Joe Biden is the luckiest candidate that has ever run for president. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, good old Joe can go downstairs to his basement studio and do a video or hold a virtual campaign event whenever he is told to do so by his staff. He doesn’t have to break a sweat and yet so far he is doing well in the polls. He pretty much beats Trump in the places where Trump needs to win.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think the polling will hold for Biden. After the 2016 election, it is hard to put much faith in any polling. But, just for the sake of an argument, we’ll go with the numbers as they stand now. I think Biden is at his high water mark in the polls so he should enjoy it while he can. As a matter of fact, I hope his campaign staff and the candidate himself bask in the numbers and take his victory in November for granted, a done deal. How did that kind of self-entitled arrogance work for Hillary Clinton?

As Allah Pundit wrote about yesterday, Biden ventured out of the basement and traveled to Pennsylvania for campaign events on Thursday. During one event, Biden was seated outdoors with members of three families who have been touched by the coronavirus. He was doing what he always does – he was telling the few people there about his plans for health care and slammed President Trump for his response to the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. However, as he was railing against Trump, he made a gaffe that cannot be ignored. He wildly exxagerated the number of deaths from COVID-19.

“People don’t have a job, people don’t know where to go, they don’t know what to do,” Biden said Thursday. “Now we have over 120 million dead from COVID.” Wow! That is quite a pandemic, right? What he meant to say, I hope, is that the death toll as of Thursday was 122,000 according to Johns Hopkins.

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH JOE BIDEN?

Joe Biden just said, "Now we have OVER 120 MILLION dead from COVID." pic.twitter.com/QBQTDyzzZt

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 25, 2020

This is why Joe is a lucky presidential candidate. This is why his staff (and Dr. Jill) keep Joe Biden in the basement studio. Why should he do events, even these really small gatherings, if he can just work out of his basement and whoever handles his media engagement can edit videos? Also, Joe doesn’t have to take questions from pesky reporters in his basement. Oh, wait. He doesn’t take questions during events, either. In Lancaster, Team Biden refused to give local media reporters access to the event. Biden blew off questions from reporters who shouted from a distance.

Have no fear, Biden began to catch himself as he delivered the shocking number of deaths, and then the pool video cut off after he made the remark. How convenient, amirite? The way the press has kowtowed to Biden so far in the campaign, they may as well be paid staffers. Team Trump was quick to respond.

Joe Biden is very confused.

He just falsely claimed 120 million Americans (more than one-third of the country) died from the coronavirus.

This is after he previously claimed 150 million Americans died from guns.

He's not playing with a full deck, folks. #BarelyThereBiden pic.twitter.com/GwKgdiFjdb

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) June 25, 2020

Joe Biden is a gaffe machine. We can always count on him to say something or do something that makes us cringe or shake our head. As he has gotten older, his gaffe-making has accelerated, as you would expect from an elderly man. At the age of 77, he doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in his ability to do the job of running the leading country in the free world. There is no energy in the man. He especially seems to have trouble when talking about big numbers. Remember back in February when he was talking about his plan for some good old gun-grabbing and wildly exaggerated the number of Americans killed by gun violence? That one was a whopper, too.

FLASHBACK: Back in February, no one batted an eye or bothered to correct Joe Biden when he said 150 MILLION Americans have been killed by by gun violence. (a completely absurd number). pic.twitter.com/k6M8EfYHeF

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 25, 2020

Fortunately for President Trump, the Trump campaign’s rapid response team is good. They are quick to put up these gaffes on social media and push back.

President Trump, in contrast to Joe Biden on Thursday, went to Wisconsin and toured Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard in Marinette. He was well-received, including lines of supporters on the streets cheering his arrival. He delivered remarks to workers at the shipyard and then Trump taped a one-hour town hall on the election and police reform with Fox News host Sean Hannity at Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport.

Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard recently won a contract to build up to 10 Navy frigates. Trump was playing up his administration’s work in bringing jobs back to America, rightly so, and this is the very type of event Trump should be doing from now until election day in November, as often as possible. I know the big rallies are exciting to the base and Trump feeds off the enthusiastic crowds but this campaign is different, thanks to the pandemic. Trump gets press and television coverage, at least from FNC, when he does these daytime events at factories and the like so why not take advantage of it? It drives Team Biden nuts, too, so that is a plus.

Biden and other Democrats criticized Trump for using his Marinette trip to take credit for a contract that was years in the making.

In a statement to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the presumptive Democratic nominee accused the president of taking credit for investment in Marinette’s shipbuilding that was initiated by President Barack Obama’s administration.

“Today, Donald Trump is in Marinette to take credit for Obama-Biden Administration-fueled successes in an attempt to paper over the fact that Wisconsin has been bleeding blue-collar manufacturing jobs over the past few weeks,” Biden said. “Instead of offering real relief to working families, he’s trying to claim credit for progress in Marinette he did not build.”

A Democrat state senator said, wait a minute, “the contract came together with the help of Republicans and Democrats in state and federal government.” State Senator Dave Hansen said, “Let’s give everybody credit … it’s about all of us working together to make this happen because this is essential to Marinette for their economic well-being.” Take a seat, Joe.

The locals in Marinette loved the president’s visit. Wisconsin is a must-win state for Trump. The campaign will be smart to continue to focus on these kinds of events because Trump does well one-on-one with people. Let Sleepy Joe do his thing in his basement, with the occasional trip outside to speak with a few people that have been selected by his campaign staff. We’ll see how the polls are looking after Labor Day when regular people start really paying attention to the campaigns. The power of the bully pulpit is hard to beat for a low-energy kind of guy like Joe Biden.