It was a birthday cake inferno, firestorm, conflagration — and the worst case of campaign malpractice in memory. Link: 'Joe Biden's birthday conflagration.' https://t.co/IRJyQAFgjO pic.twitter.com/5jLXDFAzoD

— Byron York (@ByronYork) November 21, 2023

On Monday evening, President Joe Biden’s X account posted a photo of the president sitting before a birthday cake with what appeared to be a million candles on it. Well, not a million candles, but 81, in honor of Biden’s 81st birthday. Having so many flaming candles gave the impression of one large fire atop the cake, with flames licking toward the ceiling. As birthday cakes go, it was an inferno, a firestorm, a conflagration. The fire appeared big enough to set off smoke detectors and send Secret Service agents scrambling to ensure the president’s safety. It was, in all, an amazing picture.

[Speaking as an amateur photographer, it’s even more inexplicable. There may have been no good way to make a cake with 81 candles on it into a *good* optic for a presidential candidate, but one step would have been to use a faster shutter speed, a wider aperture, and a flash fill. That would have at least made the candle flames much more well defined and less reminiscent of a wildfire while lighting Biden without the fireglow on his face. Whoever took this photograph should be fired along with the people involved in making it public. — Ed]