There is a pattern: President Donald Trump’s campaign and its allies keep dishonestly snipping, editing or describing video clips of former Vice President Joe Biden to try to make the Democratic presidential nominee seem confused or senile.
They did it again early this week.
On Tuesday morning, the Trump campaign posted an eight-second video on Facebook that it titled “Joe Biden completely botches the Pledge of Allegiance.” It was the same clip that was tweeted on Monday, with the same caption, by Republican National Committee rapid response director Steve Guest; Guest’s tweet generated more than 13,500 retweets, at least 1.5 million video views and numerous comments questioning Biden’s mental acuity.
The clip shows Biden saying this: “I pledge allegiance to the United States of America. One nation, indivisible, under God. For real.”
If that was indeed Biden’s attempt to recite the entire 31-word Pledge of Allegiance, it would indeed be wrong. But it wasn’t.
Facts First: Biden was not trying to recite the entire Pledge of Allegiance when he said these words. He was referring, more than 22 minutes into a campaign speech, to particular phrases in the pledge – to make a point about how he would not divide the country between “red states” and “blue states” as Trump does.
Biden made the remark in a campaign speech Monday in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in which he castigated Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
At this particular moment, Biden was criticizing Trump’s comments about how the US’s coronavirus death statistics would supposedly look good if you didn’t count the deaths in “blue states.”
Biden correctly pointed out that even counting only the deaths in states Trump won in 2016 would give the US the second-highest total in the world, behind Brazil. Biden then argued that Trump has a “deeply flawed and divisive view of the United States, this nation and the job he holds.”
“Think about what he’s saying,” Biden said. “He’s saying if you live in a state like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, states with Democratic governors, you’re not his problem. He has no obligation to you. He’s not responsible for you as President, your family or your well-being. I don’t see the presidency that way. I don’t pledge allegiance to red states of America or blue states of America. I pledge allegiance to the United States of America. One nation, indivisible, under God. For real. I’m running as a proud Democrat, but I’m not going to govern as a Democratic president: I’m going to govern as president.”
It’s entirely clear in context that Biden was not trying to recite the whole pledge here.
For the record, the whole pledge reads as follows: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”