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President Joe Biden announced that his administration will forgive up to $20,000 of individuals’ student loan debt. This led social media users to share a new “Dark Brandon” meme praising the president.
Last year, the phrase “Let’s go Brandon” made its way into the US political discourse after a reporter, while talking with a Nascar racer, misquoted a crowd chanting an obscenity about Biden. The disguised insult has since been used at Republican campaign rallies, on the floor of Congress and at QAnon events.
In recent months, a new meme has been making the rounds on social media, and it’s even being pushed by members of the Biden administration: Dark Brandon. The conflation of a phrase intended to insult the president has ended up being a celebratory term used by Biden supporters to tout the administration’s successes, such as the lowering of gas prices, the death of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri and the cancellation of up to $20,000 in folks’ student loans.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Dark Brandon meme.
According to Know Your Meme, the phrase “Dark Brandon” originated in March when a person on Twitter riffed on movie titles by adding the name “Brandon,” which stemmed from the “Let’s go Brandon” phrase.
In May 2021, another person shared a post on Twitter with images of purported Chinese propaganda against Biden. The illustrations show Biden, with yellow glowing eyes, sitting on a throne of AR-15s that looks like the Iron Throne from the HBO series Game of Thrones.
