RNC – Deep Left Field

Earlier this morning, President Joe Biden announced via an online video that he will indeed be a candidate for reelection in 2024.

In the video, CNN reports, the president again invoked a message he used in the 2020 race.

Biden framed next year’s contest as a fight against Republican extremism, implicitly arguing he needed more time to fully realize his vow to restore the nation’s character.

“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are,” he said in the video, which opened with images of the January 6, 2021, insurrection and abortion rights activists protesting at the US Supreme Court.

“The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer,” Biden says in voiceover narration. “I know what I want the answer to be and I think you do too. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for reelection.”

In response, the Republican National Committee (RNC) posted an ad generated by AI (artificial intelligence), according to Axios.

The Republican National Committee responded to President Biden’s re-election announcement Tuesday with an AI-generated video depicting a dystopian version of the future if he is re-elected.

The video features AI-created images appearing to show Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris celebrating at an Election Day party, followed by a series of imagined reports about international and domestic crises that the ad suggests would follow a Biden victory in 2024.

NEW: @Axios w/ a first look at RNC’s video response to Biden

It is also the committee’s first video that is 100% generated by AI software meant to create images that look and feel real (in this case an imagined dystopia look at the future of Biden wins)… pic.twitter.com/S9qH0MXINc
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) April 25, 2023

However, the Republican effort to troll Biden’s announcement got an emphatic thumbs down on social media, where many commenters noted that it was more applicable to failed, one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump.

"Things are going well right now, so we had to ask AI to imagine things going poorly."
— Timothy Durigan (@timothydurigan) April 25, 2023

The unusual party of this video is that it's based on hypothetical "what ifs" — rather than what has already happened in term one. https://t.co/GSQz5bTPB3
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 25, 2023

It’s pretty remarkable to me that they begin by acknowledging Biden was legitimately elected.
— Christopher Hale (@chrisjollyhale) April 25, 2023

The ad would be more believable with Trump’s face. The weakest president we’ve ever had.
— Janie 🔅 (@JPoppinsR) April 25, 2023

This is the same fear crap they tried the last two midterms and it backfired..it will again
— Boston Democrat (@boston_democrat) April 25, 2023

Early Wednesday, the Fox News Christmas tree was set ablaze, the Washington Post reports:

The towering Christmas tree outside the Fox News headquarters in New York was set on fire early Wednesday, causing first responders to race to extinguish a blaze that engulfed the 50-foot tree in Midtown Manhattan.
Video posted to social media shows flames and smoke coming off the decorated tree shortly after midnight just outside the News Corp. building. The network cut in for a live broadcast of the blaze at Fox News Square, just days after the tree, covered in thousands of lights and ornaments, was ceremoniously lit to ring in the holidays.

A man was later arrested for the act:

Craig Tamanaha, 49, was arrested early Wednesday and charged with setting the fire, a New York Police Department spokesperson told The Washington Post. Tamanaha faces charges including criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and arson. The man “was observed by Fox News Channel security climbing the Christmas tree decorated outside their office building near the corner of West 48 Street and Sixth Avenue” about 12:15 a.m., police said.

End of story, right? Not according to Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna McDaniel, who went on Fox and tried to blame the whole thing on President Joe Biden.

McDaniel was asked to predict how she thought the GOP would do in the 2022 midterms. She remarked:

“What this poll is telling us is we’re going to take back the House and the Senate and the American people want a change. Biden is underwater. Harris’s approval is under 30% and Republicans are more trusted on three key issues: the economy, inflation and crime.
“And these are issues we’re seeing every day on our streets, around our homes, in our communities, on the news. Look at your Christmas tree that was just burned down. This is a huge problem for Democrats.”

Wait! What was that? A random act of arson is a problem for Democrats? Sounds like a bit of a stretch, and it also suggests Republicans are in big trouble, despite their bragging about how they intend to win in 2022.