Following another series of viral videos, MSNBC’s Deadline host Nicolle Wallace complained on Monday to a panel about the reaction and coverage of President Biden’s many moments of embarrassment by claiming that these viral videos were “cheapfakes” and “highly misleading” while critiquing conservatives for ignoring former President Donald Trump’s “repeated glaring and real mental lapses.”
Amazingly, she made all these claims while misinforming her audience in her evidence and lying about the nature and bias of her opposition.
After accusing conservatives of “insidious attacks” on Biden by creating, cropping, and editing videos of his public appearances, Wallace cited the New York Post as a major culprit:
Here is this headline from The New York Post, ‘Biden appears to freeze up. Has to be led off stage by Obama at megabucks L.A. Fundraiser.’ The full video posted by Biden finance chair on Twitter shows something entirely different. Biden reacting to applause and then walking off stage with former President Obama.
Yet, the New York Post video Wallace referred to does gives a clearer angle of the interaction than the taping released by the Biden campaign! The “original video” released by the campaign zooms out during the politicians’ interaction, while the Post’s shows the obvious movements of Obama, grabbing Biden’s arm and leading him off stage.
Even more ridiculous than that was podcaster Tim Miller, who saw a conspiracy at work:
You mentioned the New York Post twice. It's the Murdochs that are doing this. And it’s like we have to just say it. It is the Murdochs that are advancing this stuff. It's happening on Fox it’s happening on the New York Post.
It was only two years ago when the Murdochs, like Mitch McConnell saw Trump for who he was. Made fun of him on the front pages of the New York Post, remember “Florida Man Makes Announcement” when Trump announces his speech. Well now they're doing Florida Man's propaganda for him again, alright, because they want to have access. And so I think it's important to call that out.
And number two it's important to shame this person and call him back. Because it's nice to fact-check and correct the record about the Joe Biden videos, you have to do that I guess, but really the only way to fight fire with fire is to show people the real video of Trump and to do that in all of the different venues that we've been discussing this hour. And that's going to be a job for the campaign and the media and, you know, all the allies and the pro-democracy coalition.
As for Wallace, she continued ranting, stating that it is the job of the left to stoop to base standards in order to win the election, like the media hasn’t been doing that from the beginning, “ I am concerned about what you just described, that the fire with fire competes, should we be on the high road or the low road. And I really, really, really, really hope that they understand that the election will not be won or lost on the high road. It will be won or lost by getting on the low road and pushing back against the, you know crap that they're putting out there about President Biden.”
It is ridiculous to claim the coverage of Biden has been edited to highlight his obvious health and mental deficiencies, when they are too blatant to edit out! Nicolle Wallace puts on this face of naiveté, shocked by the “misleading” coverage, and edited political videos, as if she doesn’t work for a network that routinely smears Republicans. Breaking news, Nicolle, you’re not that familiar with the high road.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC Deadline
6/17/2024
4:34:01 PM EST
[NEWS HEADLINE > BREAKING NEWS - “Cheap Fakes”: How highly Edited, Misleading Videos of Biden Make Their Way From The RNC To Right Wing America]
NICOLE WALLACE: There's a growing and insidious trend in right-wing media, broadcast, print, and social media. It is to take highly misleading and selectively edited videos of President Biden directly from Republican National Committee social media accounts and then use those videos to spread messages virally to cast doubt on President Biden's fitness for office.
Here is this headline from The New York Post, “Biden appears to freeze up. Has to be led off stage by Obama at megabucks L.A. Fundraiser.” The full video posted by Biden finance chair on Twitter shows something entirely different. Biden reacting to applause and then walking off stage with former President Obama.
It comes less than one week after The New York Post made a cover out of another piece of deceptively edited tape. Calling him “Meander in Chief” due to what they claimed was Biden walking away during a skydiving demonstration during the G-7 summit last week. The only problem is that the full video, which emerged almost instantly shows Biden was going over to congratulate one of the sky divers who's cropped out of the video entirely.
Both the articles are based on cheap fakes, videos of real events that are intentionally manipulated to fool viewers released on an RNC opposition research social media account with zero independent fact checking by these so-called journalists and spread throughout the right-wing ecosystem. We would take the hand wringing by right-wing media about Biden's mental fitness in videos intentionally manipulated to make him look unfit, maybe a little more seriously if they weren't radio silent about the repeated glaring and real mental lapses happening behind podiums and on camera on the part of Donald Trump.
Remember his story about his cognitive test, acing it over and over again. He told that story again over the weekend with a vital glaring mistake.
(...)
4:37:05 p.m. Eastern
WALLACE: Claire, Eddie, Tim and Andrew are back. I mean Eddie I don't love covering this, but Trump is forcing the issue. And let me just say this about the test he's taking. It's like a sober person taking the DUI test, right? He shouldn't be bragging about acing the screen for dementia unless he's aware of something that he's trying to keep from his supporters. What do we make of this? What do we think of this? How do we cover this? What are your thoughts, Eddie Glaude?
EDDIE GLAUDE: I mean you know, I've been trying to process it from the last segment to now. We know who this guy is. We know his character. We know the danger that he presents, and we also know that millions of Americans support him. We can come up with ads. We can disclose or illustrate his failings, his cognitive decline, we could do all of that, and we still know that millions of Americans support him.
And so, you know, what I was thinking about it in relation to the last segment and in this segment, Nicolle, is that we keep presuming that these are rational actors. Even the low information voters, we're saying if only they got more information, they will then make the rational decision. Now, we have to conclude that this guy at the top of the ticket of the Republican party, something is not right, and I'm not saying that they're irrational, but their passion's at work here, and we keep arguing on the grounds of rational decision-making when there's this existential question at the heart of his success and ascendance and passions are animating it.
There are folks who support this guy even with this evidence because they feel they're losing control of the country, and we got to address that it seems to me, Nicolle, if we're going to get to the heart of the rot.
WALLACE: Well, Tim, Eddie of course bottom lined this for all of us. I think there are two things to do here. I mean, one it is time to allow the hardened base to be the hardened base and to just stop with it. I was part of -- I went out and I think I did 20 packages, 20 pieces, in "Trump they Trust” was the name of the series, and it was an honor to do it, and I loved understanding the Trump voter. But I went back after Flynn was fired. I went back after Mueller was tapped. And I think we knew in early 2017 that there's nothing, nothing that can make the hardened base that loves Trump not love him anymore.
But Trump knows that isn't enough, right? That's why Trump keeps taking the mocha test from behind podiums. Because Trump sees something in his own data that being a convicted felon, that his own diminished performance, he's not -- those clips interspersed from '16 to '24, he is a different candidate in '24 than he was in '16, and he seems to know it.
TIM MILLER: I think for sure, and that's just -- I absolutely agree with that. I also want to say I totally agree with Eddie, I was thinking the same thing during the commercial break, we’re on the same page. It is disheartening. I was on my only vacation of the year last week, and to come back and to have to do this with this lunatic, have to watch this a clip, sit there and be like how is this person -- how are we in a place, where after all we've been discussing this hour, 47 percent of the country is still – want this is person to be President. It's extremely disheartening and frustrating.
But we can't just be made tired by it. You have to figure out how can, you keep it at 47 or 46 so we don't have to deal with a second Trump presidency. And I think that in this clip, the important thing to discuss here is two points. One is, you mentioned the New York Post twice. It's the Murdochs that are doing this. And it’s like we have to just say it. It is the Murdochs that are advancing this stuff. It's happening on Fox it’s happening on the New York Post.
It was only two years ago when the Murdochs, like Mitch McConnell saw Trump for who he was. Made fun of him on the front pages of the New York Post, remember “Florida Man Makes Announcement” when Trump announces his speech. Well now they're doing Florida man's propaganda for him again, alright, because they want to have access. And so I, think it's important to call that out.
And number two it's important to shame this person and call him back. Because it's nice to fact-check and correct the record about the Joe Biden videos, you have to do that I guess, but really the only way to fight fire with fire is to show people the real video of Trump and to do that in all of the different venues that we've been discussing this hour. And that's going to be a job for the campaign and the media and, you know, all the allies and the pro-democracy coalition.
WALLACE: Well, Tim, I'm going to press you again I mean even the corrected videos, a fraction of the people who saw the manipulated ones would have seen the full video. I went and looked for it ‘cause I said this can't be. I've sat across from him. There's got to be more. So what is the fire with fire? Because this is where -- I love what I've seen in terms of the paid messages from the Biden campaign. I am concerned about what you just described, that the fire with fire competes, should we be on the high road or the low road. And I really, really, really, really hope that they understand that the election will not be won or lost on the high road. It will be won or lost by getting on the low road and pushing back against the, you know crap that they're putting out there about President Biden.
