
After a riotous debate that included hecklers, some serious finger-pointing, and legitimate policy explanations, Joe Biden was handling the pointed criticism of his record fairly well. Until...his closing remarks. Every other candidate had made a point of dropping their websites so people could donate and guarantee them a spot in the next, far more stringent debate. But Joe wrapped his time with the following phrase: “If you agree with me go to Joe 30330 and help me in this fight."
Um, what?
At first, Twitter reacted confusedly.
Biden: Go to Joe 30330!Aide: Good news, sir. Nobody is going to remember that you said 8 more years of Donald Trump!August 1, 2019
Grandmas across the nation are about to post "Joe 30330" as their Facebook status.August 1, 2019
But it turns out what he meant was to text “Joe” (or, as his website suggests, “join”) to 30330. If you do that, you’ll get the following text and end up on his reach-out list.
Okay fine. But his team was a little too late because if you visited Joe30330.com (at least on mobile), you were briefly redirected to... Pete Buttigieg’s official campaign site. Someone on Mayor Pete’s team is on it. And if you visit Joe3030.com—what people might have thought Biden was saying—well, you'll find yourself on peteforamerica.com.
“Go to Joe30330” lmao #DemocraticDebate2020 pic.twitter.com/eLlXdcZRG3August 1, 2019
Say what you will about Biden’s performance, but Pete wasn’t even onstage at the time and might have won?
Joe Biden telling a nationwide debate audience to "go to joe30330" is a digital strategist's nightmareluckily, he doesn't have any working on his campaign. pic.twitter.com/ebhikdnYZPAugust 1, 2019
But then! Someone named Josh Fayer has Joe30330.com now redirecting to JoshforAmerica.com, in which our boy Josh proclaims he is the "first Gen Z'er to declare candidacy for this office." (Um, I don't think Gen Z'ers currently fit the 35 years or older rule for presidential candidates, but seems like this might be a hoax?)
So one flub led to a field day with people more technologically savvy than Joe Biden. And it appears a lot of people are scrambling to have fun with it:
https://t.co/jtLkCSFE8i redirects to biden's site https://t.co/JHoOHuzVpi redirects to mayor pete's sitehttps://t.co/YHbH79Sykp redirects to ... some guy named joshhttps://t.co/GKSxCBzqia goes to ... a real estate co. https://t.co/y8OkKqhgyP is unclaimed, go get 'em tigers pic.twitter.com/2WkGIVc0nTAugust 1, 2019
Whoops.
me trying to go to JOE 30330 pic.twitter.com/Xa8Bf1KWM9August 1, 2019
https://t.co/UTnWpYhVemAugust 1, 2019
the race to buy joe30330 pic.twitter.com/Zi0VIZy7hPAugust 1, 2019
For more stories like this, including celebrity news, beauty and fashion advice, savvy political commentary, and fascinating features, sign up for the Marie Claire newsletter.
Cady Drell is a writer, editor, researcher and pet enthusiast from Brooklyn.
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