Mainstream media coverage of Joe Biden’s campaign rallies depicts a false façade, giving an impression of a normal political event.  But the reality is as phony as the façades of prosperous villages that Catherine The Great’s political advisor (and lover) Grigori Potemkin erected for her to view from her imperial barge, masking the misery of her subjects.  Potemkin today is remembered chiefly for the expression “Potemkin village,” defined as “an impressive facade or show designed to hide an undesirable fact or condition.” (Check the link quickly before Merriam-Webster changes the definition to conform with the political interests of the Democrats.)

A hilarious Twitter video has survived the “fact checkers” at the social media giant (for now), panning from away the podium to show the handful of people -- apparenlty, mostly media -- standing around and sorta watching Biden’s bizarrely impassioned speech to a parking lot in Novi, Michigan (a Detroit suburb) last Friday,

 and the billboard-sized teleprompter facing him.

The size of the prompter raises the question of whether his eyesight is fading as fast as his mental capacities  

Someone got a video of Biden reading off his giant teleprompter at his "rally" in Detroit yesterday https://t.co/ev7i4EMBkU pic.twitter.com/DoXtib4lXu

— Not the Bee (@Not_the_Bee) October 17, 2020

Footage of Biden's huge teleprompter [DO NOT MISS THIS !] https://t.co/pUrF97G4Nj pic.twitter.com/sJvA9ItXLs

— politic (@shortpoliticvzl) October 17, 2020

 Photo credits: Twitter video screengrabs