Bidens Cognitive Decline is a piece of propaganda intended to splinter the left

[MelissaB]

Clinton Vet warns Biden: Don't let Trump define you as senile.

Link to tweet

Thread) #BidensCognitiveDecline is a piece of propaganda intended to splinter the left

Recap:

Last week Trump lied about Joe Biden's cognitive abilities. He said, "There's something going on" and started listing instances in which Biden garbled words.

Link to tweet

1/ On Saturday on Twitter, people started telling me that there was irrefutable evidence that Joe Biden was in cognitive decline. They told me that the evidence was apparent in Biden’s talk in Kansas City. So I found a local Kansas City news station which had a video of the talk.

2/ Next we learned that a list of Bernie Sanders Campaign talking points was (supposedly) distributed to his followers. The talking points included the statement that Joe Biden was in cognitive decline.

https://newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-campaign-denies-involvement-memo-circulating-about-joe-bidens-obvious-mental-1490513

The Sanders campaign denied that it was theirs.

Link to tweet

3/ Next we learned that Trump’s campaign dishonestly edited a clip late Saturday night, and a version was tweeted by White House social media director Dan Scavino.

The clip viewed was more than 5.8 million times and retweeted more than 34,000 times as of Sunday morning at 10 AM.

4/ There was much reporting about the edited clip, who distributed it. Here's one example:

https://cnn.com/2020/03/08/politics/fact-check-trump-campaign-promote-edited-biden-video/index.html

Notice what a neat trick Trump pulled, and how efficient it was.

5/ Here is a sampling of the large accounts that spread the lie.

As everyone on Twitter knows, a great many Bernie Sanders followers jumped on the lie.

This continued after the information was released that videos were being doctored.

Link to tweet

6/ Joe Biden has a stutter. Over the weekend a great many speech therapists jumped on to explain stutters, how difficult they are to work around, and how well Biden does managing his.

A part of Trump's trick was getting ordinarily compassionate people to mock a disability.

7/ I tried to warn people over the weekend that when Sanders supporters spread this lie, they were making Sanders look bad.

Many Biden's supporters have met him in person recently. People are with Biden all day. They know the truth.

Spreading this lie hurts Sanders.


8/ There is no doubt about this
Arrow pointing rightwards then curving downwards
Arrow pointing rightwards then curving downwards

Link to tweet

Real people like Jill Stein continue to push this.

Now let's consider what Trump was able to do and accomplish with incredible efficiency.

9/ Trump spread a lie. He made it sound like it was coming from Team Sanders. Sanders supporters take the bait and spread the lie. Bots push the hashtag.

Trump managed to:
Small blue diamond
Spread the lie about Biden
Small blue diamond
Make Sanders supporters look bad
Small blue diamond
Get Democrats fighting each other

10/ win-win-win. Trump wins. Everyone else loses. He did this by simply editing a video and launching a whisper campaign.

Let's consider how clever this lie is.

People who hear it feel a nagging doubt. (I went and listened to the full Kansas City talk). . .

11/ Any slight misstep, any ripple in Biden's ordinarily calm surface, any evidence of stutter will cause people to think "but. . ."
This is what the GOP did with "her emails."

There as no crime. There was nothing wrong. But when you repeat something often enough, people wonder.

12/ Consider how easy it was: Doctor a video, tweet it out, and watch it go viral.

People worry about lots of things on Twitter. They worry about hackers flipping votes. They worry about Trump cancelling the election. They worry about Trump refusing to concede power if he loses.

13/ Meanwhile, the real worry is right here before our eyes and people fall for it.

On line disinformation campaigns are dangerous and efficient.

If you don't want Biden to be the nominee, talks about the virtues of other candidates. Don't spread this crap.

Do this right.

[Mr.Bill]

1. Anyone who saw Biden's interview with Lawrence O'Donnell

last night knows Biden has no problems in this area. The interview was unedited and shown in it's entirety. Joe didn't even stutter and was perfectly coherent.

[George II]

5. But both Gray and Sirota took about a 35-second clip of it and posted it all over twitter....

....this morning, cutting off the jist of his answer about "vetoing" a healthcare bill, claiming he would veto "medicare for all". What he was saying was he'd veto a bill that didn't go into effect fast enough.

[PatSeg]

8. Watching Joe,

it often feels like his mind gets ahead of his mouth and sometimes a slight trace of the old stutter starts to show. Apparently, it is something that most people never get over entirely. I know the feeling of having many complex ideas in my head, but my mouth just won't cooperate.

[nolabear]

15. I was married to a man who stuttered. Smartest man I've ever known.

Not the easiest to get along with, but that’s another story. But I watched his frustration as he had to try to talk around words he knew would trip him, and with the instant reaction of others when he stuttered in front of them. I’m deeply impressed that Joe has conquered it so well, and can spot the slightly rambling style of someone who has to say things a little sideways to be able to say them at all. I don’t know how he has the energy. But I’m glad he does.

[PatSeg]

20. Yes, his energy is extraordinary

Since his son Beau died, I've noticed a certain sadness that wasn't there before. I think the loss took a lot out of him, slowed him down a tad, but didn't knock him down. As he always says, he got back up, just a bit slower, but still got up.

I think the success of this campaign is energizing him. Until South Carolina, I think his confidence was waning, but now he's coming back. After his decades of dedicated service, he deserves this.

[TwilightZone]

2. Some Sanders supporters and staff seem to think the smears will help Sanders.

Suppose any of them even consider the possibility that they're part of the reason he's losing and part of the reason his approval ratings are tanking?

Yeah, me neither.

[DownriverDem]

16. What fools

All 3 are in their 70s. What a petty way to go.

[PatSeg]

21. The losing seems to have clouded their

vision and good sense. Now they are just throwing anything and everything against the wall, hoping something will stick. It will end up damaging their candidate's reputation and their political futures.

[George II]

3. It's being pushed by Sirota and Gray on twitter.

[showblue22]

6. With Bernie's blessing.

[DownriverDem]

18. What will they say

when they hear Joe giving his Michigan victory speech tonight?

[showblue22]

19. Bernie will say

Besides the primaries result, he still is the candidate with enthusiasm to bring out voters to win. Young people, new voters are still with him and it is he not Joe who could win a GE. That is what he will say. He will also ratchet UP and down the negativity. This is not my first rodeo with him.

[PatSeg]

22. The system is rigged

The DNC picked our candidate. The establishment........blah, blah, blah. I seriously don't expect anyone to accept the loss graciously, which is truly sad.

[comradebillyboy]

4. Briahna Joy Gray, National Press Secretary for the Bernie Sanders 2020

presidential campaign has been cheerfully spreading this slander.

[showblue22]

7. They only do what Bernie wants them to do.

[dalton99a]

9. +1. He knows exactly what's going on.

[MH1]

25. Maybe Bernie doesn't know? Perhaps HE is the one who's senile?

I mean, how could he not know what his key staff are doing so openly on social media?

Unless, of course, the brain is going ...

[NurseJackie]

28. She has zero integrity.

[barbtries]

10. trump making that argument,

when he's on his last legs, zoned out on drugs, clearly demented, wow.

propaganda in the US is Rwanda-level, i swear.

[showblue22]

12. and Bernie

Every question asked at any and every venue is answered with a stump speech he has been repeating for 40 years.

[barbtries]

13. not to mention

he had a heart attack already! nobody should be allowed to forget that, and the implications for his future longevity.

[Bleacher Creature]

11. I don't know. . . here's a terrible example of a Presidential candidate's cognitive decline.

Link to tweet

Oh wait, nevermind.

[karynnj]

14. Beyond the fact that there are many long interviews where he has answered

questions that he likely had no canned answers for, he is clearly very competent.

However, for ANY Democrat, I would point to the endorsements from his former competitors - people who saw him up close. I seriously doubt that they and people like John Kerry would have endorsed him and then spent as much time as they have campaigning with and for him. This was - in many cases before the choices were narrowed to 2 - and many spoke of their admiration of others running. I seriously doubt that they all would do this if they had any concerns.

[Thekaspervote]

17. This issue has been posted several times on DU..why continue to repost?

Even thou you are not saying there’s an issue it only further propagates the lies

[liberalmediaaddict]

23. Trump projection as usual

He did the same thing to Hillary in 2016. He projects his own faults onto other people.

Trump is in horrible shape physically, has obvious cognitive decline possibly due to frontotemporal dementia and is a crazy narcissist.

So when he calls Biden sleeoy and senile and Bernie crazy he's trying to distract voters and the media from his own medical problems.

Biden isn't as articulate as Obama or the Clintons. And he makes verbal gaffes. However I think that's why people like him. Personally I like his character, empathy and passion. He's the complete opposite of the repugnant conman currently in the White House.

[McCamy Taylor]

24. Yeah, yeah. It won't bother the independents one bit. They hate intellectuals.

[samnsara]

27. only stupid people believe it and they are trump*ers anyway

..soooooo let them eat cake...