Just a few days ago, there was nothing 'former' about US President Joe Biden with respect to every aspect connected with presidency. And then suddenly he became former presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party as he withdrew from US Presidential Election 2024 race. He got Covid just before that and took a step back and disappeared to recover from the disease which has lost all terror that was previously associated with it. He joined via phone call when Vice President Kamala Harris addressed her presidential campaign team for the first time. But was it really Biden? Or was it a pre-recorded conversation?
It is not hard to imagine Biden going for pre-recorded statements given his gaffe-prone manner of speaking. But what raised everyone's antennas was an apparent slip from Harris during her speech.
"Joe, I know you're still on the call and we've been talking every day...," said Harris. But a short, half a word appeared to betray that Biden's words may have been pre-recorded. This short snippet of her speech is being posted and widely shared on social media.
Check out the video
Even before he was considered 'too old', Biden was known to be gaffe-prone during his speeches. His embarrassing mistake piled up in recent years when he was US president. Biden has forgotten names of important world leaders, have even called them by names of their arch-enemies. He has taken several physical tumbles and has suffered much more that gave voice to concerns that he wasn't fit to be US president.
Monday's event was the first time Harris was addressing members of her presidential campaign. This is the exact same apparatus that she has inherited from Biden now that he is not running.
For Harris, this speech had a huge symbolic value and somewhat of a formal start towards bagging the Oval Office. It is natural that she (and the Democratic Party) would have wanted to avoid seeing this turn into another event where Biden mis-spoke.
But was it really a recording?
Amused social media users were speculating even as there was no immediate official statement from anyone.
