On October 17 2020, photographs of a billboard with the claim that Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden suffered from “dimensia” began appearing on Twitter:
The first image above was described as “outside Pittsburgh,” and the second as in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Across a photograph of Kamala Harris on the left (labeled “Phony Kamala”) and Biden on the right (labeled “Sleepy Joe”), text read:
BIDEN’S DIMENSIA IS WORSENING. HE IS NOT FIT.
It appeared the photographs depicted different billboards; they were shaped and oriented differently to adjacent billboards. However, in both cases, “dementia” was indeed misspelled as “dimensia.”
Variations on the photograph of the billboard in the second image also appeared on Facebook, clearly taken from a slightly different angle and likely by a different person. Likewise, at least two others shared images of the billboard at the top, occasionally from novel vantage points.
On October 19 2020, PGHCityPaper.com reported on sightings of the billboards, as well as the “dimensia” spelling error:
There are several attacks on presidential candidate Joe Biden that can stick, but one of the weakest and most perplexing swipes at Biden is claiming he is losing mental capacity and that he has dementia. None of the attacks are true, and Biden easily dispels them just by talking in complete sentences for more than one minute, something he did with ease during his last televised town hall.
But that hasn’t stopped these tired attacks. The Trump campaign and its allies are still trying to make this claim, and a billboard near Uniontown in Fayette County is entering the fray.
Problem is, the billboard — in an attempt to insult Biden’s mental acuity — misspelled the word dementia as “dimensia.”
[…]
The billboard is owned by Penneco Outdoor Advertising, which is based in Delmont, Pa. in Westmoreland County. The company has a 1-star rating on Google Reviews. One review left yesterday reads, “They can’t master basic spelling.”
At least two Biden attack billboards containing the “dimensia” misspelling were spotted in Pennsylvania, and outside Pittsburgh. It isn’t uncommon for typographical errors to be falsely ascribed to a political group seen by an opposing group as inept, but that was not the case with the viral Biden “dimensia” billboards; this misspelling is completely, and apparently unironically, real.
- This is real. NOT Photoshop. A actual billboard outside of Pittsburgh. It claims that Joe Biden has,... "dimensia".
- This is an actual billboard in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. “DIMENSIA” Trumpers make the United States look like the stupidest country on the entire planet.
- BIDEN'S DIMENSIA IS WORSENING. HE IS NOT FIT.
- BIDEN'S DIMENSIA IS WORSENING. HE IS NOT FIT.
- Fayette County, Pa. billboard attacking Biden misspells “dimensia”