‘Dark Brandon’ returns with Biden’s latest State of the Union
In a notable moment during Joe Biden’s State of the Union, the president shamed congressional Republicans over a plan to cut Social Security and Medicare — and publicly on live television got GOP lawmakers to agree to get them.
That moment and several others in his Feb. 7 speech revived “Dark Brandon,” a meme that challenges right-wing caricatures of a tired 80-year-old man by turning him into a Laser-eyed demigod-Like figure or depicting him smoke a cigar Or wear it as an eye patch Solid metal gear Character.
The meme transforms the once-marginal fascist “dark MAGA” aesthetic into a semi-ironic homage to Mr. Biden The Independent previously reported on the meme phenomenon.
White House officials started to use “Dark Brandon” memes last summer, and the images exploded on social media when the FBI raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.
The meme became popular with its supporters on social media and a dedicated Reddit page after the administration claimed a string of victories, including passing a major climate, tax reform and… health bill by the Senate, news of a slowdown in inflation and falling gas prices, the US assassination of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and more recently the launch of a Chinese surveillance balloon.
“Brandon” himself turns the right-hand abbreviation for “F*** Joe Biden” into a reappropriated nickname.
His comments Tuesday night aimed squarely at Republican officials before him as he condemned a plan by Republican Sen. Rick Scott that would force Congress to reauthorize existing programs like Social Security and Medicare every five years.
“Some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to go under,” Biden said.
Republicans protested loudly, at which Mr. Biden fired back and deviated from the script: “Anyone who doubts this, contact my office. I’ll give you a copy.”
After a brief and loud back-and-forth, the President ended the exchange: “Well folks, we all seem to agree on this, Social Security, Medicare, is off the books now, right? In order. We have unanimity.”
In another moment, he told Republicans who didn’t support his infrastructure agenda, “see you at the groundbreaking.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it in a State of the Union address – they ran towards him like a pack of lemmings and he politely directed them to the cliff with a wink and a grin,” writes Rex Huppke United States todaywho welcomes the arrival of “Dark Brandon” who is “wiping the floor with lost Republicans”.
The “dark MAGA” aesthetic, meanwhile, gained little traction with mainstream figures after brewing in far-right online spaces. The aesthetic encompasses a dystopian, authoritarian, and Terminator-esque image of far-right figures engaged in one last stand against their political enemies.
Orange to Red: An Assessment of the Dark MAGA Trend in Far-Right Online Spacespublished by the Global Network on Extremism & Technology, chronicles the evolution of the dark MAGA from within the alt-right, emerging from GamerGate to the vengeful, emboldened and extreme online movement washing fascism through meme warfare.
The aesthetic has been adopted and reshuffled by far-right influencers and officials, including some congressmen, on some larger platforms.
One of the first to do so, Marjorie Taylor Greene, shared a red-tinted, laser-eyed “dark MAGA” image of herself Twitter in May 2022. Her supporters continue to share similar images in replies to her posts or posts about her.