Joe Biden jokes about fixing Super Bowl outcome amid Taylor Swift conspiracy theories

‘Being less traditional’

Mr Biden also joined Tiktok on Sunday and released a clip shortly before the game in which he is asked if he was “deviously plotting to rig the season so the Chiefs would make the Super Bowl”.

“I’d get in trouble if I told you,” Mr Biden answers, before the image of “Dark Brandon” appears on the screen.

The “Dark Brandon” meme of Mr Biden pokes fun at Right-wing conspiracy theories by portraying him as a puppet-master with supernatural powers and skewers the “Brandon” nickname used to insult him.

Mr Biden’s decision to join TikTok is controversial given that the app, which is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, is under review in the US for potential national security concerns.

Last year, the Biden administration ordered government agencies to remove TikTok from federal government-owned phones and devices.

Despite the flurry of activity on social media, Mr Biden did not participate in the traditional pre-game presidential interview, with sources last week saying he was “relying less on formulas of the past” and would sit it out.

A campaign adviser said the interview was no longer the light-hearted media opportunity it had been 20 years ago, and that they were focusing more on social media and podcasts.

“We are being less traditional because less people get their news from traditional mediums than ever before,” they told CNN.

Instead, Mr Biden released a pre-recorded video in which he complains about the shrinking size of the snacks he enjoys eating during the game.

“I’ve had enough of what they call shrinkflation. It’s a rip off,” he said in the footage. “Some companies are trying to pull a fast one by shrinking the products little by little and hoping we won’t notice.”

Biden’s ‘cognitive abilities’ questioned

Avoiding the Super Bowl interview drew criticism from Democrats, who suggested Mr Biden’s team lacked confidence in him following a number of questions raised about his age and mental acuity.

James Carville, Bill Clinton’s lead strategist for the 1992 presidential election, said the decision showed Mr Biden’s staff were nervous about his performance.

“It’s the biggest television audience, not even close, and you get a chance to do a 20, 25-minute interview on that day, and you don’t do it,” he told US media.

“That’s a kind of sign that the staff or yourself doesn’t have much confidence in you. There’s no other way to read this.”

An unnamed Democratic strategist told the Daily Mail: “He’s probably trying to avoid tough questions on Gaza and the border, but I think he’s making a mistake.”

It comes after a report from the justice department, into Mr Biden’s handling of state secrets, found he failed to remember the years when he was vice president or when his son died of brain cancer.

Special counsel Robert Hur did not recommend charges against the 81-year-old because a jury would likely take pity on him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.

Veteran pollster Frank Luntz said after the report’s publication that a media blitz, including the Super Bowl interview, would be “the only way for President Biden to assuage concerns about his cognitive abilities”.