Democrats co-opt Republican meme as “Dark Brandon” goes viral

Written on August 3, 2022 by in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Media Watch, Republican Messaging

The attack that turned into a compliment

In an amazing flipping of the script, Democrats have taken back a Republican phrase used to denigrate President Joe Biden.

It all started last October, at the Sparks 300 NASCAR race at Talladega Motor Speedway in Alabama. During winner Brandon Brown‘s post-race interview, some in the crowd began chanting “Fu*k Joe Biden!” The interviewer instead claimed, either unknowingly or deliberately, that the crowd was chanting “Let’s Go Brandon!”

Soon, Republicans started saying “Let’s Go Brandon!” as a euphemism for the epithet against President Biden. Even a number of leading Republican politicians began uttering the phrase, wearing t-shirts and masks displaying the phrase, and referring to the Biden administration as “the Brandon administration.” The “Brandon” saying was going strong as recently as this past weekend, at Donald Trump‘s Saudi-sponsored golf tournament:

https://twitter.com/magatalker/status/1554112313887805441

However, over the past week or so, Democrats have suddenly taken the “Brandon” epithet back, and have turned it into an instant smash hit for President Biden.

Specifically, Democrats are calling President Biden “Dark Brandon,” as if he is some superhero along the lines of Batman “The Dark Knight,” or perhaps even a super villain. This may have started when Biden came down with COVID on July 21, and, in contrast to Donald Trump, stayed on the job and got things done for the American people. This includes, for example:

Biden then tested negative and was back in public within a very short time. Last Saturday morning, however, President Biden tested positive for COVID again, in what was called a “rebound case” (which may mean he still had COVID all along and had false negative results in between). Again, however, Biden stayed on the job, even touting his successful efforts to lower gasoline prices (for example, by releasing millions of barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve):

People began remarking that Biden is a “badass.” And then, to top it off, last weekend, at President Biden’s authorization, the United States killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri with a drone strike in Afghanistan. As a result, the “Dark Brandon” meme has gone viral, with tons of tweets and some very favorable graphics, such as the following:

At this point, therefore, calling President Biden “Brandon” is now high praise, and another in a recent string of losses for Republicans.

Photo by Ivan Radic, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/31SqDe

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