# What is this claim about Biden that my mom is going on about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-claim-about-biden-that-my-mom-is-going-on-about/925175 "2020-11-09T21:12:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-claim-about-biden-that-my-mom-is-going-on-about/925175/21 "2020-11-11T14:27:10Z")
My Trump afflicted son has begun to humor his age demented father. He can knock that off and help me find my glasses. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-claim-about-biden-that-my-mom-is-going-on-about/925175/22 "2020-11-11T15:17:38Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I always assumed this was Trump’s most common strategy–accuse his enemy of doing what he himself had done (and was impeached for). Most definitely. If you want to know what sleezy, unethical, or illegal things Trump is up to, it’s whatever he accuses of someone else. This is a pre-emptive way of clouding public perception in case his own actions gets discovered. And this doesn’t just work on the elderly. Most Americans are so ignorant of governance–and have such a short attention span–that they don’t know shit about what’s going on. That’s how Trump got elected, and nearly re-elected. The continuance of the Republican party is predicated on this. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-claim-about-biden-that-my-mom-is-going-on-about/925175/23 "2020-11-11T16:29:52Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > > [@BigT](#): > > > > I always assumed this was Trump’s most common strategy–accuse his enemy of doing what he himself had done (and was impeached for). > > > > Pretty much all the anti-Biden stuff I see is stuff about things Trump actually did, or were Trump’s fault. Even down to which one of them is the Christian. (I’m still debating if I’m going to point out on Facebook that Biden went to church on Sunday, while Trump golfed.) > > I’m starting to wonder if all the Qanon nonsense is much like this. Unfortunately, QAnon was created independently. First it was just a joke/troll on 4chan, but then it was taken over by someone who had helped the rise of the far right in Japan. They are now in charge of 8chan, through some unscrupulous practices that pushed out the creator who had physical disabilities. At least, I find the evidence in this very well researched podcast quite convincing, ~~and am hoping they’ll get up a transcript soon enough~~. > **[\#166 Country of Liars | Reply All](https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/llhe5nm/166-country-of-liars)** > > This week, PJ looks into a theory circling the internet about who might be behind QAnon. The investigation takes him back to the beginning of the QAnon scam, and to the message board trolls who started it. Edit: _turns out they do have a transcript up now_. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-claim-about-biden-that-my-mom-is-going-on-about/925175/24 "2020-11-11T20:31:06Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Sadly I’ve come to find that both of my parents, now 69 and 70, are absolutely horrible at interpreting the news. Hearing them explain something they “heard somewhere” is like being the 15th person in line in a preschool Telephone Game. I’m 83. I guess I must be a doddering idiot. There are plenty of 20 year olds who fall for that garbage too. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-claim-about-biden-that-my-mom-is-going-on-about/925175/25 "2020-11-11T20:44:48Z")
I’m not talking about my parents falling for clickbait or false claims or being gullible. I’m also not trying to be ageist. My problem I’m dealing with with my parents is purely in their ability to hear/read statements, digest them, and repeat them back coherently. It truly is alarming to me as to what they (these two people I’ve known for 41 years, no other group of people) are remembering versus what they had actually heard. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-claim-about-biden-that-my-mom-is-going-on-about/925175/26 "2020-11-12T01:00:47Z")
Been a long time since I read the Foundation series. About 1973 or so, when I was in high school, back in the time of the dinosaurs. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-claim-about-biden-that-my-mom-is-going-on-about/925175/27 "2020-11-12T01:01:36Z")
Hell, everyone loses or adds something when they recount and experience. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-claim-about-biden-that-my-mom-is-going-on-about/925175/28 "2020-11-12T14:43:39Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > […] The simplicity of the story, the repetition of the punch line, and the absolutist tone tends to stick with her while all the details (if there even were any given) drift away like so much cigarette smoke in a typhoon. […] I find this is happening to me. It’s cementing me more firmly into the progressive end of the spectrum, not the Trumpist end, but in a logical sense it’s the same thing. It’s impossible to run all these stories down to their origins and vet them and keep them all straight. Would it take 100 pages a day to capture what Trump is doing? And what his party and his coconspirators are up to? 1000 pages a day? So come up with the simplicity and repetition of a punch line, “just remember how evil they are”. Which Michael Steele said something, and why? Who are all the Millers, and how many of them are there? Was that a quote or an attribution? Was that the second Chief of Staff or the third, or am I forgetting one? It all drifts away like cigarette smoke. The United States has been growing ungovernable, and it’s even getting unfollowable. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-claim-about-biden-that-my-mom-is-going-on-about/925175/29 "2020-11-13T07:07:37Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > It’s impossible to run all these stories down to their origins and vet them and keep them all straight. Would it take 100 pages a day to capture what Trump is doing? And what his party and his coconspirators are up to? 1000 pages a day? > > So come up with the simplicity and repetition of a punch line, “just remember how evil they are”. Which Michael Steele said something, and why? Who are all the Millers, and how many of them are there? Was that a quote or an attribution? Was that the second Chief of Staff or the third, or am I forgetting one? It all drifts away like cigarette smoke. The United States has been growing ungovernable, and it’s even getting unfollowable. This, exactly. The amount of info (false or otherwise) coming at us now is absurd. Keeping all the different threads of each plot straight is nearly impossible as the next one comes at you so fast. I consider myself relatively well informed, but it’s all becoming a blur of characters and accusations. I’ll remember the gist of some supposed scandal that happened 5 months ago, but damned if I remember all the specific details anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-claim-about-biden-that-my-mom-is-going-on-about/925175.md?page=1)