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I don’t know how much Joe Biden’s campaign is paying their sign language interpreters, but my guess is that they’re not compensating them nearly enough for the Herculean effort it takes to keep up with the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee when he goes off-script and/or starts rambling.
The latest instance of a sign language interpreter giving it his all was Monday night during a virtual appearance Biden made during “an online convocation of the Poor People’s Campaign.” During one segment, Biden was saying something about “environmental justice” but the message got lost in the translation big time – not just from listening to whatever it was Biden was trying to say but also from watching the interpreter’s gestures.
Here’s my rough version of the transcript of Biden’s remarks:
“Environmental justice so we can turn the faucet on and drink water, breathe clean air. I’m sorry – I’m about to end, but [unintelligible] we have to live so, I mean, we have to just give people a chance…”
But a mere transcript does not do the moment justice. Watch the clip below, and pay particular attention to the sign language interpreter. At the end, he appears to hold his palms upwards as though he doesn’t understand what’s being said and has sort of given up:
…what? pic.twitter.com/SaoghvENY7
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) September 15, 2020
The screengrabs give an even better look at “the real MVP” of Biden’s virtual appearances:
I think we can all agree that the real MVP here is the sign language interpreter.
Its one thing to interpret English, but improv jiberish interpretation is just next level. pic.twitter.com/H9CfpRFKL0
— M͓̽a͓̽l͓̽c͓̽o͓̽l͓̽m͓̽ ͓̽F͓̽l͓̽e͓̽X (@Malcolm_fleX48) September 15, 2020
— Teal “Deboosted” FOLLOW LIMITED (@sirenidica) September 15, 2020
This isn’t the first time a sign language interpreter for Biden was caught on camera having problems making heads or tails of his prepared remarks. From June:
Watch the sign language interpreter — She clearly had one of the hardest assignments of her life… @calebjhull 👍🇺🇸😂 pic.twitter.com/0mMvk2AURl
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) June 30, 2020
From August:
Watch this again and focus on the sign language guy essentially giving up in despair trying to make sense of Biden's babbling. https://t.co/ikgfX03MMA
— Who's Gonna Be Lucky Indicted #2? – Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) August 31, 2020
Perhaps all of this is what his vice presidential running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) had in mind yesterday when she talked about the things that would happen in a “Harris administration”…
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