It’s not the first time Jen Psaki has had to make a “minor incursion” on reality in the past 24 hours by completely contradicting her boss while pretending he said the opposite of what he actually said. This one’s the more laughable of the two, only because Joe Biden’s dip into “Big Lie” territory won’t get anyone killed, unlike his green light to Vladimir Putin on Ukraine.

Here’s Psaki this morning trying to spin Biden so hard that he’s facing the opposite direction:

He was explaining that the results would be illegitimate if states do what the former president asked them to do after the 2020 election: toss out ballots and overturn results after the fact. The Big Lie is putting our democracy at risk. We’re fighting to protect it.

— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) January 20, 2022

Let’s be clear as to what Biden actually said. The legitimacy of the next elections would be “in direct proportion” to whether the Senate passed the election-federalizing bill that failed a few hours later:

Joe Biden is asked by @PhilipWegmann is the 2022 election results could be illegitimate:

"I think it could easily be illegitimate" pic.twitter.com/xSlJWLNdCB

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 19, 2022

Q Thank you, sir. I just wanted to clarify: A moment ago, you were asked whether or not you believed that we would have free and fair elections in 2022 if some of these state legislatures reformed their voting protocols. You said that it depends. Do you — do you think that they would in any way be illegitimate?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, yeah, I think it easily could be — be illegitimate.

Imagine — imagine if, in fact, Trump has succeeded in convincing Pence to not count the votes.

Q Well, I —

THE PRESIDENT: Imagine if —

Go on.

Q In regard to 2022, sir — the midterm elections.

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, 2022. I mean, imagine if those attempts to say that the count was not legit. “You have to recount it and we’re not going to count — we’re going to discard the following votes.”

I mean, sure, but — I’m not going to say it’s going to be legit. It’s — the increase and the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these — these reforms passed.

This isn’t fighting the so-called “Big Lie.” Biden went all in on undermining the legitimacy not of an already conducted election but one that hasn’t even taken place yet. Psaki wants to distract everyone with a “who you gonna believe, us or your lyin’ ears” spin attempt, but the White House’s own transcript and the video make Biden’s attack on the midterms plain as day. He only sees the next elections as legitimate if the Senate passes his bill, and since that’s a non-starter, the explicit formulation Biden gave yesterday means he will see the results as illegitimate.

Either this White House is crewed by idiots or they think the rest of the country is populated by morons. I know which way I’m betting, and in a way one can see which way the White House is betting too — which is why Biden’s trying to undermine the results of an election that won’t be held for another nine-plus months.

By the way, guess who’s not buying Psaki’s other walkback on “minor incursions”?

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has a message for Biden https://t.co/W3CvLv8DH9

— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) January 20, 2022