Joe Biden has been getting some viral mocking this week for the use of a stage set made up to look like part of the White House for various events, such as when he got a COVID booster shot for the camera and the press.

He’s also used the set for such things as delivering speeches that one might normally deliver from the Oval Office, such as here, where he’s making up nonsense about raising the debt limit.

Biden: "The United States pays its bills … Raising the debt limit is paying our old debts. This has nothing to do with new spending … It has nothing to do with my plans on infrastructure or building back better, both of which are paid for, but they’re not even in the queue" pic.twitter.com/LIAG4fxRuv

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 6, 2021

Running the country from a movie set. Is he not allowed in the White House?

You can’t make this up. pic.twitter.com/hAj0jy10S6

— Kambree (@KamVTV) October 7, 2021

Biden also used it for his virtual COVID summit with other world leaders on Sept. 22.

No, that’s not the Oval Office or the Resolute desk. It looks like a tiny cheap little desk you get from K-mart. It’s the stage, set up in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

So the question is: What’s the point of the fake set? What happened to using the normal rooms of the White House?

They appear to be using it more for events that are broadcast online or involve video conferencing.

Biden was roundly mocked for using such a thing.

From NY Post:

“Why does Joe Biden feel the need to use a Fake White House set across the street from the actual White House?” conservative commentator Benny Johnson tweeted.

Fellow commentator Jack Posobiec wrote, “Truman Show Presidency,” adding that “they gave Joe Biden a playschool desk and a fake Oval Office in a fake White House.” [….]

“Do they not allow him in the actual White House,” New Hampshire journalist Kimberly Morin tweeted.

“Why did the White House build a literal game show set complete with fake windows for Joe Biden??? So weird,” Abigail Marone, press secretary for Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), tweeted.

Former Trump official Stephen Miller thought he had the explanation for why they were suddenly making greater use of this set.

The reason Biden uses this bizarre virtual set for televised meetings—and not an actual room like East Room, Cabinet, Oval, Roosevelt, Sit Room, etc.—is because it allows him to read a script directly from a face-on monitor (& w/out teleprompter glass that can be seen on camera). https://t.co/Uc4Ly9kL7T

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) October 6, 2021

“The reason Biden uses this bizarre virtual set for televised meetings — and not an actual room like East Room, Cabinet, Oval, Roosevelt, Sit Room, etc. — is because it allows him to read a script directly from a face-on monitor (& w/out teleprompter glass that can be seen on camera),” he tweeted.

Now, we don’t know if Miller is correct. But we’ve seen Biden have repeated trouble trying to read from a teleprompter so I wouldn’t put it past folks to try to figure out some way to make it easier for him to try to read what he’s supposed to say. He obviously needs all the help he can get. We’ve already seen his staff trying to stage-manage and control to prevent him from getting questioned by reporters.

Of course, the question raises again the bigger problem of his basic competence and coherence. And while he may have such a set at his disposal, he can’t take it on the road with him, such as when he went to Illinois yesterday and once again, had a great problem with communication and confusion, including spreading the misinformation that if you were vaccinated you couldn’t spread COVID.