Gaslighting the public about Biden: you have to want to be gaslighted
There have been a host of recent “now it can be told” articles “revealing” that President Biden has been cognitively challenged for his entire presidency, although it’s gotten worse in recent months.
But it was obvious even during the 2020 campaign that Biden had declined compared to his level of functioning during his vice presidency only four years earlier. It wasn’t rocket science to figure it out; all one had to do was look and listen. The only question was how bad he was; my position was that he had definitely lost a great deal but that he was still functioning enough to have some opinions and some input into policy decisions that were made. Some – actually, many – bore the mark of his lifelong terrible judgment, especially in foreign affairs. A good example was the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
But anyone could tell that Biden was cognitively messed up right from the start. The evidence was glaring – for example, his lapses in extemporaneous remarks and even in reading the teleprompter, and his often seeming lost in terms of which direction to walk. There was no denying he wasn’t playing with a full deck; the only question was how many cards remained. And the debate with Trump last June made it glaringly obvious that his decline was steeper, and even the Democrats who had previously tried to gaslight the public had to admit he had to go if they were to have any chance of beating Trump.
Those who continued to claim otherwise sounded ludicrous. And yet they were caught in a dilemma, and that includes Kamala Harris: admit the truth and you were admitting to a nefarious coverup; deny the truth and it was obvious you were still lying.
Oh what a tangled web we weave. And the Democrats got caught in their own web.
But here’s the question: how could anyone have bought the story that Biden was fine until last June? And of course, that he’s fine enough now to stay president till January 20, 2025? Are people that gullible, or that unobservant, or that willing to believe what they want to believe, or all of the above?
Or they don’t care because they have known or assumed that it was Obama and the Democrat machine making most if not all of the big decisions anyway.
When Biden “won” the election, I did not think he would last a yr. Silly me, prop him up, juice him up with drugs, and what you have is Weekend in the White House. At this rate, I really hope he does last until Jan 20. He, and Dr. Jill, what more time to put the screws to Obama’s, and Harris.
Despite their denials, the legacy media knew at least some of this, and of course Democrat leaders in Washington knew even more. Their refusal to reveal the problems in 2023 must have been because they knew Harris would be a terrible candidate. They thought they could carry Biden over the line in November 2024, and then install Harris.
Democrats among the general public should be, but probably aren’t, really angry about being lied to like this.
Senator Chris Coons was on Fox yesterday to talk about what he knew about Biden’s condition before his defenestration. “Not until I saw his performance in the debate with Trump,” he lied.
My take is that he either knew how bad Biden was, or he’s too oblivious to be a Senator. And in any case, he’s extremely dishonest.
The fact that everyone involved—the White House, various WH spokesmen, Democrats in general, Democrat members of Congress, and, in particular, virtually every member of the MSM have minimized, made excuses for, gaslighted us, and outright lied, over the last four years–about Biden’s increasingly obvious mental decline–should never be forgotten.
This was a major betrayal.
These liar’s behavior should be brought up on each and every occasion, serve as the preface and background to each and every debate, or political analysis, and should forever destroy any claim these various people and institutions might have made, or make today, to be honest and truthful.
“Tyranny is the grip of the lie.”
— Jordan Peterson
The purpose of Leftist propaganda is not to inform, persuade, or even deceive. It is to HUMILIATE, and for this purpose the further it is from the truth, the better.
–Theodore Dalrymple [my paraphrase]
Leftists force you to believe they define reality by their claims.
–Me
The Biden Presidency has been the culmination of Dalrymple’s Maxim in America. It failed because the Left pushed too far, too hard, and too fast for Americans to swallow. We gagged on the lies.
But the Left believes in the lie of its own power to the extent that they are now simply delusional. Their lies worked well enough for long enough that they cannot accept the party is over.
NOT Trump.
(…and that’s ALL ye’ need to know…)
The purpose of Leftist propaganda is not to inform, persuade, or even deceive. It is to HUMILIATE, and for this purpose the further it is from the truth, the better.
Exactly right.
Knew better but hoped to fool others.
Even now, I see many comments from libs/ leftists on FB about how great Biden is and is still wonderful. And they all buy into the Musk as really the POTUS.
There are so many things that everyone in the public space tells us is so, but which even the most cursory observations reveal is completely false, but nothing so blatant as the idea that Biden wasn’t completely senile. It was obvious in 2019 that he was not all there… and he wasn’t very smart to begin with.
The thing that amazes me is that every Democrat candidate since Bill Clinton was worse than the previous one, and Harris even managed to find a Veep, and potential successor, who was arguably worse than her. How bad can it get?
Bill Clinton was awful in many ways, but not in every way, and he was really intelligent. Is that too much to ask any more?
The only question [in 2020] was how bad he was
No, it was really about the rate of decline. The fact that he was obviously worse in 2020 than in 2019 or 2016 meant that he would continue to decline, as he did. He should not have run, Jill should not have let him, and the Dems should not have nominated him.
Snow on Pine (5:46 pm) said:
“The fact that everyone involved — the White House, various WH spokesmen, Democrats in general, Democrat members of Congress, and, in particular, virtually every member of the MSM have minimized, made excuses for, gaslighted us, and outright lied, over the last four years — about Biden’s increasingly obvious mental decline — should never be forgotten.”
It will be, and it’s already taking place.
— — — — —
Case in point [file under “Now They Tell Us”]:
Biden Was Too ‘Mentally Fatigued’ to Take Call From Top Committee Chair Before Afghanistan Withdrawal
Sarah Arnold
December 21, 2024 6:00 PM
“Outgoing President Joe Biden is facing criticism after bombshell reports emerged that he was allegedly too ‘mentally fatigued’ to take a critical call from the House Armed Services Committee Chair in the lead-up to the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. The revelation has sparked concerns about Biden’s capacity to manage high-stakes decision-making, particularly during one of the most pivotal moments of his presidency. Critics argue that the report highlights a troubling pattern of disengagement and raises serious questions about his leadership and accountability during a crisis that resulted in lasting consequences.”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2024/12/21/biden-was-too-mentally-fatigued-to-take-call-from-top-committee-chair-before-afghanistan-withdrawal-n2649405
(For many of us with eyes open and brain minimally functioning, things like this are/were neither “bombshell” nor particularly revelatory. But the swamp is Shocked! Shocked!)
Re: Hollywood Death Watch
Democrats are blaming George Clooney for losing 2024, though I don’t follow the reasoning. It seems more like scapegoating.
It’s true that Clooney wrote the op-ed, at Obama’s prompting, which ultimately led to Biden’s stepping down. However Biden was in such bad shape by that time, I don’t believe he could have been dragged across the finish line.
Harris lost because she wasn’t much better than Biden, even with her faculties comparatively intact.
Clooney wanted to get on The View or the Bill Maher show to explain his side and regain credibility. However, he is now in hot water with the left and the right.
The View and Bill Maher believe Clooney would hurt their ratings and have rejected Clooney’s requests.
Hollywood is reassessing its relationship with high-profile actors who use their celebrity for activism. Clooney lost his deal to make “Oceans 14” and future Oceans projects.
I enjoyed the Oceans movies a lot, but I don’t have much sympathy for Clooney. Post-election he’s also slandered us ordinary people for not being smart enough to understand political reality and recommended we should listen to celebrities.
There is much blame and finger pointing going on in the Hollywood Division of the Wide World of Woke. Sure, the actors are somewhat sincere in their politics, but their careers are now being damaged, they are losing work and the status which goes with it. Horrors!
My impression is that Trump’s victory emboldens the more centrist parts of Hollywood to push the Woke crowd back.
“…and the Dems should not have nominated him.”
Doesn’t such a contention ignore the fact that Joe Biden was the PERFECT instrument with which to further effect the “transformation” of the country?
With the corrupt Media’s and InfoTech‘s enthusiastic support (and subterfuge), of course; along with the ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY demonization of Trump and his supporters.
Related:
“Massive 17,000 Page Report On How The Biden Admin Weaponized The Federal Government Just Dropped”—
https://blazingcatfur.ca/2024/12/21/massive-17000-page-report-on-how-the-biden-admin-weaponized-the-federal-government-just-dropped/
Everyone knew, nothing could be done about it, and we all know why. It was the very fascism that the Left has projected onto the incoming second Trump administration.
A lefty relative voted for Biden. During Trump’s first term I asked my relative why he voted for Hilary in 2016:
“(pause) She was Secretary of State…”
“What were her accomplishments as S.o.S.?”
“(silence)”
But doncha know, Orange Man Bad? I didn’t discuss the 2020 election with him.
Democrats were reactive. Republicans or conservatives said Biden wasn’t all there, so Democrats automatically denied that before looking into things and weighing the evidence. When people want to believe, they believe. They can tell themselves that however muddled Biden is before the television cameras, he’s sharp as a tack earlier in the day behind closed doors. It’s not so surprising. We vote for people based on what they say and what they are likely to do, but don’t we sometimes have hopes that they won’t act in ways that we know they will be but don’t want them to? Sometimes, even when it’s up against physical incapacities, hope carries the day with some people.
huxley, agreed that George Clooney didn’t lose the election for the Demos. Having the worst two-fer in the two plus centuries of American presidential campaigns–Joe Biden and Kamala Harris–is the reason they lost. Harris and Biden–that is between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Like commenter Rick Gutleber points out, each candidate the Democrats have run after Bill Clinton has been worse than the previous candidate.
It is hilarious to hear Demos say that had Kamala Harris been able to begin her campaign earlier, she would have had increased exposure which would have won her the election. You didn’t need four months of listening to Kamala(Qué mala) to decide–two minutes of word salad plus her contradictory policy statements sufficed.
I have seen at least one video which mentions that Clooney has stated that we should listen not to our neighbor but to celebrities, but I have found neither a print quote of that nor a video of his actually saying that.
Part of the gaslighting included the Afghanistan fiasco, as most pundits have noted.
This post at TH has an amusing typo about a serious subject.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2024/12/21/biden-was-too-mentally-fatigued-to-take-call-from-top-committee-chair-before-afghanistan-withdrawal-n2649405
“Following the incident, Smith publicly berated Biden for being nowhere to be found in the moments before the U.S. pulled troops out of Afghanistan, angering Secretary of State Antony Blinken— who called Smith and launched into a tired over his comments.”
Live not by lies Alexander Solzhenitsyn told us, yet that is Leftism exactly.
“Massive 17,000 Page Report On How The Biden Admin Weaponized The Federal Government Just Dropped”
There will be zero consequences. “If a tree falls in the forest….” Hardly a day goes by when I don’t read of some “bombshell” that leads to nothing–no consequences for the perpetrators. Meanwhile, “Trump is a convicted felon!”
Still, ya gotta love Clooney’s standup shtick—“When it comes to the truly important stuff, you ignorant rubes really, really oughta listen to us…ACTORS!!”
(That he can say it with a straight face shows just how tremendously talented the man is… What verve! What panache! What earnestness! What an uncanny sense of…TIMING!…)
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The scary thing is that, while Biden has made his descent into senility, someone else or a group of unelected someones has been illegally, unconstitutionally calling the shots, running the country in his place–setting policy, writing official statements to be read by WH spokesmen, giving orders, giving billions of dollars of aid and military equipment to favored parties, deploying U.S. troops, etc.
Some sort of new legislation is needed–changes have to be made–to make such usurpation much more difficult to pull off, and, hopefully, impossible to pull off from now on.
P.S. Will we ever find out, know who these usurpers were/are?
P.S. It occurs to me to say, well, have an advanced AI monitor the President- 24/7-his mental and physical condition–and the actions of those around him.
But, then, of course, whoever programs and has control over this AI, and it’s analysis of whether a President is healthy enough and competent to perform his job, could now be the one who is really in charge, the ultimate usurper.
When it comes right down to it, you have to rely on the honesty of the President and the people around him, and their fidelity to the Constitution.
If you don’t have that…well…you don’t have anything.
I had thought the cabal controlling the government were Obama people. However, I remember Susan Rice leaving the White House a couple of years ago. Perhaps the tight clique of longtime-Biden aides, plus Jill (and Hunter), have been the real presidency.
Were I a gambling man, I’d put ALL my money on Susan Rice being one of those “Obama people”.
…who left the “Biden” WH to work behind the scenes.
(After all, Obama, too, left the WH…)
Barry Meislin I am sure of it
30 days to the inauguration
I believe this was the single biggest reason for the election results. The gaslighting became too much, too obvious.
Most people are the proverbial “LIVs”. They don’t spend a lot of time thinking about politics or reading political blogs, they just want to take care of their families and live their lives. They have gone along for decades accepting the “trusted” names in news – NBC, CNN, NYT, WaPo because, well, they wouldn’t actually lie to us, would they?
But the scenario of Biden being dumped overnight after four years of “sharp as a tack” was just too much. Compounded by the touting of Kamala as Wonder Woman after hiding her under a bushel for the same length of time. And the fact that it was engineered by a mysterious “they” whose identity we are *still* arguing about! Even for folks who didn’t pay much attention it was too big a gulp of Kool-Aid to swallow.
Re: Snow on Pine @9:47 am
Whoever controls AI, controls the past, the present and the future.
–Huxley Bob Orwell
@ huxley – And whoever controls the inputs and the algorithms controls AI.
I think it’s a good idea to have multiple different platforms: if we can’t put this genie back in the bottle, let’s at least have a lot of flying carpets.
Reply to Cornflour on the Car Rental thread: “for better or worse, I had an answer in much less time than it took me to type the question.”
The use of AI for patently objective information gleaned in minutes from multiple sources, with (one hopes) legitimate citations, is not the problem.
It’s the subjective bias (inputs, algorithms), fake citations (did you look them all up, unlike the lawyers that got caught?), hallucinations (“deducing” something from data that doesn’t really imply that conclusion), and outright fabrications (see Turley’s story) that are the hindrances to enthusiastic reception of AI in our lives.
https://jonathanturley.org/2023/04/06/defamed-by-chatgpt-my-own-bizarre-experience-with-artificiality-of-artificial-intelligence/#more-203289
huxley,
I find it hard to believe Bill Maher would shun George Clooney to avoid controversy. That seems like precisely the type of controversy Maher would welcome and it would be a boon for his ratings. Do you have a cite for that?
Regarding AI,
My job requires that I use AI often, in order to understand it better and understand how it can benefit my company’s bottom line. I’m also involved with a group at my company that are beginning to sell AI services to our clients.
I agree 100% with AesopFan’s statement
What continues to surprise and concern me is how disconnected it is from “knowing” if it is fabricating or prevaricating. Sure, humans also lie and make sh*t up, but most of us know when we are doing it, and can choose not to do it.
There are times I’ll get an output from AI that is borderline miraculous. Inspirational. And a benefit to my work. But there are other times when it gives me obvious nonsense. And, most disappointingly, there are times when it produces the appearance of a miracle that is not only wrong, but will lead one done an incorrect and potentially dangerous path if followed.
What is especially frustrating is when I ask it how to do very straightforward, technical, non emotional things it will often give invalid instructions with the appearance that it knows precisely what it is talking about.
Re: Bill Maher
I find it hard to believe Bill Maher would shun George Clooney to avoid controversy.
Rufus T. Firefly:
I’m not a fan of Bill Maher. His concerns are that it would hurt his ratings — George Clooney is now a scapegoat for Dems loss in 2024 — and, as I read Maher, he doesn’t want his show being used as a platform by Clooney to rehabilitate his reputation.
Plus, Clooney asked three times for an appearance on Maher’s show. In those rarefied circles that smells like desperation, therefore LOSER. You don’t want a LOSER on your show.
There is a big realignment going on in Hollywood. Maher is jockeying for position in this Brave New World too. Clooney won’t help.
I have seen at least one video which mentions that Clooney has stated that we should listen not to our neighbor but to celebrities, but I have found neither a print quote of that nor a video of his actually saying that.
Gringo:
I heard that a few times from Mike Zeroh. I haven’t been able to locate a cite for it either. Though, frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me.
Good of you to check.
This is a timely and very well done long-form essay by David Samuels that lays out the past few years in a very clear way, laying the odd power of forced conformity and social tyranny at the feet of Obama: Rapid Onset Political Enlightenment.
https://www.tabletmag.com/feature/rapid-onset-political-enlightenment
AF, sounds like the end of civilization…if it gets out of hand…and HOW could it possibly NOT get out of hand?
(I don’t think I’m being over-dramatic.)
Cf. The following meme that has spread around the ‘net (including this site):
“Marc Andreessen Describes the Meeting That Convinced Him to Endorse Trump”—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rulGP9cqS4w
So…Clooney is a dead man walking…and Maher refuses to toss him a lifesaver?
Figures.
(Though I wouldn’t be surprised if “Biden” was “leaning” on him, i.e., Maher….
Still figures.)
huxley, I also heard that from the Mike ZeroH.
Manchin drops the truth on on his former party:
“Retiring Sen. Joe Manchin unloads on ‘toxic’ Dems for trying ‘to mainstream the extreme’”—
https://nypost.com/2024/12/22/us-news/sen-joe-manchin-unloads-on-toxic-democratic-party-for-trying-to-mainstream-the-extreme/
He’s certainly not wrong…and yet…he took Chuck Schumer at his word.
Bad move, Joe….
No need for a paraphrase! Here’s the full thing.
Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.
? Theodore Dalrymple
Kamala Harris, take note!
The wages of “Joy”…
Here’s Turley:
“The joy is gone: A liberal hate-fest for the holidays“—
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5051953-liberal-hate-fests-trump-supporters/
My son, a young Bernie supporter back in 2016 and certainly a Harris supporter this year, has a friend who has been on Biden’s speech-writing team throughout the Biden administration. He says that this friend, now that the cat is entirely out of the bag, is saying that behind the scenes (sorry about the mixed metaphor) everyone was saying there was no way Biden could make it another four years.
Of course, like neo, I saw Biden’s diminishment in 2020 and could not believe that the media and Biden’s people weren’t even attempting to address it – instead, when they couldn’t avoid responding to those bringing attention to the obvious signs of his decline, they were simply asserting, over and over, that what we could all see and hear was not what was happening.
My son knows now that his friend was part of the structure propping up Biden with outright lies.
But he still believes everything he’s told about Trump, Musk, Project 2025. He still thinks the Twitter Files were nothing of importance, and that the primary result of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is that X is now nothing but a hotbed of “hate speech.”
Shaken by his credulity when he knows he’s been lied to for years, I was reviewing my sources: am I just as credulous? Am I just as ill-informed? It turns out that every blog I visit, every podcast I listen to, is run by a person formerly or currently of the Left, but who has recognized the malfeasance coming from that side. My husband, meanwhile, is an omnivorous consumer of news and does the work this American won’t do, watching even MSNBC and The View and keeping me up to date on what those sources are saying.
So no, I’m not as credulous as my son, nor as ill-informed. But there is nothing I can do about it without creating a terrible rift between us, because – again, now he knows he’s been lied to – the cognitive dissonance he must be experiencing, even if he doesn’t acknowledge it, is putting his back to the wall, and we all know what happens when people get desperate to protect their essential core.
I’m having a rough Christmas season right now.
Thank you Mary Catelli
And thank you Theodore Dalrymple, wherever you are.