Is Joe Biden's bizarre behavior a GOP 'cheap fake'? It's up to him to prove that he's OK.

A trio of viral videos from events President Joe Biden attended this month purport to show the 81-year-old in various states of confusion and, quite frankly, weird behavior. 

They include Biden’s June 6 appearance at D-Day anniversary ceremonies in France; the June 10 incident at a White House Juneteenth concert; and the June 15 Hollywood fundraiser held for the president.

Biden either appears to wander off or stare for long periods of time. There are videos of all these events, where lots of media were present. The video from the fundraiser, where Biden appeared with celebrities and former President Barack Obama, was posted by a journalist with The Hollywood Reporter – hardly a conservative propaganda machine.

Yet, despite clear evidence that all is not well with the president, the White House – and its complicit legacy news media – are demanding the American people suspend reality and believe that Biden’s decline is a Republican conspiracy.

No joke.

Last week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to a question about these videos:

“Yeah, and I think you all have called this the 'cheap fakes' video and that’s exactly what they are,” she said. “I think that it tells you everything that we need to know about how desperate Republicans are here. And instead of talking about the president's performance in office, and what I mean by that is his legislative wins, what he's been able to do for the American people across the country, we’re seeing these deepfakes, these manipulated videos. And it is, again, done in bad faith.”

'Reject the evidence of your eyes and ears'

The idea of the “cheap fake” is not new, yet its usage was fairly rare until it became the go-to term in recent days to excuse Biden’s blunders. 

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Cheap fake essentially means a real video is edited in a way to become misleading. I’ve seen various versions of all the videos, however, and regardless of how they were edited or framed, Biden does not come out looking good.

I encourage you to watch them for yourselves.

Calling them cheap fakes is bad enough, but Jean-Pierre went further and outright lied about these clips being “deepfakes,” which implies false content created through artificial intelligence or other technology. 

The press secretary’s characterization of these videos of Biden elicited a strong response from Republicans, who started sharing a quote from George Orwell’s classic novel “1984” that warned of the dangers of totalitarianism and an oppressive government.

Illinois Republican Rep. Mary Miller was one of many to post the quote on X, formerly Twitter: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”   

It’s certainly applicable, especially when many in the media, including CBS News and MSNBC, are eagerly joining in on the “cheap fake” bandwagon.

If Biden is A-OK, he needs to prove it at debate 

Americans aren’t stupid, and after nearly four years of Biden in office, they say in poll after poll that one of their top concerns is his age and mental decline – something we’ve all witnessed.

These recent videos aren’t a one-off. Rather, they are part of a pattern that has doggedly overshadowed Biden’s presidency. 

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Biden’s handlers have ensured that we’ve seen as few unscripted moments as possible. That’s why Biden has done far fewer solo news conferences and interviews than other presidents in recent history. When he has held official briefings, he has been known to come with notes and cheat sheets with the names of reporters to call on.

Fortunately for us, the country will have a chance to see Biden in action on Thursday when he debates former President Donald Trump for the first time since 2020.

Biden is counting on Trump sabotaging himself, as Trump did during the first of the two 2020 sparring contests. Trump wouldn’t let Biden finish a sentence and came off as an angry bully. 

If Trump’s smart, he’ll let Biden talk as much as possible. 

As Biden would say, here's the deal: In this high-stress situation, sans notes or teleprompter, the American people can judge for themselves – free from White House or media spin – whether the president is fit for another four years.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques.