POLITICS
What is the ‘Dark Brandon’ meme that Joe Biden is using in his 2024 campaign web?
‘Let’s go Brandon’ has been used to express opposition towards President Biden but his campaign team have co-opted the message for his run next year.
President Biden has kicked off his reelection run. In an announcement on Tuesday afternoon Biden staked his claim to be president for a second time.
“The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer,” he said. “This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election.”
The campaign website was also revealed. At first glance it is pretty standard, but look a bit closer and all is not as it seems. Find an error on the website and you will be shown this image.
Merchandise for sale to fund the campaign also includes this image of a red-eyed Biden smiling gleefully, flanked by his lieutenants ‘20′ and ‘24′.
But what does this image mean?
The origins of ‘Dark Brandon’
The image is a use of the ‘Dark Brandon’ internet meme persona. This was created initially as the “Let’s go Brandon” slogan that gained popularity among some conservative and anti-Biden circles in 2021.
The phrase originated from a viral video clip from a NASCAR race in October 2021, where the crowd was heard chanting “F*** Joe Biden” in the background. In a post-race interview, the reporter misheard the chant and interpreted it as “Let’s go Brandon,” which became a viral meme and a code for expressing anti-Biden sentiment.
This was then fused with ‘Dark MAGA’ memes, featuring Donald Trump as an authoritarian figure shooting lasers out of his eyes. Thus, Dark Brandon was born.
“Biden’s embrace of the Dark Brandon meme shows not only an awareness of the meme and what it represents to many of his followers, but self-awareness of how the meme livens and rejuvenates his public persona,” Aja Romano, a culture reporter for Vox who’s written about the meme, told NPR.