In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential debate, the Biden administration and allied media outlets dismissed concerns over President Joe Biden’s cognitive health by labeling viral videos as “cheap fakes.” These clips, showing Biden appearing disoriented or confused, were portrayed as misleading or deceptively edited. However, Biden’s widely criticized debate performance contradicted these claims, revealing a stark contrast between the administration’s narrative and the president’s public display.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had previously attributed such videos to conservative manipulation, asserting they were “cheap fakes” designed to misrepresent the president. Media outlets like The Washington Post and CBS News echoed this sentiment, warning of the spread of deceptively edited content. MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace condemned the videos as “highly misleading & selectively edited,” while the Associated Press fact-checked footage of Biden at a Los Angeles fundraiser, concluding he had merely “paused amid cheers and applause.”
Despite these defenses, Biden’s debate performance on June 27, 2024, raised serious concerns. Observers noted instances where he appeared confused, struggled to articulate his points, and lost his train of thought. CNN’s John King described the event as a “game-changing debate,” highlighting the “deep, a wide and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic Party.” NBC’s Chuck Todd remarked, “At the end of the day, Joe Biden looks like the caricature that conservative media has been painting.”
The administration’s prior dismissal of concerns as “cheap fakes” has drawn criticism. Former Trump White House Press Secretary and Fox News host, Kayleigh McEnany accused the Biden campaign of engaging in its own form of deception, stating, “You’re the one doing cheap fakes.”
The fallout from the debate has led to introspection within media circles. Axios’ Alex Thompson, co-author of the new book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, acknowledged that the White House had “gaslit and lied not only to the American people about Biden’s age, but also to reporters.”
