What Did Joe Biden Mean By “Joe 30330?”

Biden directed viewers to visit Joe 30330 ...which is not his website.

US-VOTE-2020-DEMOCRATS-DEBATE
(Image credit: JIM WATSON)

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.

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.

Text, Font, Line, Screenshot,

(Image credit: Marie Claire)

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.

Say what you will about Biden’s performance, but Pete wasn’t even onstage at the time and might have won?

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:

Whoops.

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Cady has been a writer and editor in Brooklyn for about 10 years. While her earlier career focused primarily on culture and music, her stories—both those she edited and those she wrote—over the last few years have tended to focus on environmentalism, reproductive rights, and feminist issues. She primarily contributes as a freelancer journalist on these subjects while pursuing her degrees. She held staff positions working in both print and online media, at Rolling Stone and Newsweek, and continued this work as a senior editor, first at Glamour until 2018, and then at Marie Claire magazine. She received her Master's in Environmental Conservation Education at New York University in 2021, and is now working toward her JF and Environmental Law Certificate at Elisabeth Haub School of Law in White Plains.