How's this for never letting a crisis go to waste?  Or taking one festering problem and using it to solve another?  Or just a great gaslight?

Joe Biden has called for a scaled down inauguration, supposedly in the name of containing COVID.

According to Al Jazeera, which seems to be the only one doing straight reporting on this:

"I think you're going to see something that's closer to what the convention was like than a typical inauguration," Biden said earlier this month, suggesting the festivities will be mostly virtual, as was the case for the Democratic National Convention in August.

"First and foremost, in my objective, is to keep America safe but still allow people to celebrate – to celebrate and see one another celebrate," Biden added.

This week, workers dismantled the reviewing stand – the location in front of the White House where the newly sworn-in US president and vice president and their families take in the inauguration parade.

This is a load of gaslighting and hooey.

RedState's Nick Arama has a lede and summary I could not possibly improve on:

Let's just say it's hard to believe that somehow Joe Biden, who was never able to get any real numbers out for any rally, who barely squeaked by in the primary, could have not only gotten more votes than Barack Obama and Donald Trump, but the most in history. For a barely coherent uninspiring stand-in candidate.

The real reason Biden is scaling down his event is that he knows that very few people would even show up. 

It calls to mind the howling from the press over the size of President Trump's inaugural, claiming that it was small, while photos showed that actually, it was pretty big.  They used that argument to compare Trump unfavorably to President Obama, and now the shoe is on the other tootsie.  Obviously, Joe Biden knows he couldn't in a million years win in any such crowd contest, even if COVID were gone and the weather were 78 degrees.  When you are taking office by fraud, the crowds aren't there to be had.

Two things stand out from this.  One, where was Biden's condemnation of the blue-city celebrations of his electoral "victory" last Nov. 3?  Remember how Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot celebrated in the streets, claiming that containing surging COVID wasn't as important as celebrating fraudy Joe?

Yes, there are times when we actually do need to have ... relief and come together, and I felt like that was one of those times. That crowd was gathered whether I was there or not, but this has been a super hard year on everyone. Everyone feels traumatized.

Somehow, Joe didn't have much concern for COVID, either.  No calls to stay inside and celebrate on Zoom, no blasts at crowd irresponsibility.  But now that the inevitable comparisons to Trump's inaugural are sure to come out, Joe retreats behind the mask of COVID, adding a victim memorial segment as a means of blaming President Trump.

And speaking of Trump, here's the other reason he's hollering about staying home.  President Trump's supporters are planning massive "stop the steal" demonstrations, at least one on Jan.6 and another likely on Jan. 20.  Hotels are booking up, and people are making socially distanced travel plans.

The empty inaugural, accompanied by likely massive protests at the stolen election, stolen from the very people likely to be out on the streets calling for the real winner of the election, President Trump, to be inaugurated, present a significant threat to Joe Biden's prestige and legitimacy.  Because if a crowd of a very large size shows up and dwarfs the Biden inaugural, let's face it: it will be clearer than ever that something is wrong with even the existence of a Biden inaugural.  A fraudulently elected president is a new one for America; it's mainly been seen in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua.  Biden coming in and declaring himself president, while cheering crowds stay away, is a hell of a cold opening.

This is why Biden is using COVID.  COVID is the best friend a fraudulently elected president could ever have.  It cuts his need to campaign while the fix is in; it allows him to appear at tiny venues such as junior high schools, if not stay in his basement; it facilitates his walking away from reporter questions; and it enables him to claim he was legitimately elected.  We all know he's there by fraud.  That's his biggest reason for wanting no truck with any claim to crowds — either his own shriveled numbers or else President Trump's expanding ones.

Image credit: Phil Roeder via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.