It’s almost horrifying watching Joe recite a speech from the teleprompter. Talk about painfully dull. For god’s sake, let that poor man speak his mind freely. He’s the leader of the free world! He can be bracingly honest and empathetic, two virtues that have been missing from politics for way the hell too long now. Free Joe Biden from his teleprompter shackles!

Reading Kari’s article (Get Biden on Social Media) goosed me into writing this. We always loved Joe Biden, but you know the common wisdom: Joe sometimes says badly. Gaffes. And a blunder can torpedo the President’s policy goals. Even a single misplaced word can ruin a politician’s career.

And every sentient being should recognize that ‘wisdom’ as utter fucking hogwash. None of that is true. Maybe it was, once, but not now.

How do we know? Think back to President Donald Trump. (I swear, I’ll keep this part short.) It wasn’t that Trump committed mistakes. Nope, they weren’t missteps. His daily vomit of rage-tweets were deliberate choices (within his limited command of English). He meant every traitorous blurt, racist attack, and political hit job. They were much worse than simple ‘gaffes.’

And Trump voters didn’t care about any of that sewage. Trump tweeted about his war crimes or overthrowing elections, and he gained votes.

Here’s Joe’s biggest gaffe, according to the mainstream media. In a January press conference, Biden admitted that if Russia only committed a minor incursion, NATO might not react. The press gave a collective gasp. They all squealed about how this was a disaster! Biden had invited Putin to invade! What a fiasco! After all the dramatic outrage and emoting on-air, writers worldwide felt a brief but measurable shortage of exclamation points.

And the result now? Honestly, Biden’s ‘gaffe’ didn’t make the slightest difference. Putin was already moving troops and materials for his Ukrainian invasion. In the end, the cost was roughly zero. (As always, don’t hold your breath for the press to notice their mistakes.)

I’m not saying that Biden is like Donald in any critical way. Thank god. But I agree with Kari: the press obsesses over this. It’s manufactured outrage. If Biden could sidestep news media manipulation – say, by exploiting social media better – he’d gain far more than he’d lose. People might even remember the Biden successes and why they approved of him in the first place.

Free Joe from this teleprompter tyranny! Freedom for our President!