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On Sept. 21, 2020, a short video clip of U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was circulated via Twitter, with claims that depicted the candidate as he completely botches the Pledge of Allegiance. In this clip, Biden can be heard saying, I pledge allegiance to the United States of America, one nation, indivisible, under God, for real: The common version of the pledge, used since the mid-1950s, is somewhat longer: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This clip was an excerpt from a speech Biden had delivered earlier in the day (Sept. 21) at a campaign event in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. During that speech, Biden criticized Trump's repeated (and false) claim that if blue (i.e., Democratic-voting and/or Democratic-run) states were not counted, the U.S. would have one of the lowest COVID-19 death rates in the world: As can be seen in a video of the full speech, when Biden uttered the words captured in the video excerpt seen above, he was not attempting to recite the full Pledge of Allegiance. Rather, he was referencing that pledge in a shorthand way to make the point that the president of the United States is supposed to owe an allegiance to serve all the states -- not just red states or blue states: Given that Biden was clearly alluding to the Pledge of Allegiance to highlight a political issue, not offering a recitation of the pledge, it cannot be fairly said that he completely botched his delivery.
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