Cosmetic surgery artifact. I mean it could have been a different guy altogether, but on the campaign trail he looked like a quick and not too artistic laser smoothing, maybe a minifacelift. He had a lot of blotchiness for a couple of weeks. Both will lead to the skin puffing or being pulled up against the ear, looking like a change in the earlobe, but it's the skin around that changed. Look at the forehead wrinkles since these pictures are so nicely matched for posture and expression. They match like finger prints. And if it isn't Biden, so what. We still have to deal with the illusion of Biden.