President Joe Biden won’t do a Super Bowl interview, but that’s not stopping his White House from trying to use it for propaganda.
In a social media post released Sunday that’s as cynical as it is infuriating, the president placed the blame for the soaring prices Americans are facing on everyone but himself.
But he left out the one crucial word that gives the game away.
Check out the video below:
While you were Super Bowl shopping, did you notice smaller-than-usual products where the price stays the same?
Folks are calling it Shrinkflation and it means companies are giving you less for every dollar you spend.
I’m calling on the big consumer brands to put a stop to it. pic.twitter.com/wL1NsEh78F
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 11, 2024
If Americans aren’t getting as much for their money as they used to, Biden said, it’s because “some companies are trying to pull a fast one by shrinking the products little by little and hoping you won’t notice.”
He called that “SHRINKFLATION” — in a word that was spelled all in caps in the White House subtitles.
“I’ve had enough of what they call ‘SHRINKFLATION,’” he said. “It’s a ripoff.”
Should Biden retire from politics?
Now, Biden wasn’t nearly as belligerent as he was in his jaw-dropping news conference on Thursday, when he tried to convince the American public that he’s not a senile old man who’s lost touch with reality by going on national television and acting like a senile old man who’s lost touch with reality.
But he was still offensive.
And it’s important to remember the video is not an off-the-cuff news conference spurred by the bombshell of a special counsel’s report.
It’s a manufactured piece, no doubt painstakingly produced, under the watchful eye of political advisers sensitive to the nuance of each word — and it still managed to be utterly inane.
This is the same president who, during that memorable news conference, claimed preposterously that he had “put this country back on its feet.” And it wasn’t all that long ago that he was using a word that never comes up in the Super Bowl video: “Bidenomics.”
Remember this classic?
I came to office determined to change the economic direction of this country and to move from trickle-down economics to my middle out, bottom up vision:
Bidenomics. pic.twitter.com/kvOz81iGSO
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 25, 2023
That was all the way back in August, before winter set in, saddling Americans in the northern parts of the country with heating bills even with the weather generally mild.
It was before Americans faced holidays where a Thanksgiving dinner cost 25 percent more than it did when Donald Trump was president.
It was before Christmas when Americans were reminded in sometimes surprising, stinging ways how much more they’re working to pay for the same things they’ve had before.
In his video, Biden said, “The American public is tired of being played for suckers.”
Judging by the social media response, Biden was dead on. They are tired of being played for suckers. And he’s the one they’re tired of.
You did it Joe pic.twitter.com/1QfYs0RYBL
— Brick Suit (@Brick_Suit) February 11, 2024
Bro, it’s not “shrinkflation” it’s building back better.
— TheQuartering (@TheQuartering) February 11, 2024
We know why pic.twitter.com/S8LdMoTtL2
— D MaC (@McC_711) February 11, 2024
Joe Biden has caused massive inflation his entire stolen presidency.
Now he’s blaming companies for the high prices.
Biden never takes responsibility for any messes he makes.
He’s a coward who’s incompetent and certifiably in severe mental decline.
Biden needs to resign.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) February 11, 2024
A few short months ago, Biden was insulting Americans’ intelligence by using a White House video to claim “Bidenomics” was the key to their prosperity. Now he’s using a White House video to claim it’s only the greed of big business engaging in what amounts to duplicity that’s really frustrating Americans.
Maybe he could have used the Super Bowl interview he’s skipping to make the point even better?
But the argument is as transparent as it is absurd. “Bidenomics” never made an appearance in the Biden video, but it hung over the context like it hangs over Americans like a ghost every time they go to the grocery store, fill up their tank or worry about their kids’ clothes or school supplies.
It hangs over the country like the terror that must hang over Biden’s staff every time he goes in front of a camera — scripted or unscripted — that he’s about to embarrass himself again.
That was really what Biden was damning in his Super Bowl video — not some boogeyman called “shrinkflation.”
“Bidenomics” was the word he was looking for. And it’s the word that should damn his presidency.
