Commentators on the Internet this week were dragging Joe Biden for having literally checked his watch during a casket-return ceremony for U.S. servicemembers killed during the Afghanistan withdrawal. It's a fair criticism: When the president treats one of the most solemn executive duties as if it were a slow ride in a municipal elevator, he's going to catch some flak for it.
People specifically compared Biden's watch-checking with the more solemn and dignified displays of respect given by former President Donald Trump under similar circumstances. Well, USA Today wasn't too happy about that, and one of its "fact-checkers," Daniel Funke, decided to set the record straight:
Biden checked his watch, but he did so after the ceremony had ended.
Except that wasn't true—like, at all, in any way. Biden did look at his watch during the ceremony! Careful analysis of a cutting-edge technology called "video footage" proves this to be true.
So Funke was forced to correct the record of his original record-correction attempt:
Thanks, fact-checkers! Of course, even USA Today couldn't bring itself to really admit that Biden had committed such an obvious and shocking unforced error, so they had to essentially qualify it out of existence:
Based on our research, we rate MISSING CONTEXT the claim that Trump saluted the caskets of fallen U.S. service members, while Biden checked his watch. The way Biden honored the 11 caskets presented at Dover Air Force Base, with a hand over his heart, was similar to how Trump paid respects to fallen service members during his presidency. However, Biden did check his watch at least three times, according to photos and video reviewed by USA TODAY.
Okay... so Biden did publicly and shockingly disrespect fallen U.S. troops multiple times during the casket ceremony, but it's okay because he was at times able to feign interest long enough to hold his hand over his heart. Gotcha.
(Also, Just a note that multiple parents of the fallen service members – who were at the service – had also claimed Biden checked his watch over and over again...)
It is good to know that, after four years of relentless, industrial-level dishonesty and dissembling under President Trump, the media are finally reverting to their older, more workaday levels of dishonesty and dissembling. Everything is back to normal.
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