The Biden White House and its allies in the legacy media were essentially telling voters not to believe their lying eyes in 2024 when pushing the now-infamous “cheap fakes” narrative.

A new book detailing Biden’s cognitive decline has dominated headlines and has reignited scrutiny of how the media shielded the then-presumptive Democratic nominee, particularly when it came to his age.

In the weeks leading up to the disastrous debate performance exposing his cognitive decline on the world stage, Biden went viral on multiple occasions in videos his critics said showed him losing his faculties.

The first was of him appearing completely frozen while others danced around him at Juneteenth celebration at the White House.

The second was of him appearing to wander off at the G-7 Summit away from other world leaders while trying to engage with paratroopers, only to be corralled by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The third was Biden’s freezing moment at an L.A. fundraiser which showed former President Barack Obama escorting him offstage.

It wasn’t until the latter that the Biden White House latched onto the term “cheap fakes” to describe the viral videos they said were misleading and peddled by right-wing foes of the then-presumptive Democratic nominee.

“I think you have all called this the ‘cheap fakes’ video. And that’s exactly what they are,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a press briefing last June. “They’re done in bad faith.”

Jean-Pierre was likely referring to The Washington Post, a pioneer in dismissing Biden’s viral moments as “cheap fakes.”

The Post used “cheap fakes” to shield Biden from scrutiny as early as July 2022 in a fact check accusing an RNC social media post of painting “a misleading picture of mental fitness” based on a viral moment Biden had while in Israel. It defined “cheap fakes” as “the practice of misrepresenting events that take place in a video by adding or leaving out context.”

Fast-forward to June 2024, when The Post published a lengthy report combating Republicans sharing embarrassing clips of Biden during his trip to Normandy, including when he awkwardly paused while bending to sit down as others remained standing.

“Such deceptively edited videos, known as ‘cheap fakes,’ have become staples of Republican attacks against the president,” The Post told readers at the time.

Fast-forward to June 2024, when The Post published a lengthy report combating Republicans sharing embarrassing clips of Biden during his trip to Normandy, including when he awkwardly paused while bending to sit down as others remained standing.

NBC News accused Republicans of pushing a “false” narrative by claiming Biden was wandering aimlessly at the G7 summit.

“Experts have warned that while advanced technology like generative artificial intelligence can spread misinformation, so-called cheap fakes that often use only minor or selective editing can be more effective at spreading false narratives,” NBC News wrote.

The New York Times ran a story with the headline “How Misleading Videos Are Trailing Biden as He Battles Age Doubts,” insisting the viral clips were either “edited or lack[ed] context,” and CBS News released a report sounding the alarm on “cheap fakes” and their impact on the upcoming election, echoing the White House’s claim that Biden is “victim to a simpler version of ‘deepfakes.’”

CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter offered an explainer of what “cheap fakes” are and similarly warned about their impact on the 2024 race.

“We’ve been worried for years about AI deepfakes that computer-generated images are going to trick people into believing something that’s totally false. Cheap fakes are a little bit simpler,” Stelter said.

“They’re cheap,” he continued. “They’re just distorted, out-of-context videos chopped up in certain ways, constructed in certain ways. That’s what we’re seeing.”

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