Conspiracy theories questioning President Biden’s mental acuity and fitness aren’t new.
During the inauguration, President Biden, Jill Biden, Vice President Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff are seen greeted by Marines while walking through the Capitol Building door. Wing Nuts claim that President Biden was “wearing an ‘earpiece’ and receiving orders from an unidentified ‘someone’ to ‘salute the marines’ on his way inside the Capitol. The tweet goes on to allege that Biden simply ‘repeated the words’ said to him via the earpiece, noting that the Marines flanking the Capitol entrance weren’t ‘saluted’ after all.
Before we present the facts, note that:
A president is commander in chief of all U.S. military forces. No regulation exists stating a president must give out or return a salute. In fact, as pointed out by this 2016 fact check via the Florida Times-Union, presidential salutes are more out of courtesy than protocol. The video also doesn’t show Marines saluting Biden as he made his way through the entrance.
The tweet has since been removed and the wing nut who originally posted it scrubbed his/her account but that hasn’t stopped the usual suspects from spreading the lie.
The Washington Post has reviewed the video several times and concluded “that Biden did not utter the phrase ‘salute the Marines.’ Instead, Biden remarked, ‘Good-looking Marines’ as he passed through the Capitol doors.”
The Washington Post gives this new conspiracy theory and debunked claim Four Pinocchios.
But wait! There’s more!
No, Wing Nuts, the National Guard did not turn their backs on President Biden. 🙄 🙄 🙄
Social media users have been sharing a video shot from a vehicle that shows some National Guard soldiers facing away from the road as Biden’s motorcade drives past them. The users claim that the National Guard has “turned their backs” on Biden, suggesting that this action is a display to show their rejection of the President. Their positioning, however, is standard protocol for this sort of duty.
Here is the original video and yes, some Guards people do have their backs turned to the motorcade but that is standard protocol, not a stub.
Oh, look! Guards people turn their backs on the Trump motorcade because…it’s standard protocol, not a snub.
Politifact weight in on both Wing Nut conspiracy theories:
