Today, Explained - Dark Brandon

Episode Date: August 16, 2022

A meme that mocks President Biden has been transformed by supporters to celebrate his recent wins. But questions about whether he should run for reelection remain. The Washington Post's Matt Viser explains. This episode was produced by Miles Bryan and Jon Ehrens, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained  Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

His eyes are laser. He's getting his policies passed. He's lowering gas prices. He's Dark Brandon. With all due respect, that's a bunch of more words. Where this Dark Brandon guy came from, ahead on Today Explained. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. came from. Ahead on today's play. The United States will find you and take you out.

Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. Matt Visor covers the White House for The Washington Post, so we called him up to talk about a meme. Correct. I can't say that I've seen that many memes of Joe Biden covering him for the past few years, but now he is known as Dark Brandon in some of these memes. And for those of our listening audience who do not spend a ton of time online, how do you spot a dark Brandon meme? How do you know you got the genuine article? So a lot of times there are lasers coming out of Joe Biden's eyes. Sometimes his pupils are covered up by bright lights. There are others where, you know,

he's bearded or he has an eye patch. Think kind of Marvel Comics style, Joe Biden kind of seeming as this all-powerful figure familiar with the dark arts. And what's it all supposed to mean? Is there some greater meaning here? Yeah, I mean, it is in part supposed to sort of cast him as this all-knowing, all-powerful figure who's able to do things in a way that he, quite frankly, has not been part of his image as president. Gas prices hitting another all-time high today. Just 33% of Americans approve of the president's handling of the economy. So it's kind of trying to tap into this idea of a swaggering figure who's able to bend politics at his will, to smite foreign adversaries at his will. Gas prices are dropping every day,

and he done blowed up one of the world's top terrorists. The internet has taken notice. That's at least what it's trying to tap into, which as a political figure, it's not always been, you know, sort of his brand, these types of images or these types of characterizations. Yeah, it feels a little far-fetched because Joe Biden just seems like such a gaffe-prone granddaddy. Where did this come from?

So there's really sort of two strands to it. Some of the illustrations have its origins in a Chinese illustrator, but sort of the true origins date a little bit after that to a rally a year or so ago in October of 2021 in Alabama at the Talladega Super Speedway, where there was a race and there was a driver whose first name is Brandon and who was being interviewed after the race by a reporter. Oh, my God, this is just everything we've hoped and dreamed for. And the crowd was chanting a derogatory message about Joe Biden, but the reporter thought that they were chanting, let's go, Brandon. And so she asked him on live television about this chant of let's go, Brandon, which was not what the crowd was chanting. But it became kind of a theme among Trump supporters in particular, who then adopted the phrase let's go, Brandon,

as a shorthand for an explicit message at Joe Biden. If you look at what's going on with some of the big corporations, with their woke agenda, when you look at the Biden, the Brandon administration in terms of what they're doing. So that sort of took on a life of its own as sort of let's go Brandon, as a chant that began to be embraced by Trump supporters. But we would see them, you know, covering Joe Biden in the motorcade. There were signs of people holding up let's go, Brandon, you know, directed at Joe Biden himself in Rehoboth, where Biden goes to vacation at the boardwalk. There's T-shirts that say let's go, Brandon. So it began to really be embraced and signify of sort of a

vitriolic sentiment directed at Joe Biden. So that's where the Brandon aspect of the dark Brandon memes come from. Okay, so let's go, Brandon is thriving in the conservative space. And then at some point, liberals pick up on this dark Brandon thing to make it supportive of the president. Somewhat, although initially liberals are picking it up, not altogether supportive. They're picking it up in a way to say, like, we wish that Joe Biden were strong. We wish that he had lasers coming out of his eyes and he could smite his enemies and overpower Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and these Democrats who were blocking his agenda. And so it was kind of meant like not necessarily as a compliment. It was meant as like reimagining, you know, the Democratic president as someone who could actually do things and could actually get things done.

Let's remind people what's going on with Biden policy-wise as the Let's Go Brandon meme is gaining more circulation. So when Let's Go Brandon starts, Biden is at one of the lower points of his presidency. The Afghanistan withdrawal had happened in August. There are scenes of panic and pandemonium at Kabul airport today as legislation was stalling. Democrats were infighting. This is a no. And Republicans are finding some success at turning Biden, who had for much of his political career was not necessarily

an offensive figure. He was not somebody that engendered lots of emotion either for or against. But Let's Go Brandon seems to indicate a turn, particularly for Trump supporters, where there was growing animosity and even hatred toward the president. That seemed to embody a shift and really put a weight on his approval ratings that he still has not fully recovered from. And if I'm tracking this right, that's followed by some liberals starting to trade these dark Brandon memes almost in a self-effacing way where, oh, we wish our guy could be this badass and not just this sort of fumbling president. And then that's followed by some actual Biden accomplishments.

And then the dark Brandon meme becomes more genuine. Do I have that right? Recently, he's had some success. Biden is experiencing the most successful stretch probably of his presidency over the last few weeks. There's a legislation that was just passed called the Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats and President Joe Biden scoring a big win. The sweeping bill targets healthcare, energy, and the climate crisis. Inflation numbers are holding steady.

Gas prices are going down. But the area where the dark Brandon imagery really gains traction is after the killing of Al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri, who was killed by a drone strike in Afghanistan. You know, Zawahiri was bin Laden's leader. He was with him all the whole time. He was his number two man as deputy at the time the terrorists attacked 9-11. He was deeply involved in the planning of 9-11, one of the most responsible for the attacks that murdered 2,977 people on American soil. For his supporters, like, showed him as being able to authorize a killing in a foreign land and killing a foreign adversary as somebody who is powerful.

And that gets into sort of the comic book style imagery of some of these memes. We make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out. You know, there's sort of been week after week more positive news for Biden,

which has coincided with the sort of dark Brandon swagger that the White House is adopting. And speaking of the White House, it gets to the point where White House staffers are actually tweeting dark Brandon memes themselves, right? Yeah. And from their official White House accounts. Usually these accounts are touting jobs figures or the latest priorities. You're not used to seeing from official White House accounts, you know, images of the president of the United States with lasers coming out of

his eyes. But that's kind of what they're now adopting, kind of indicating the turn in fortunes that they themselves felt, because for months it's been pretty dismal at the White House. They haven't had a lot to sort of crow about. And in this case, they were sort of sending out these images from their official accounts in part so that these go into the official archives of President Biden. I don't want to rain on the parade or anything here, but does any part of this feel a little, I don't know, Trumpy? Yeah. And that's honestly like you're familiar with seeing Trump like this. Right. Trump himself, you know, from his POTUS account would tweet the images of him as kind of a WWE figure. And that's what's sort of interesting here where Biden has not had that.

Like he's not been like a digital media phenomenon at all during his career and during his campaign. In fact, his campaign sort of took pride in ignoring Twitter and the Twitter conversation. Right. This is totally new for Biden to have these images or to be cast as something else. Biden fan fiction has not been part of Biden lore in the past. It's been the aviators, the ice cream. The guy washing his Trans Am shirtless in the driveway. Yeah, Onion style. Vice President Joe Biden has made an announcement that he will be releasing

his Secret Service detail and replacing them with a squad of sexy female bodyguards. Or even Saturday Night Live when they parody him, it's like, you know, just a guy who's smiling. You know, they have his teeth, you know, bright white teeth. I understand Putin. I understand war. But there's one thing I don't understand. Computer. So it's not been a part of his lore to have people drawing him and illustrating him in these settings or putting him in a movie poster. I guess it's inarguably a boon to him on places like Twitter, but unfortunately, most Americans aren't hanging out there. Does this actually bode well for his, I don't know, re-election prospects, dare I say? It depends. I mean, it does show like a passion for Biden that he's often lacked, having people sort of interested in having him in memes.

On the other hand, like, does this cut against who he actually is? The day that we wrote the article, like he also struggled to put his jacket on outside of a helicopter and Jill Biden, the first lady, had to help. He's still like kind of a helicopter. And Jill Biden, the first lady, had to help. He's still like kind of a figure who can struggle. You know, he's still the gaffe prone figure that we've always known. And you can see it's just that there is a new sort of element. And I think what could change his fortunes potentially is what this represents. It does represent Biden being more successful and having a good few weeks. If that lasts and changes people's perceptions, it could matter. But I don't know that the dark brand and memes themselves would sort of change the way somebody's going to vote.

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BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge bet mgm operates pursuant to an operating agreement with i gaming ontario let's go brandon today explained we're still here with matt visor from the washington post matt joe biden's having a moment. He's had a series of consecutive wins. But it seems like there's always this lingering question in the background as factor. He will turn 80 years old in November. So he will be asking voters to reelect him at 82. He already is the oldest president in American history, but also because he was struggling to get things done. So the question now is whether

people will sort of rally behind him now that he's had these successes. But it's kind of an open question heading into 2024 for sure. Do we have any idea how much of the Democratic Party wants Joe Biden to step aside in 2024? So there was a poll done by the New York Times a month or so ago where it was pretty striking. I mean, there was two thirds of the party sort of looking for somebody else. They were not fully behind him, which was a striking figure, given that he is the standard bearer for the Democratic Party and that people were looking elsewhere. You know, we're hoping that somebody else might run.

The thing is that nobody has emerged. So I think that that's also a question is whether anybody would actually challenge Biden or whether they're looking for him to first step aside before somebody else would run. And those are two very different things and would play out in different ways. What were the reasons people gave for wanting someone else to potentially run in Biden's place? What do people say? It was a lot of age and it was a lot of he's not getting things done. You know, he's not delivering on some of the promises that he ran in 2020. Community college, they should be free in my view. There goes that big spend in Biden again, man. And so there was a feeling that somebody else would be better able to push

forward on Democratic priorities. But Trump, you know, like so much of our politics, still looms very large over this. And I think that particularly among Biden allies, there's a feeling that if Trump runs again, it strengthens his hand because he effectively argued in the 2020 campaign that he was best positioned to take on Donald Trump. I'm going to beat this man like a drum. And there was a lot of skepticism over that in the primary because there were the same factors, that he was old, he was out of touch with the party, but he did win the primary. And then he proved correct in his assessment that he was able to beat Donald Trump.

For his allies, if Trump is running again, that strengthens their hand in arguing to skeptics within their party that, you know, Biden is the best positioned to take on Trump. If Trump's not running, then I think it gets a little bit dicier for his side to make those arguments. If he's running against a Ron DeSantis or somebody who's kind of a young Republican, it heightens the questions of age. So I don't know if the age factor would play as much as it would if Trump is in the contest. I make this pledge to you today, I will never,

ever ride a bicycle. And because this is something that's sort of in the water and part of the Democratic conversation right now, there are some hints as to who might be offered as a replacement in the 2024 race. Is that right? I mean, yeah, there are discussions, as there often are. And it's kind of striking, actually, because, you know, Kamala Harris is the vice president. We did it. We did it, Joe. In some scenarios would put to rest questions of who's next. It would be obvious the sitting vice president would be next, but that's not necessarily the case. Her approval rating numbers are tied to Joe Biden's. And so there probably would be a contested primary.

It would not be as if Kamala Harris were anointed as the next Democratic nominee. There would be people like Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary. I can't even tell you the number of spaces, venues and scenarios where I've been protested. There's a lot of governors out there who've been making waves. Gavin Newsom in California. It's Independence Day. So let's talk about what's going on in America. Freedom is under attack in your state.

J.B. Pritzker in Illinois. The people know that there's a big difference between people like us who are getting things done for working families and people like the Republicans who are extremists. And making noise enough to where people were sort of wondering whether they would actually challenge Joe Biden in a primary. Both say they would not, that they would support Biden. Were he to run again? Then Pritzker made a trip to New Hampshire, which raised a lot of eyebrows. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren. We have reached the culmination of what Republicans have been fighting for, angling for, for decades now, and we are going to fight back.

You know, there's a whole host of people, I think, who would potentially run. And even if Joe Biden does run again, which I believe he says he will, right? Yeah, Biden and all those around him are sort of forecasting that he is likely to run. They're sort of looking at the timeline of when Obama announced that he was running for reelection, which would put him in April of next year. So he's trying to get through the midterm cycle, keep the focus on candidates who are running in the midterms before making an announcement and making it official sometime in the spring of next year. All signs are pointing that direction. Biden historically has dragged this stuff out. No final decision has been made at the moment, but all signs are

pointing to him running for reelection. But even if he does run for reelection, Democrats could still challenge him, right? There's precedent for that? Yeah. Usually the incumbent has the major advantage within their party. But the closest parallel is probably 1980 when Ted Kennedy challenged Jimmy Carter, who was a sitting president. And it seems to me that the Democrats are going to be reluctant to nominate a candidate for the presidency that is unwilling to defend his record. By some accounts, weakened Carter to the point where he was ultimately defeated by Ronald Reagan. Ironically, Joe Biden was approached at the time, then a young Senator Joe Biden.

The youngest new face in the U.S. Senate next year will be that of Democrat Joseph Biden of Delaware. Was approached as somebody who could be a concealatory candidate. If Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy bruised themselves so badly in the primary, the party could turn to a young Joe Biden. The same guy. The same, same figure that we have now. That didn't end up happening. Biden didn't feel like he was ready to run. But yeah, I mean, there is precedent for that within the Democratic Party of having a challenge to an incumbent president who is seen as weak and ineffective. It could happen again. Joe Biden has seen it happen before and actually been a part of it happening. Can we assume that the midterms and the results of said midterms will be a major barometer of the likelihood of Biden running again? It will be a major test for a lot of the arguments that Biden is making for him running. People will have to run on Biden's agenda. It'll be a test for how animated Democrats are over the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

And it's also, quite frankly, a test for Biden's strength within the party. Do candidates want him to come into their districts or into their states and appear with them? It's been sort of a theme throughout his career where he's prided himself on being an ally and an asset for his party. Is that the same this time around? Or is he seen as a weight that nobody wants to be seen with so that they don't get dragged down with his approval rating numbers? And how does that impact Democrats and how they feel about Biden and a potential Biden against Trump rematch in 2024? I can tell you how I feel about it. Exhausted. Yeah. I think, well, if the dark Brandon meme teaches us anything, it seems to be that, you know, political fortunes can change

pretty quickly. A few months ago, it seemed like all Brandon could do was lose. And now it seems like he's on this winning streak that no one saw coming, including his staff in the White House and and senators in Congress. Is it is it just far too early to be thinking about who should run in 2024? Even if it's early, it doesn't stop people from talking about it. Even, you know, sort of top people within the party or if you're a potential candidate scheming and thinking about who might donate to your campaign. But, yeah, I mean, it is a reminder of how quickly things in politics do change and, you know, how different things might look a few weeks or a few months from now, given what we know at the moment. Things do change quite a bit, but I think the midterms

are kind of a good barometer. They're sort of the next test. And it's a moment for the party and the country to take stock of sort of where it's at. And then you can sort of the next test. And it's a moment for the party and the country to take stock of sort of where it's at. And then you can sort of reassess. And, you know, it's the first time voters will be able to have their say. An actual election sort of gives you a true test of where things are. You think if Joe Biden gets shellacked in the midterms, the dark Brandon meme dies or does it live on? I mean, some people have already suggested that maybe it dies when U.S. senators are tweeting about memes like then that maybe it dies when U.S. senators are tweeting about memes. Like then that's the effective death of the meme. You know,

it's no longer something that's like cool and hip online if a U.S. senator is tweeting about it. Even explaining back to Let's Go Brandon to where we are now with Dark Brandon, like it gets kind of complicated and who knows what other twists Brandon has ahead of him. Matt Visor, Washington Post. I'm Sean Romsferum. Today Explained, our show, was fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey,

edited by Matthew Collette, and produced by Miles Bryan and John Ahrens, who wrote our Dark Brandon theme. It's dark Brandon. It's dark Brandon. It's dark Brandon. Dark Brandon. Dark Brandon. Dark Brandon.

It's dark Brandon. you