A Grok summary, at X:

During a recent event at the White House, Jill Biden mentioned the need for ‘joy’ during the holiday season, a comment which some interpreted as a subtle mockery of Kamala Harris’s previous campaign slogan ‘sense of joy.’ Jill Biden later clarified that her remarks were not meant to be taken as an insult, emphasizing that the audience was reading too much into her statement. The incident has sparked discussions about the dynamics within the Biden administration. This story is a summary of posts on X and may evolve over time. Grok can make mistakes, verify its outputs.

Here’s the relevant video clip.

“Joy” is a Christmas word: “Joy to the World/The Lord is come”/“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” It’s a word that might be selected by someone who wants to avoid limiting her message to Christians. It seems more general, even as Christians hear it as specific to the Christian religion.

Jill also says “peace” and “light”: “I hope that you all feel that sense of, you know, peace and light.” 

“Peace” and “light” are also words that, for Christians, call to mind Jesus Christ. Jesus is “the light of the world” — “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Jesus is the “Prince of Peace” — “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

But Jill’s audience, hearing “joy,” thinks not of Jesus Christ but of a worldly power-seeker who used “joy” as a political brand that worked for a couple weeks and then was recognized as idiotic emptiness. Now, it’s a laugh line.

Jill hears the laughing and flaps her arms about. Instead of holding steady and conveying the beauty and seriousness of the hope for peace and light and joy at Christmas, she emits a scoffing laugh and acknowledges that she too can hear what they hear, a reference to Kamala Harris.