Rahm Emmanuel took the advice of the late Winston Churchill to never let a good crisis go to waste, but President Joe Biden has opted for a policy of never letting a good story go to waste … even if it isn’t true.
Biden is a storyteller, who likely views himself as a wise sage sharing his personal tales to connect with the audience.
Instead, he comes off like Grandpa Simpson with ramblings that are entirely nonsensical.
He has also shown a tendency to repeat his favorite tales, even after the fact-checkers roast him for his outright lies. Either Biden doesn’t care, or is too isolated from reality to notice the reaction.
Either way, we should be concerned.
More Than Embellishments
It would be easy to dismiss Biden’s stories about being a truck driver, confronting a local drug dealer, or even his exchanges with a friendly Amtrak conductor. Joe’s being folksy is how it might be explained if Biden were just the kindly old man down the street. His “tall tales” would seem harmless.
But Biden isn’t the old man down the street – he lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and is the most powerful man in the world.
More importantly, in an op-ed defending the free press earlier this year, Biden wrote, “The First Amendment grants a free press extraordinary protection, but with it comes, as many of you know, a very heavy obligation: to seek the truth as best you can — not to inflame or entertain, but to illuminate and educate.”
He added, “It matters. The truth matters.”
In other words, the truth matters when it is the media, which absolutely should illuminate and educate. It is true, Biden’s way of telling so many of his stories may illuminate and educate, but he certainly goes to great lengths to make them entertaining. He clearly likes telling these stories, even after fact-checkers have questioned the events.
Biden has admitted he’s a gaffe machine, someone who says the wrong thing.
But there is a difference between telling wheelchair-bound Missouri State Senator Chuck Graham to stand up and be recognized, or calling to out recently-deceased Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) at a White House event – and suggesting that at the time of the drafting of the Second Amendment American citizens couldn’t legally own cannons as part of his gun control efforts.
It might seem the same, but the former are simple mistakes, while the latter is an example of Biden lying to make a point.
And he did it repeatedly, even after such outlets as The Washington Post called him out. Clearly, someone on his staff must have explained that he was wrong after such a paper of record addressed the issue.
But Biden likes the story, likes the reaction, the truth be damned.
This is certainly a problem when so many academics and experts argue that the truth matters, that facts matter and that we need to confront misinformation and disinformation at every level.
Biden’s stories are the absolute embodiment of both.
Many of his tales are misinformation in that they aren’t true, while comments about the cannons certainly cross the line to disinformation as it is meant to drum up support for his cause.
Regardless of anyone’s view on gun control, it should be based on facts, not outright lies.
Perhaps some will dismiss this as saying it isn’t as bad as former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being stolen, but a lie is still a lie.
It is coming from a man who again sits in the Oval Office and one who has argued that the truth matters.
Apparently, it only matters so much.
Stolen Valor
Much of Biden’s stories have tried to craft a narrative that suggests he’s a regular blue-collar guy, even when the facts show otherwise.
However, late last year, Joe Biden truly crossed the line.
At a veteran’s event, he told a story about awarding his Uncle Frank the Purple Heart for actions during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Yet, as multiple outlets have reported, there is no evidence of the president actually awarding the medal to his uncle, while more importantly there is also no evidence Frank Biden had ever earned such an honor.
Several outlets have questioned the timeline, noting that the dates don’t add up based on Biden’s story as both his father, Joe Sr. and his uncle Frank Biden had both passed away.
However, let’s look at a bigger issue, notably stolen valor.
And sadly, it isn’t the first time that President Joe Biden may have committed this most heinous act. Biden has lied repeatedly about his son Beau Biden being killed in Iraq. With all due respect, Beau Biden actually died in the United States of brain cancer in May 2015. There has been an attempt to suggest his illness was the result of exposure to toxic burn pits in Iraq while serving in the military, but that is still a stretch from being “killed” in Iraq to dying from the possible result of exposure.
Technically, Biden didn’t commit a crime with these claims, as the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 made it a federal misdemeanor to falsely represent oneself as having received any U.S. military decoration or medal. Moreover, the original law was struck down by the Supreme Court.
Yet, the subsequent Stolen Valor Act of 2013 made it a federal crime to fraudulently claim to be a recipient of certain military decorations or medals in order to obtain money, property, or other tangible benefits.
Thus, Joe Biden didn’t claim he earned the medal, nor did he obtain money or property. But an argument could be made that Joe Biden may have sought another tangible benefit – goodwill and adulation.
That is why Joe Biden tells all these stories. It is an attempt to make him a hero while still being a man of the people.
But this latest story truly crosses the line. One of this reporter’s great uncles very much did win the Purple Heart for his service in World War II, while another great uncle was killed in combat in March 1945. Thus Biden’s stories don’t create a personal connection to me; rather they convince me that Joe is a lying politician not worthy of the office or my sympathy.
All families of those who served and made the ultimate sacrifice should feel the same.
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A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,000 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
