If you’ve bought a carton of milk since last week, there’s a good chance a picture of our current president is on the side of it, along with the question, “Have you seen me?”
Yes, President Joe Biden was self-isolating in Delaware recovering from COVID-19 when he dropped out of the presidential race — with a letter posted to social media. About a half-hour later, he posted an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic Party’s nominee.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best… pic.twitter.com/x8DnvuImJV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
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This was already a little bit weird. Remember, when LBJ — tired, harried, sclerotic Lyndon Baines Johnson, hounded from the 1968 campaign trail amid the failures of the Vietnam War and slowly dying of heart disease — announced he wasn’t seeking another term as president, it was at the end of a 30-minute speech to the nation about the war.
Biden basically broke off a long-term relationship with a country he still leads via two text messages. That’s how a messy three-week Tinder romance ends, not an incumbent presidential campaign.
Stranger still: “The letter announcing the suspension of his campaign was not mounted on official White House letterhead and the signature appeared to be electronically added,” the New York Post noted.
He also canceled all appearances for this week, despite his doctor officially clearing him from COVID isolation.
But don’t worry, everything’s fine: On Monday, Biden phoned into a staff meeting at Harris’ campaign headquarters in a conference call that was broadcast live.
Well, maybe.
For starters, there were no photos or live video of the president during the call. It was also some pretty pro forma stuff from Biden.
“I’m watching you, kid,” he told Harris in a scratchy voice as staffers listened in.
“I know yesterday’s news is surprising and hard for you to hear, but it was the right thing to do,” Biden continued. “I know it’s hard because you poured your heart and soul into me, to help us win this thing, help me get this nomination, help me win the nomination and then go on to win the presidency.”
So, is this proof everything is a-OK?
Not really — and several people on social media noticed that Harris, never a soul of discretion at her best, might have made a telling mistake during the call — or “call,” you might say.
“Joe, I know you’re still on the rec…the call.”
Did Kamala spill the beans? Was it a recording?
That’s what she started to say. pic.twitter.com/CU6U8MEy1i
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) July 22, 2024
Yes, that’s Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, noting that the vice president initially seemed to say “Joe, I know you’re still on the rec[ording]” before correcting herself and saying he was on the “call.”
She wasn’t alone in noticing.
Does Kamala just stop short of saying “recording” instead of call?
“Joe, I know you’re still on the rec— call…”
— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) July 22, 2024
Did Kamala Harris just almost say Joe is still on the recording?
— Drew Hernandez (@DrewHLive) July 22, 2024
Kamala almost called Joe’s words a “recording” and the media will completely ignore this https://t.co/Dl99Xba91X
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) July 22, 2024
Even the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported on talk that the call was faked, noting others had issues with campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez’s reaction to Biden’s remarks, almost as if they were planned.
“Pay attention to the body language of the woman at the podium; she knows something is clearly wrong here. She never has an actual conversation with Biden, prompting people to believe this was most likely a previously recorded audio or AI,” the X user Shadow of Ezra noted.
Democrats provide proof that Joe Biden is still alive.
Allegedly, Joe Biden made a phone call to his former HQ right before Kamala Harris was set to speak.
“I know yesterday’s news was surprising.”
Pay attention to the body language of the woman at the podium; she knows… pic.twitter.com/V5o4g1QHGK
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) July 22, 2024
Now, I would normally give as much credence to Shadow of Ezra’s opinions on the body language of Julie Chavez Rodriguez as I would to those of the members of the 1990s alternative band Better Than Ezra. And, keep in mind, I loathe Better Than Ezra. (If you’re too young to remember them, just think of Train — except somehow worse, and trying to rock harder, but somehow failing.)
However, this is the thing: We have no proof that Joe Biden is, at this moment, capable of leading this nation.
We have no proof that Joe Biden even is; I mean, I assume he’s still alive because I’m not some outré conspiracy theorist and believe that, if and when the president is in serious health straits, the executive branch would at least be level with us on that.
Do you believe the phone call was real?
But where is he?
The president has dropped his bid for a second term in office, and the most we’ve gotten is a few social media posts, an electronically signed letter and a weird voice call with no video — all in a new, AI-tastic world where the Biden administration itself has warned us about both deepfakes and “cheap fakes.”
It’s not insane to say this is profoundly weird, and analyzing what little evidence we have for clues that things might be more amiss than the White House is letting on isn’t some Jim Garrison-style “back and to the left, back and to the left!” rant straight out of Oliver Stone’s “JFK.” It’s a natural reaction to unnatural circumstances.
This is not normal protocol for a president. This will never be normal protocol for any president. Anyone who tries to pretend this is normal is the one drinking the Kool-Aid, not the ones asking where the heck the president is and whether he is capable of doing his job.
Remember, this is the White House that lied to us about how sharp and acute Biden was in private even as he was deteriorating before our eyes in public.
In the space of less than a month, between a 90-minute debate performance from hell and a weird resignation letter on social media, that all unraveled.
And now he’s in seclusion for no good reason when he was supposed to be vigorous enough to be campaigning for a second term just a few weeks ago — and he doesn’t even get on video to make a call to his former campaign staff, now in the hands of Kamala Harris?
I’m not sure whether the vice president gave the game away by almost saying “recording” and then stopping herself.
What I am sure of is that anyone who buys that this the real story and that’s all there is to it — they’re the crazy ones, not the ones wondering what is up with the man who’s supposed to be our commander in chief.
