President Joe Biden, like all of former President Donald Trump‘s opponents, has been given a few nicknames by the GOP standard bearer. One of Trump’s favorites, “Crooked Joe”, hasn’t gotten much traction outside Trump’s MAGAverse, though that ecosystem includes powerful lawmakers like Representatives James Comer (R-KY) and Jim Jordan (R-OH), who have for more than a year sought evidence to back that moniker.
But the nickname “Sleepy Joe” and its variations, indicating that Biden isn’t as alert as required, gained a big boost in traction after Biden’s by-all-accounts terrible debate performance last week, a performance that has reportedly caused panic among some Democrats and their donors — and triggered rumors that Biden could be replaced at the top of the ticket.
Democrats who resist this change and who assert that Biden’s “bad night” was just that — a lackluster performance that was not disqualifying — are trying out a new series of nicknames for the President in an attempt to align his reputation with his accomplishments.
If Biden was more than a little sleepy during the debate, he can also claim — his backers assert — that the first 3.5 years of his presidency have produced record jobs numbers for Americans. The metric has Democrats like Eric Swalwell (D-CA) trotting out a series of alliterative nicknames to try to change up the predominant post-debate Biden narrative.
“Joey Jobs,” Swalwell offers. Biden, Swalwell says, “is a jobs president. No one made the unemployment lines longer than Donald Trump. And this is Joe Jobs, Joey Jobs, Joe Freaking Jobs. The guy created 16 million jobs.”
Swalwell stamps the end of his segment by repeating: “Joe Jobs. That’s what Joe Biden means to me and that’s what he means to most Americans.”
#JoeJobs pic.twitter.com/29kkGptFX7
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) June 28, 2024
Swalwell said the debate showed a “good man” — Biden — “who wasn’t at his best” versus a “bad man” — Trump — “who, like always, is just the worst.” Trying to minimize the 90 minute debate and place that failure in a larger context of what he characterizes as years of success, Swalwell says that post-debate Democrats have to “animate and tell the story of who Joe Biden is — he’s a jobs president.”