I didn’t think I’d dislike a presidential administration within my lifetime more than that pertaining to George W. Bush, though now that Joe Biden has completed his term I’ve been surprised. The administration of the latter has supplanted my antipathy of the former.
Before continuing any further, I think there are relevant qualifiers to address. First, I don’t vote and I provided reasoning for my abstinence in this regard within the blogpost You’ll Enjoy Yourselves.
Besides, I served the United States (U.S.) when on active duty with the Marine Corps (1996-2007) and that was enough service for my lifetime. Second, I don’t align with Republicans, the Right, Democrats, the Left, or any other political party. Miss me with all that nonsense.
Finally, notice that in the opening paragraph of this post I expressed dislike for a “presidential administration” and not for Bush, Biden, or other specific individuals. I don’t personally know these people. Therefore, expressing that I don’t like these people seems irrational to me.
This final point requires context. In order for a statement, proposal, argument, belief, or otherwise to be considered rational it empirically must remain in accordance with both logic and reason. To illustrate what I mean, I invite you to review the following syllogism:
Form (constructive dilemma) –
If p, then q; and if r, then s; but either p or r; therefore, either q or s.
Example –
If I need to personally know a person in order not to like the individual, then I cannot dislike Bush or Biden without actually knowing them; and if I dislike inanimate constructs such as presidential administrations, then it’s rational not to like the Bush and Biden administrations.
But either I need to personally know a person in order not to like the individual or I dislike inanimate constructs such as presidential administrations.
Therefore, either I cannot dislike Bush or Biden without actually knowing them or it’s rational not to like the Bush and Biden administrations.
I maintain that this proposition is rational. First, it follows logical (deductive) form. Second, it’s reasonable, because the premises which establish a conclusion aren’t polluted with moralistic or self-disturbing rhetoric. Here, self-disturbance relates to my field of practice.
Professionally, I’m a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) practitioner. This means that I routinely practice the ABC model and unconditional acceptance (UA). Rational thinking is an intrinsic process of this helpful practice that aims to reduce how people upset themselves with unhelpful beliefs.
Relevant qualifiers aside, I paid attention to Biden’s Farewell Address to the Nation on January 15, 2025. In it there were many logical inconsistencies, outright fallacies, and overt lies which I could address herein. Yet, I practice UA competently enough not to whine in such a manner herein.
Still, I think it may be helpful for people who buy into political bullshit to better understand one key issue Biden addressed on his way out, may he live forever. This matter relates to the alleged “avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power,” per Biden.
For context, in a blogpost entitled Information Overload, I addressed the concepts of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. Perhaps you’ve heard about these conceptual terms throughout the Biden administration’s gaslighting behavior over the past four years.
When thinking of misinformation, envision a mistake. For disinformation, think of a deliberate lie. As for the Orwellian term malinformation, imagine accurate information that may supposedly prove harmful to others.
An example of misinformation is if I unintentionally told you to take two lefts and a right turn in order to arrive at your desired location when in fact it was one left and two rights. This is merely a mistake of fact.
An example of disinformation is if I intentionally told you that no other psychotherapeutic modality is effective, as only REBT affords people an opportunity to improve their mental, emotional, and behavioral health. This would be a deceitful claim (lie).
An example of malinformation is, whether intentionally or unintentionally, I told you that drinking more water than soda is better for your overall health. As a result, you stop drinking soda brand X and deprive the company of revenue. This is accurate information that could allegedly harm an entity.
Given these points of clarity, do you think Biden’s farewell speech qualifies for one of the above categories when the outgoing U.S. President stated, “The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit”?
If you’re having difficulty deciding, allow me to assist. In July 2021, President Biden said, “You’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.” Perhaps you’d like to be charitable to Biden – a fallible human being if ever there was one – and you believe that he used misinformation.
Very well. A couple months following Biden’s dissemination of inaccurate information, the popular chant “Let’s Go Brandon” began circulating within our nation. According to one source:
“Let’s Go Brandon” is a political slogan and Internet meme used as a euphemism for the phrase “Fuck Joe Biden” [FJB] in reference to Joe Biden, the 46th and current president of the United States.
Chants of “Fuck Joe Biden” began during sporting events in early September 2021. On October 2, 2021, during a televised interview with the Sparks 300 race winner Brandon Brown at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast incorrectly described the chant in the background as “Let’s Go Brandon”, which sparked the meme. The slogan has become well known through use by Republican Party politicians and critics of Biden.
When asked about this political slogan on November 12, 2021, Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki stated, “I don’t think he [Biden] spends much time focused on it or thinking about it.” Perhaps the Biden administration was speaking truthfully.
However, on April 30, 2022, Biden stated at the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner, “The Republicans seem to support one fellow, some guy named Brandon. He’s having a really good year!”
Bear in mind that it wasn’t until 2023 that Biden announced an end to the U.S. national emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unconstitutional and authoritarian measures occurred during the “good year” that “Brandon” was apparently having.
Was it a good year for you, as well? Yet, I digress. UA allows me the ability to remain focused herein. If it were true, as Psaki stated, that Biden wasn’t focused on and didn’t think about the FJB slogan, how is it that he invoked the name of “Brandon” at a later press event?
Was it mere misinformation used in regard to the FJB chant? Possibly. Also, perhaps it wasn’t disinformation Biden used in regard a so-called vaccine—the definition of which was reportedly altered by Merriam-Webster to replace “immunity” with “immune response.”
Factually, the shots didn’t provide immunity. Maybe Biden merely misspoke. Fair enough. Then, I offer my final point of contention. On October 6, 2023, I posted a blog entry entitled Arguing Attributes of Ability in which I stated:
As I don’t have any [protected health information] on President Joe Biden, I’ll simply let a compilation of his many gaffes up until 2020 speak for him. Since that time, all one may do is merely perform an internet search for Biden’s faux pas to discover [the President of the U.S.] speaking to himself, greeting people who aren’t there, and mumbling incoherently.
Hundreds of millions of people within our nation and billions of people across the globe could likely detect with their own abilities to sense that Biden ostensibly experienced some form of cognitive or neurological decline. I don’t say this with any glee. Then, on February 9, 20204, I posted a blog entry entitled Diminished Faculties and Faulty Memory in which I said:
Biden has been accused of mishandling classified materials—something for which former President Donald Trump has also been accused. Unlike the latter, the former has ostensibly received mercy due to the [U.S. Department of Justice]’s following conclusion:
Mr. Biden’s apparent lapses and failures in February and April 2017 will likely appear consistent with the diminished faculties and faulty memory he showed in Zwonitzer’s interview recordings and in our interview of him.
Biden’s presumed neurocognitive condition has been evident for quite some time. Many people have called out this matter, probably because it matters as to whether or not a leader of a major world power experiences significant cognitive, neurological, emotive, or behavioral impairment.
Nevertheless, when Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about Biden’s evident decline on July 3, 2024, she stated, “Independent and mainstream fact-checkers in the press, and misinformation experts, have been calling out cheap fakes,” as she claimed that Biden was being “targeted” for criticism.
The Biden administration’s response to genuine concerns for Biden’s health was that “cheap fakes” of various videos were being used in a “targeted” fashion. Personally, it was gaslighting at its finest, though you may disagree. Was it mis-, dis-, mal-, or merely banal information?
Now, consider the relatively brief examples I’ve addressed herein and reflect upon Biden’s farewell address in which he stated that an “avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power” will soon come under the Trump administration.
“Hello, Pot? Yeah, it’s me, Kettle. You’re black!” (For my non-U.S. readers, saying that a pot calls the kettle black is a phrase used to convey that the criticisms a person is aiming at someone else could equally well apply to themselves.)
Even in consideration of all this, I don’t dislike Biden or any individual who served in his administration – and given that there was likely a committee of people running our nation over the past four years, as opposed to a single president, that’s an un-verifiably inclusive number.
Ultimately, I practice UA, post poorly written blog entries in the interest of justice, and provide others with content which I hope is worth considering in the interest of reducing self-disturbance. After all, with little doubt, the Trump administration will be accused of spreading mis-, dis-, or malinformation.
The current blogpost will remain available to remind people that this phenomenon appears to be how politicians operate. Think about it. Do you honestly believe that Bush, Biden, Trump, or any other U.S. president wouldn’t lie in order to conduct business of their administration?
Moreover, flawed humans make mistakes, intentionally deceive, and sometimes express inconvenient truths, such as the notion that Israel likely committed ethnic cleansing or genocide against the people of Gaza (Palestinians) – funded by and when given armaments from the U.S.
Or am I spreading so-called misinformation or disinformation? Maybe it’s malinformation. In any event, I hope you’re practicing your REBT skills, because the next four years may get a little bumpy. Let’s go…whoever!
If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.
At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
References:
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