Over the past few weeks, Democrats have attempted to co-opt one of the most searing catchphrases that Republicans have pinned on Biden, turning the “Let’s go, Brandon” meme around and reclaiming it as their own version of Biden fan fiction.
The new liberal-driven meme is meant to depict Biden as having superpowers, able to smite an al-Qaeda leader and pass legislation through Congress with ease.
Rather than an ineffective president inspiring Republican vitriol and earning historically low approval ratings, he is a superhero familiar with the dark arts and able to change the course of history.
The tone reflects the shift in outlook at the White House, from a struggle to accomplish items on Biden’s agenda to a mood of more swaggering confidence. The imagery, which has roots among anti-Biden users on social media, has quickly gone from some of the far corners of the internet into more mainstream use by administration officials, liberal commentators and U.S. senators.
“Dark Brandon is crushing it,” tweeted deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates, with an image of Biden with pupil-less red eyes and text that reads, “Your malarkey has been going on for long enough, kiddo.”
Rob Flaherty, the White House’s director of digital strategy, also tweeted an image of Biden smiling with red eyes, his hair haloed against a dark background. He did it on his official White House account, he wrote, to ensure that it goes into the historical archives.
Some have added Biden-isms to the memes (“Dark Brandon said ‘here’s the deal’ and then there was a deal,” wrote Megan Apper, a senior adviser in the Bureau of Global Public Affairs at the State Department). Others in the White House have openly ruminated about changing their Twitter biographies to state that they work for “Dark Brandon” rather than the 46th president of the United States.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) posted an image of Dark Brandon after the Senate approved the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes a number of key Biden priorities.
Imagery around Biden has taken different forms in recent years. During his time as vice president, the satirical Onion portrayed him as a sort of goofy uncle who washed his car shirtless in the White House driveway, while “Saturday Night Live” imitations played up his toothy smile.
To his supporters, he has often been a cool yet folksy guy wearing aviator sunglasses and driving a Corvette. To his critics, he is the bumbling, gaffe-prone elderly president who recently fell off his bike.
Early in his presidency, the “Let’s go, Brandon” tag tapped into the invective that many Republicans were aiming at Biden.
The phrase originated with a vulgar chant that broke out in October 2021 at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway. The crowd was screaming “F— Joe Biden!,” but an NBC Sports reporter — interviewing NASCAR driver Brandon Brown on air — quipped, “You can hear the chants from the crowd, ‘Let’s go, Brandon!’”
Supporters of Donald Trump claimed that the media was censoring anti-Biden content, the exchange went viral, and a shorthand for vulgarity directed at the president was born.
Yard signs with the phrase were put up. Trump supporters lined streets along Biden’s motorcade holding signs or chanting it. Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) wrapped up a speech on the House floor by saying, “Let’s go,…
Read More: Brandon Returns, Darkly: Democrats turn an insult into a pro-Biden meme
