Earlier this week, PolitiFact.org presented its designated ‘Lie of the Year’ with an audacious theme. Accusations were hurled by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance about Haitian immigrants in Ohio indulging in illegal pet consumption. Undoubtedly, though, no sane measure could overlook a far more arch look for the ‘Lie of the Year’. Consider the notion, filled with irony, that Joe Biden is intellectually vibrant.
A remark surfaced from an individual, supposedly well-acquainted with the president, stating, ‘Those underestimating him due to age would be doing so at their own risk for he is quite sharp.’ The controversy swirling around it would’ve been humorous had it not been this politically critical.
The media initiated questioning Biden’s competence, spawning some rather contentious responses. Biden’s discourse while engaged in a prime-time debate was, to put it mildly, a lackluster display of ‘sharp’ acuity. It revealed a ‘mental sharpness’ that felt more like dullness trying to pass off as brilliance.
His condition after a two-hour continuous debate left many concerned for his ‘good shape,’ was anything but good. What unfolded later could best be summed up as a startling chain of events that flipped around the political narratives.
To the astonishment of many, those Sunday supporters of Biden were now covertly urging him to bow out of the race. A realization had dawned upon them which others had foreseen long back — Biden’s lost his edge in the political sphere.
In an unforeseen turn, a presidential candidate had to exit the race, having won the unopposed primaries. America was staging history again; the mantle of the Democratic presidential candidate for the first time went to a woman with a unique heritage, a Black and Asian woman.
As fate would have it, she turned out to be no match for the political might of Trump. He turned the tables and, in an unparalleled feat, maneuvered his way back into the Oval Office, a comeback constituting a non-consecutive second term.
The grand narrative spun around Biden’s ‘sharpness’ was evidently a falsification that toppled the decks of American politics. It was such a falsification that it etched novel accounts onto the pages of our historical annals.
This blatant untruth stood out as the most impactful lie of the year, infiltrating every possible platform – podcasts, talk radio, news channels, and chat shows. Unfortunately, the magnitude and impact of this distortion set a disconcerting benchmark for future fabrications.
Disturbingly, each time nowadays when a lie surfaces, it seems to follow the same reckless route paved by this colossal falsehood that riddled the 2024 narrative. Subsequently, there is a certain semblance of generating a similar disregard for everyone else.