Manufacturing the appearance of enthusiasm for the Biden-Harris campaign is a tough job. When your ticket is a man in the early stages of dementia and a woman who couldn’t make it to the first primary despite having every built-in advantage, getting people excited to come out and see you is a bit like hyping up a trip to the dentist. I mean, yeah, you’ve got some freaks who enjoy having their teeth prodded, but it’s not many.

Enter this “parade” that Jill Biden’s press secretary was promoting yesterday. Watch the video closely.

🚨Campaigning in 2020. Yard sign car parades with @DrBiden and @DouglasEmhoff. Beep Beep! 🚘 pic.twitter.com/kDu9nrzwyO

— Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosaDC) September 16, 2020

If you watched the video, you probably just witnessed the most pathetic parade in political history. It totaled an entire three cars. The press quickly ran into the road after the last car passed so as to confirm there were no more coming.

The roasting began in short order.

I can’t wait to see you guys attempt to do a Biden boat parade. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/aMYbWh3Bpy

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) September 17, 2020

Three cars. The “parade” was three cars. https://t.co/jMTFGo5AUW

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) September 16, 2020

Waving to the crowd. pic.twitter.com/KWOZvQs5bb

— Ole the Red (@mjolnir59) September 17, 2020

Comedic value aside, I didn’t write on this just to make fun of there only being three cars, though that’s a worthy cause all by itself. I actually think this stuff matters.

The Biden campaign is running on auto-pilot right now and they haven’t even loaded an approach yet. What I mean by that is that they are just cruising. They aren’t knocking on doors, they aren’t holding rallies, and they aren’t preparing to get out the vote. Sure, they are doing mailers and plastering the airwaves with ads, but those things have been shown to be less and less effective over the last several election cycles. If TV ads mattered all that much, Donald Trump wouldn’t be President, as Hillary Clinton swamped him in that arena in 2016.

What we are going to find out in six weeks is whether enthusiasm matters at all, and I believe it does. Let’s recall that Trump was down 6.5 points in the RCP average in Wisconsin going into election day in 2016. He ended up winning the state. Similar results played out in Michigan and Pennsylvania that year, though the averages got closer in the last week in some cases. What explains those kinds of shifts except the obvious enthusiasm gap Trump held the advantage in? It’s clear Trump holds that advantage again.

The media and other “experts” will insist that rallies don’t matter or that boat parades are stupid. But I think that’s nonsense. I do not think you can take voters for granted and just expect them to show up out of pure hatred, especially when the notoriously fickle young vote is being counted on. Biden excites no one and Harris is basically Hillary Clinton, cackle and all.

That Biden can’t draw more than three cars to his staged “parade” is not a good sign for him.

(Please follow me on Twitter! @bonchieredstate)