As Biden ignores death in Gaza, the ‘Dark Brandon’ meme is unfunny and too real

In The Guardian, I write about Joe Biden’s tone-deaf use of social media. Until the president stops Israel’s violence, an evil-looking Biden looks less like a clever joke and more like a statement of fact

Not long after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers for this year’s Super Bowl title, President Biden sent out a bizarre post on his X account. In the post is a picture of Biden in a blue suit with his arms crossed and an affable smile on his face. But the picture is odd because you can’t see the president’s eyes. They’ve been replaced by what look like red laser beams. Joe Biden (or someone on his media team, presumably) also attached a description to the picture, one that simply read “Dark Brandon”, and above the picture is the caption “Just like we drew it up.”

If you don’t get the reference, the picture looks creepy. If you do get the reference, the picture looks, well, even creepier, especially considering what was happening in Gaza at the moment this post was sent out into the world.

There’s a fair bit going on here, but to begin with, the president is trying to be funny. He’s attempting to troll the right wing of the Republican party (otherwise known as the Republican party). He’s drawing attention to loony rightwing conspiracy theories so he can mock them, by appropriating a meme of himself, known among the memerati (ie those who know memes) as “Dark Brandon”.

Dark Brandon begins with “Let’s go, Brandon,” a phrase that owes its origin to the NBC sports reporter Kelli Stavast. In 2021, Stavast was covering a race at the Talladega Superspeedway racetrack in Alabama. While she was interviewing Brandon Brown, the winner of the race, a crowd began yelling “Fuck Joe Biden!”, which Stavast relayed as “Let’s go, Brandon!” while on air. And lo, a meme was born…

Read the rest here.