Who Is Dark Brandon? Understanding Joe Biden's 'No Malarkey' Alter-Ego

It started as an internet meme, then it was embraced by the White House — and President Biden himself

President Joe Biden's administration took a turn for the unexpected last year when the White House and other Democratic officials started embracing the "Dark Brandon" meme, transforming an internet joke into a tool for touting the president's legislative achievements and campaigning for his reelection.

Though the antagonistic figurehead, which resembles the president — albeit with red laser beams shooting out of his eyes — is now associated with pro-Biden sentiments, it began as something far from it.

Here's a look at the origins of Dark Brandon, what the bizarre nickname refers to and how Dark Brandon has been used in practice since the Biden administration first co-opted it in 2022.

What are the origins of Dark Brandon?

Dark Brandon did not capture most internet-dwelling Americans' hearts and minds until summer of 2022, but the character's origins date back to before President Biden took office.

On Nov. 14, 2020 — just one week after Biden won the 2020 election — Chinese illustrator Yang Quan uploaded several images to Weibo depicting the 46th president as evil, presiding over zombie-looking creatures on a throne seemingly made of assault weapons, according to Politico. The first image in the set is the same illustration that Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, 49, would later post on Twitter, now called X.

"The sleeping king ascends the throne, the devil is resurrected," reads the Chinese caption of one of the images, according to Politico.

Other images posted to Weibo by Quan take on "pro-China, nationalistic messages," according to Politico. Though Quan did not name Dark Brandon, the images began recirculating months later on different corners of the internet before finding a home among pro-Biden enthusiasts. A Dark Brandon Reddit community, which now boasts about 75,600 subscribed users, was created in May of 2022.

What does the Dark Brandon nickname refer to?

Dark Brandon is a play on "Let's Go Brandon," a popular right-wing political meme that originated when an NBC Sports reporter interviewing NASCAR racer Brandon Brown in October 2021 seemingly misheard racing fans in Talladega, Alabama, chanting "F--- Joe Biden," as "Let's go, Brandon," according to Vox.

That phrase took off as a means for Republican voters and officials in Congress to signify their dissatisfaction with the Biden administration. A host of Republican candidates and across the country and current officials in Congress adopted the phrase in the months that followed, and a father whose family spoke with Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Christmas even used the phrase while on the phone with the president.

Meanwhile, Dark Brandon also owes part of his name to "Dark MAGA," a hashtag and group of memes that "depict a 'punished,' more unhinged version of Donald Trump running for reelection in 2024 who has abandoned all optics, replacing his slogan MAGA with 'Dark MAGA,'" according to online meme encyclopedia Know Your Meme.

In March, Dark MAGA memes began circulating on the website 4chan and social media platform X, and the Dark MAGA Reddit community — now with 5,400 members — was created on March 16, 2022.

Dark Brandon in action

In August 2022, The New York Times confirmed in an article detailing the rise of Dark Brandon that Biden himself "has seen some of the Dark Brandon memes and found them funny," citing several people close to the president. White House officials and Democratic politicians began using them around the same time that polling aggregators like FiveThirtyEight began tracking an uptick in Biden's approval rating on the heels of groundbreaking legislation in the latter half of 2022.

Six days after White House senior advisor Neera Tanden joked on Twitter that "lasers shooting out of Joe Biden's eyes" is an official Biden administration position, CNN ran an analysis piece titled "The same Joe Biden suddenly looks different."

Related: Biden's F-Bomb, DeSantis' Pout and More Newsy Moments from Their Joint Florida Appearance

While popular conservative influencers like Ben Shapiro admonished Dark Brandon memes as a distraction from Biden's approval rating, Biden and the White House grew more aggressive in using social media to call out Republicans.

In August 2022, the official White House Twitter account enjoyed a viral moment following a series of matter-of-fact tweets that called out House representatives for criticizing the principle of student debt cancellation even though they had personally benefited from PPP loan forgiveness. Democrats credited the roasts to Dark Brandon.

In September 2022, Biden's personal Twitter account responded to a post from Republican Sen. Rick Scott saying he dropped off copies of his "Rescue America" plan at the White House by directly uploading a publicly available copy of the 66-page plan to the internet. Biden's fans again credited the savagery to Dark Brandon, and the list goes on.

At the White House Correspondents' Dinner in April 2023, Biden upped the ante, formally introducing the world to Dark Brandon as he slipped on dark sunglasses after roasting his political opponents on stage.

And today, as the president finds himself in a tense battle for reelection, Dark Brandon merchandise has become a best-seller on his campaign site, and the silly character has become an equally effective campaign tool to characterize his no-nonsense attitude when it comes to defending the issues on which he's built his platform.

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