White House Blames 'Cheap Fakes' for Viral Clips of Biden

Facts

• White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed on Monday that videos purportedly showing Pres. Joe Biden confused at different events this month were 'cheap fakes' spread in 'bad faith.'¹
• She referred to clips where Biden tries to sit down while first lady Jill Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, were still standing; seems to wander off at a G7 summit; and freezes up in two other public appearances.²
• Cheap fakes are defined as manually edited clips based on real footage, with its creators usually changing the speed of videos and cropping them to remove context to what is actually happening.³
• At her regular press conference, Jean-Pierre also referred to 'deepfakes' — videos created with artificial intelligence to alter subjects and audio — but later acknowledged misusing the term.⁴
• This comes as the Washington Post reported last week that GOP officials and allies to former Pres. Donald Trump have resorted to 'selectively edited' out-of-context videos to question Biden's mental faculties or physical fitness.⁵
• Both Biden and Trump — aged 81 and 78, respectively — have come under scrutiny for gaffes and fumbles ahead of the presidential election in November. Later this month, the two will face off in their first televised debate of the year.⁶

Sources: ¹The Hill, ²The Post Millennial, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴New York Post, ⁵Washington Post and ⁶BBC News.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by MSNBC. Unlike deepfakes, cheap fakes are far from new. Yet, these easier-to-create and harder-to-detect manipulated videos may pose an even greater threat because rules and regulations tend to focus on the former. Republicans have outrageously resorted to flooding social media with these deceptive videos to attack Biden on his age and influence elections.
• Republican narrative, as provided by Federalist. Desperately seeking to shield Biden ahead of the presidential election, the White House wants you not to believe your eyes anymore. Real videos that have gone viral clearly show that the president lacks mental acuity, so if Democrats are to blame cheap fakes, they should at least provide legitimate evidence. Otherwise, it's Hunter's laptop all over again.

Predictions