Keen observers noted some time ago that President Joe Biden, rather than make use of the Oval Office in the White House to hold events or deliver remarks, has instead made use of a nearby set designed to resemble the interior of the presidential residence.

A recent report seemingly revealed the primary reason for that development — teleprompters, or more accurately, the lack of teleprompters in the actual Oval Office, The Conservative Brief reported.

Given Biden’s proclivity for uttering gaffes and misstatements while speaking off-the-cuff, attempts to keep him on script via the use of teleprompters would likely be a top goal for the president’s communications team.

Fake set with teleprompters preferred over real Oval Office

The revelation about teleprompters and the Oval Office was mentioned near the end of a recent Politico article detailing the prospects of a potential electoral rematch in 2024 between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Much of that article was focused on how both men allegedly want to face off against each other again, though neither wants to make the first move, and it also contained some of the concerns advisors and supporters on each side had about a future campaign for their respective candidate.

Concerning Biden, the primary concern was that he “may not be able to handle the rigors of another campaign” and may be compelled to repeat the tactics that seemingly worked for him in 2020, when he largely campaigned via scripted and managed appearances from a studio in his house in Delaware.

“A bone he broke in his foot while playing with his dog in late November 2020 still occasionally bothers Biden, resulting in a slower and shorter gait,” Politico noted. “And the White House has largely abandoned using the Oval Office for press events in part because it can’t be permanently equipped with a teleprompter.”

“Biden aides prefer the fake White House stage built in the Old Executive Office Building next door for events, sacrificing some of the power of the historic backdrop in favor of an otherwise sterile room that was outfitted with an easily read teleprompter screen,” the outlet added.

This explains a lot

The New York Post reported on the revelation about teleprompters and the Oval Office and pointed out that Biden’s team has been on the receiving end of plenty of online mockery for its use of a fake set designed to resemble the interior of the White House rather than the actual White House itself.

It further noted that Biden, even with the aid of teleprompters, still often struggled to remain on script and has, on multiple occasions, mixed up or mispronounced the words provided on the screens in front of him.

Fox News also reported on Politico’s revelation and how it seemed to align with how Biden’s White House team has been “very guarded” in terms of media “accessibility” to the president.

Indeed, Biden has done very few sit-down interviews with major media outlets — well behind the pace set by his recent predecessors — but, given the apparent need to keep Biden on script with a teleprompter to limit gaffes and misstatements, which can’t be done in a free-ranging interview, the reliance on a fake set with teleprompters makes a little more sense now.