Did Joe Biden Really Confuse Donald Trump With Abraham Lincoln?

It sure looks like sarcasm.

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A viral social media post claims that Joe Biden confused President Trump with Abraham Lincoln during the final presidential debate last Thursday.

The caption of the post reads as follows:

Biden Confuses Trump With Abraham Lincoln, Promptly Gets DESTROYED By Trump

TRUMP: “I am the least racist person in the room.”

BIDEN: “Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist Presidents we’ve had in modern history.”

This post is missing context. It’s true that Biden referred to Trump as “Abraham Lincoln,” but he seemingly did so facetiously.

Earlier in the evening, during a segment on race in America, Trump referenced Abraham Lincoln and said the following:

“Nobody has done more for the black community than Donald Trump. And if you look, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, possible exception, but the exception of Abraham Lincoln, nobody has done what I’ve done.”

Later in the discussion, Trump described himself as “the least racist person in this room.” Biden’s retort harkened back to Trump’s earlier reference to Lincoln:

“Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history, he pours fuel on every single racist fire, every single one,” said Biden. “He started off his campaign coming down the escalator saying he’s getting rid of those Mexican rapists, he’s banned Muslims because they’re Muslims, he has moved around and made everything worse across the board.”

In response to Biden’s apparently facetious characterization, Trump said: “No, he made a reference to Abraham Lincoln, where did that come in?” to which Biden said: “You said you’re Abraham Lincoln.”

Trump, taking Biden literally (if not seriously), countered: “No, I said, not since Abraham Lincoln has anybody done what I’ve done for the black community.”

Clearly sensing some miscommunication, Biden laughs while Trump continues to explain he is not claiming to be the 16th president.

While sarcasm is always somewhat subjective, Biden is pretty clearly referencing Donald Trump’s often-repeated claim that he is competing with Abraham Lincoln for the status of the president who has done the most for black people. We invite readers to watch the video, marshal their common sense, and draw their own conclusions.

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 U.S. Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here for more.

Photographs by Brendan Smialowski, Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.

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Comments (9)
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  1. Joe1776

    I think this is why fact checks are not really fact checks. The facts are on the tape. Why you think he said what he did is your own opinion.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhqqBaRH0Tw

    When Biden said that during the debate I had the same reaction as Trump. I asked my family did he just call him Abraham Lincoln???

    That is not to say he wasn't trying to be sarcastic. I am just saying any fact check could easily just show the tape and let people decide for themselves, instead of having a fact checker give their opinion. Same goes with whether Biden confused Trump with George Bush.

    The daily wire offers the actual video of the comment there and the WaPo "fact check" gave it 4 Pinocchios to claim he mixed up Trump with Bush.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-this-is-the-most-consequential-election-due-to-possibility-of-four-more-years-of-george

    What a joke.

    Biden gets people and other things mixed up all the time. Kamala's husband becomes her wife, He gets mixed up on his own wife, he says he is running the largest voter fraud operation in history. etc etc.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA8a2g6tTp0

    I mean I don't see these errors as big deal I don't think many people do. But "fact checking" this to try to cover for Biden does show the bias of the press.

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    Jonathan McAnulty

    Trump seems to have revealed that amongst his followers (and perhaps in others) there is a mode of thinking which wants to attibute incompetence to the sarcastic remarks of our opponents, while attributing sarcasm to the incompetent remarks of our allies. Thus Trump was being "sarcastic" about injecting disinfectants into the system but Biden actually mistook Trump for the 16th president.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Jonathan McAnulty

      A Trumpian sense of sarcasm seems to be of a quality on par with Alanis Morrissette's sense of irony.

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    Ed P

    That this required explanation is troubling

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    1. Scott Mc

      but in fairness Khaya did a nice job.

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  4. Eric B

    The image would have been better if they had little moustaches, thick eyebrows and top hats.

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    George.Skinner

    The fact that Trump is so thin-skinned that he wants others to go this length to hit back after a joke at his expense is pretty funny, but not necessarily in a humorous way.

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  6. PM

    What I don't understand is why people across the spectrum aren't rolling on the floor with laughter.

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      JDW

      The nut telling the jokes is funny until you realize he is the one driving the car and the car is all over the road swerving back and forth. Kinda quells the laughter. But yeah this was funny.

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