Biden’s Smile is a Powerful Weapon

A few days ago AP News released a photo of President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy meeting in the Oval Office.

Biden and McCarthy are in the middle of negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. Long story short: if the debt ceiling is not raised then the US will default on its debts and we will tumble into a Second Depression. And we have until June 5th to get the shit done.

So what’s the delay? Well the GOP (who control the House) refuses to raise the debt ceiling unless a whole lot of limits on spending are added to the budget, including work requirements for Medicaid and Medicare. That’s a non-starter for Democrats and frankly the majority of the American public. Nothing the Democrats propose will be good for the GOP, however. A few people are darkly whispering that the GOP deliberately wants the nation to default because nothing less than economic chaos can bring Trump back to power in 2024.

Everyone is tense and on edge. Should Biden invoke the 14th Amendment? Should the GOP just let the country burn? What will happen if the US defaults?

Amid all this anxiety, AP released a photo on May 22nd 2023. GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden are sitting in the Oval Office.
McCarthy looks awful. His face is tense. His shoes are scuffed. He practically has beads of sweat on his forehead.
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Biden, however, looks like he’s at a family barbecue and his son has just come home from deployment. Biden is grinning widely. The old man looks like he’s genuinely enjoying himself.

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Joe Biden has large bright white teeth. When he smiles those white teeth flare out like a spotlight and immediately grab the attention of anyone watching. It’s the smile of a joyful warrior. It’s a deeply masculine grin that seems cheerful but barely disguises the knife edge of a skilled political fighter.

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​Biden’s smile as a political weapon was first seen at the Vice Presidential debates in 2012. When Joe Biden debated Paul Ryan, Biden’s smile was seen as a negative at the time. NBC’s David Gregory said “Biden’s smile is out of control.” Politico ran an article titled “Twitter Frowns on Joe Biden’s Laugh.”

Biden’s laugh, however, turned out to help Biden a great deal. Viewers of the 2012 Biden/ Ryan debate considered Biden to have won the debate and helped clean up after Obama’s disastrous debate performance with Mitt Romney.
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Kathleen Parker said it best in her piece “Joe Biden’s Vicious Smile.” “Like the Cheshire Cat he smiled…. It was a tactical weapon intended to intimidate and out-psych his wonky opponent.”

Joe Biden deploys that “tactical weapon” of a smile often during debates, especially when his opponent is talking. When Senator Bernie Sanders became angry during a Democratic Primary debate in February 2020, the camera angle caught Biden laughing during Bernie’s uproar. Biden’s teeth were full ablaze. It did not go unnoticed.

After the end of a long and bitter primary, Biden defeated Bernie Sanders and ended up winning the Democratic nomination.

On September 29th 2020 Joe Biden debated Donald Trump. In one of the debate’s most frightening moments, Trump refused to condemn white supremacy. The rather chaotic exchange went like this:

Wallace: “Are you willing, tonight, to condemn white supremacists and militia groups-”
Trump: “Sure”
Wallace: “- And to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and as we’ve seen in Portland?”
Trump: “Sure, I’m willing to do that.”
Wallace: “Are you prepared to do that specifically?”
Biden: “Do it.”
Trump: “I would say- I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing.”
Wallace: “So what are you- what are you- what are you saying?”
Trump: “I’m- I’m willing to do anything- I want to see peace.”
Wallace: “Well, then do it, sir.”
Biden: “Say it. Do it. Say it.”
Trump: “You want to call ‘em…. What do you want to call ‘em? Give me a name. Give me a name.”
Wallace: “White supremacists and right wing militias.”
Biden: “Proud Boys”
Trump: “Proud Boys? Stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what- I’ll tell you what. Somebody’s gotta do something about Antifa and the left.”

It was a chilling a moment. Trump, instead of condemning the far-right neo-fascist militia Proud Boys, appeared to be giving them orders to stand by and prepare for violence. Twitter recoiled in horror. Biden, however, had a different reaction.
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Biden smiled.

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​Biden’s smile during that horrible moment was strategic. He knew that Trump was trying to intimidate America. He knew that Trump wanted Americans to be scared. Biden knew that Trump’s most powerful weapon was fear.

So Biden countered that weapon with his own attack: his grin.

Biden deployed his smile not only to blunt Trump’s intimidation tactic but also to convey reassurance towards the viewers watching their debate. “He’s an idiot, a stupid idiot,” Biden’s smile said, “And he’s going to be easily defeated by me.”
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And Biden is still using that smile as a reassurance tactic when meeting Kevin McCarthy.

​It’s a powerful message. Biden has been in Washington longer than I have been alive, and I am middle-aged. You don’t survive that long in DC without knowing how the game is played. You don’t become president without knowing the rules.
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Rule number one: Teach your enemies to tremble when they see your smile.