President Biden has COVID-19 — and somehow his team managed to transform his diagnosis into cheap campaign clickbait.
“I’m sick,” read a cryptic tweet posted to Biden’s X account Wednesday night, causing chaos and speculation as it came not long after news broke that he had tested positive for coronavirus. (Not to mention ongoing concerns about his geriatric health or about his cognitive function.)
While almost 150 million people saw that tweet, just 19 million saw the follow-up tweet within the thread, which let on that the whole thing was just a tacky attempt to solicit donations.
“… of Elon Musk and his rich buddies trying to buy this election,” the second part read. “And if you agree, pitch in.”
In a moment of tense unrest, our nation deserves signals of strength and unity from the president. Instead, Biden’s team made things even more chaotic with a cryptic tweet that unleashed panic and speculation online.
We are living through an era of historical whiplash, between an attempted assassination of former President Trump, alarm over President Biden’s mental acuity, and nail-biting anticipation as pressure mounts for the 81-year-old incumbent to drop out of the election.
Mere minutes before the Biden campaign’s tasteless tweet, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California laudably called for a moment of unity on X.
“Fellow House Democrats, can we in this moment unify, show some decency, and simply wish [Biden] a speedy and full recovery?”
He’s right. This could have been a moment for those on both sides of the aisle to take the high road and wish the president well, regardless of political differences. All that tweet did was project callousness and weakness to the American people — and the rest of the world.
Fortunately, the White House says that the President is doing well and only has mild symptoms. They should have left the message at that rather than turning it into a trolling fundraising call.
The stunt drew criticism from frustrated Biden supporters.
“I doubt Joe Biden approved that tweet,” a House Democrat told Axios. “Not helpful at all. They need to read the room.”
The “I’m sick” tweet also set the president’s critics up to dunk on him. “We know,” one user responded.
“It sounds like a 25 year old leftist intern posted this,” someone tweeted. “I first thought a parody account posted this,” another chimed in.
Even the call for donations was laughable. How can Biden accuse Elon Musk of attempting to buy the election, considering he has long courted the ultra-wealthy with tickets to campaign events going for as much as of $500,000?
This is a man whose donors include the likes of hedge-fund billionaire George Soros, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Hollywood actress Julia Roberts — and who sold photos with himself, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama for $100K.
Both candidates have billionaire backers (as does independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.). In taking a side, Musk is hardly “buying” an election. Not to mention the layer of irony in using Elon Musk’s own social media platform to accuse him of buying the election — and solicit donations on it in the process.
In a moment where we’re all concerned about one candidate’s safety and another candidate’s health, the American people deserve leaders who demonstrate tact, restraint and strength.
Instead, the Biden campaign decided to serve up bombastic, trollish, gimmicky garbage.
It’s high time to start acting like adults — and to take the keys to the Twitter account away from the staffer who posted “I’m sick.”
