantra” to describe the president.
A Biden puff piece wouldn’t be complete without fawning over the president’s trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, which was neither brave nor daring but serves as another example of the Biden administration’s policy of escalation in the region.
“He has at times exhibited striking stamina, such as when he flew to Poland then boarded a nine-hour train ride to make a secret visit to Kyiv, spent hours on the ground, then endured another nine-hour train ride and a flight to Warsaw,” wrote the Times.
It appears the corporate media will never recover from its Trump Derangement Syndrome, as the Times managed to turn a story about Biden’s physical fitness into a story about Trump’s physical fitness. “Mr. Biden manages his day with more discipline than his predecessor,” claimed the article. “[Trump] did not exercise, his diet leaned heavily on cheeseburgers and steak and he officially tipped the scales at 244 pounds, a weight formally deemed obese for his height,” the Times continued.
The Times minimized Biden’s fall at the Air Force Academy by pointing out that Trump appeared to have “trouble lifting a glass of water and seemed to have trouble making his way down a modest ramp” while visiting the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
How Trump walking slowly down a ramp is somehow worse than Biden faceplanting is unclear. But what’s more unclear is how Trump Tweeting and saying things the Times disagrees with signals a lack of mental acuity while Biden’s numerous and embarrassing gaffes do not. “Most striking was Mr. Trump’s cognitive performance,” wrote the Times. “He was erratic and tended to ramble … Aides said privately that Mr. Trump had trouble processing information and distinguishing fact from fiction.”
One of the more laughable lines penned by the Times in an attempt to cover for Biden’s failing health, in recent memory, is when it excused Biden tipping over on his bike last June because unnamed White House aides speculated that Trump is unable to ride a bike. “After Mr. Biden’s foot got caught in the toe cage of his bicycle and he tumbled over last year, the two words in the bad-word cloud for weeks were ‘bike fell’ — all the more frustrating for aides who noted that Mr. Trump hardly seemed capable of even riding a bike,” noted the Times.
While Trump never once took a public spill, Biden’s tumble last week marks one of many. On multiple occasions, the president tripped and fell on the stairs of Air Force One. Last month, during the G7 Summit in Japan, Biden stumbled down a set of stairs, and, of course, last June, he fell off his bike.
Then there’s the matter of Biden’s cognitive faculties. Last month, Biden stated that he has four granddaughters when he actually has five. During the G7 Summit, Biden referred to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol as “President Loon” and stuttered incoherently while trying to discuss the debt ceiling.
Two of his worst blunders include when he called on people to “honor” the Holocaust during his speech in Israel and repeatedly asked, “Where’s Jackie,” during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. The president appeared to have forgotten Rep. Jackie Walorski was killed the month prior in a tragic car accident with two members of her staff.
Polling shows that more than six in ten Americans are concerned about Biden’s mental fitness — despite the propaganda press’ insistence that our clearly deteriorating president is at the top of his game. This is not surprising, given studies suggesting Americans are increasingly aware that the corporate media is nothing more than the disinformation apparatus of the Democratic Party.
Evita Duffy-Alfonso is a staff writer to The Federalist and the co-founder of the Chicago Thinker. She loves the Midwest, lumberjack sports, writing, and her family. Follow her on Twitter at @evitaduffy_1 or contact her at evita@thefederalist.com.
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