Joe Biden

About

Joe Biden is an American politician and the 46th President of the United States. He previously served as the 47th Vice President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He assumed office on January 20th, 2021. Biden has been prominently featured in several notable memes dating back to his time as VP under Barack Obama in the late 2000s, as well as his time as President in the early 2020s. Some of his notable memes are Sad Joe Biden, Let's Go Brandon and Dark Brandon.

History

In 1969, at age of 27, Joe Biden entered politics in the state of Delaware as a Democratic candidate for the New Castle County Council election, which he won by a solid vote margin of 2,000. After serving for two years on the County Council from 1970 to 1972, Biden announced his first bid in federal politics as a Democratic candidate for the 1972 U.S. Senate election in Delaware, which he won in an upset victory against U.S. Representative Pete du Pont and Wilmington Mayor Harry G. Haskell, Jr. Sworn into office at age of 30, Biden became the sixth youngest U.S. Senator in history. During his seven consecutive terms in the Senate, Biden became heavily involved in the legislation of federal crime laws, and later, in diplomacy, as the ranking minority member and chairperson of the Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees. In 1987, Biden entered the race in the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination as a potentially strong and the youngest candidate since John F. Kennedy. However, the campaign lost its momentum following a series of plagiarism scandals in the news media, ultimately resulting in Biden's withdrawal from the race in September 1987.

2008 Democratic Presidential Primary

On January 31st, 2007, Biden declared his candidacy for President of the United States and subsequently ran a campaign emphasizing his foreign policy experience and how he would handle the war in Iraq.

During a presidential primary debate in October, Biden mocked Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani for often mentioning the 2001 World Trade Center attack on the campaign trail (shown below).

2008 United States Vice-Presidential Debate

On August 22nd, 2008, Obama announced that he had selected Biden as his running mate in the upcoming presidential election. On October 2nd, 2008, Biden participated in a televised debate against Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Watched by nearly 70 million U.S. television and livestream viewers, the debate inspired a number of parodies online.

2016 Presidential Campaign

On January 28th, 2015, Joe Biden announced that he is strongly considering running for president.^[16] This fueled hundreds of news stories speculating about how he might or will almost definitely enter the presidential race. However, Joe Biden spent several months waiting to announce his candidacy, causing many "Biden His Time" puns to appear across the internet and news.^[14] From the time he announced his intentions to early September, he maintained an average 10-15% in most polls on who should be president of the United States.^[12] A few days later this average increased and stayed close to 20% until mid-October. On October 13th, 2015, CNN kept a podium available at the first of the 2016 Democratic Presidential Primaries in Las Vegas for Joe Biden in case he decided to enter at the last minute (where he did not appear).^[15] On October 20th, he announced he would not be running to president.^[17] This happened two days after an article on Fox News indicated he was going to run for president, prompting several news outlets to make fun of Fox News.^[13][18] His poll numbers began quickly plummeting soon after. Joe Biden spoke on the two main Democratic presidential candidates and gave Bernie Sanders support and gave Hillary Clinton criticism on January 12th, 2016.^[19]

2020 Presidential Campaign

On April 25th, 2019, Joe Biden announced he was running for president via a video announcement. In his announcement, Biden recalled the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and President Donald Trump infamously saying of the event there were "very fine people on both sides" as Biden's impetus for entering the race (shown below).

The New York Times^[29] wrote that Biden's announcement was among the most broad and oratorial of the candidacy announcements in the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary, lacking the policy, ideology and biography other candidates included in their announcements. The Times wrote, "Mr. Biden has the luxury of already being known to most voters. But it is by no means clear that this posture of being above the fray, preoccupied with great moral questions rather than white papers and political litmus tests, is sustainable in a very crowded Democratic race."

Biden quickly gained endorsements from Democratic politicians including Bob Casey, Chris Coons, and Doug Jones.^[30] Of note, Barack Obama did not immediately endorse Biden. Biden said he had asked Obama not to.^[31] Biden also quickly attracted criticisms from both Republicans and the left wing of the Democratic party. Candace Owens tweeted that Biden was hypocritical for trying to come out against white supremacy (shown below, left). Shaun King tweeted his disappointment that Biden didn't hire people of color at the top of his campaign staff (shown below, right).

Several left-wing publications wrote articles about why they felt Biden is not a good candidate, including Paste^[33] and Jacobin.^[34] Trump welcomed Biden to the race by calling him "Sleepy Joe" and questioning his intelligence.^[32]

Fandom

The Onion Spoofs

On May 5th, 2009, The Onion^[3] published an article titled "Shirtless Biden Washes Trans Am in White House Driveway," which featured a photoshopped image of Biden standing topless in front of a Pontiac Trans Am automobile (shown below).

In 2010, the satirical news site published several additional articles mocking the vice president, reporting that he had written a bounced check to a liquor store (shown below, left), infested the White House with bed bugs and received a lifetime ban from the restaurant chain Dave & Buster's (shown below, right).^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Joe Garden Editorial

On May 16th, 2019, a former Onion editor Joe Garden penned an editorial for Vice ^[35]expressing regret for having turned "Joe Biden into a meme." In the article, the writer explains that he had helped create the Biden character but failed to really grapple with the real person's own politics, helping to make Biden's policies, which the writer disagrees with, more palatable. Garden writes:

Biden is the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, despite women calling him out for touching them in ways that made them uncomfortable at public events, and despite objections from the left wing of the party. He has said he has “no empathy” for the problems millennials are experiencing and claimed that Republicans will embrace bipartisanship after Trump is defeated. As I watch him campaign as an old (-fashioned, -school, -old) centrist, I realize how badly we screwed up. Instead of viciously skewering a public figure who deserved scrutiny, we let him off easy. The joke was funny, but it didn’t hit hard enough.

We knew through inside sources that at the time people in the White House loved those pieces, and that should have been a red flag. As a guideline, if the people you’re satirizing aren’t mad, then you should dig deeper. I hope that my alma mater, and everyone else in comedy, follows this rule now that Diamond Joe is back.

Some online appreciated Garden's candor on the subject, promoting the article on Twitter and expressing their positive reaction to his writing (shown below).

Reputation

Biden has earned a reputation for his many political gaffes. On August 23rd, 2008, Time^[9] published an article titled "Biden Pros and Cons," which claimed the politician has "a persistent tendency to say silly, offensive, and off-putting things." During his second term of vice presidency, Biden gained somewhat notoriety in the U.S. news media for being overly affectionate to women during photo-ops at press conferences and events at the White House.

"Indian Accent" Gaffe

In July 2006, Biden was filmed making controversial remarks about Delaware's Indian-American population (shown below). A video of the incident was widely distributed in mainstream news media and online. On July 7th, CBS News reported that a spokesperson for Biden claimed the statement was not meant to be interpreted as derogatory.

"I've had a great relationship. In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking."

Related Memes

"Big Fucking Deal" Gaffe

On March 23rd, 2010, Vice President Joe Biden introduced President Barack Obama before a live television audience at the White House ceremony to sign the the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 into law. During the applause, Biden whispered to Obama that the legislation was "a big fucking deal". This statement was picked up by the microphones and broadcast live over radio and television.

The Situation Room

On May 2nd, 2011, the day after the official confirmation of Osama bin Laden's death, a photograph of Biden sitting alongside Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other members of the National Security Council and getting briefed on the mission in real-time was uploaded to the White House's official Flickr account. In the following months, the Situation Room photograph received massive attention and spawned a massive volume of photoshopped parodies in 2011.

Joe Biden Eats Ice Cream

On September 5th, 2012, the Tumblr^[10] blog "Joe Biden Eats Ice Cream" was launched, which highlights candid photos of Biden consuming various types of ice cream (shown below). On October 9th, 2014, The Washington Post^[2] published an article highlighting several photos from the blog.

Laughing Joe Biden

On October 12th, 2012, the vice presidential debate between the Democrat incumbent Joe Biden and Republican nominee Paul Ryan took place at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. Throughout the 90-minute session, Biden was repeatedly seen wearing a smirk on his face when it was Ryan’s turn to speak, which quickly spawned the "Laughing Joe Biden" trending topic on Twitter.

Sad Joe Biden

On September 18th, 2014, Getty Images released a photograph of Joe Biden staring pensively out a window during a White House summit with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in the wake of political unrest in the East European country.
.

Photograph by Oliver Douliery

"US Vice-President Joe Biden looks on during a bilateral meeting between President Obama and President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine in the Oval Office of the White House September 18, 2014 in Washington, DC. The two leaders held a bilateral meeting to discuss a strategic aid package for Ukraine for its battle with pro Russian separatists."

On December 6th, Twitter user Michael Doran tweeted the Getty Images photograph and called on his followers to come up with funny and fitting internal monologues, which prompted a series of humorously captioned images that soon became known as the Sad Joe Biden.

Inappropriate Joe Biden

On January 6th, 2015, Joe Biden swore in the newly and re-elected members of the U.S. Senate, including Chris Coon, the second-term senator of Delaware from Biden's home state. As Biden, Coon and his family awkwardly posed for the photo-op after the official ceremony, the vice president was seen whispering something to Coon's daughter before trying to give her a kiss on the cheek, which she coyly fended off by pulling herself away (shown below, left). On February 17th, Biden was seen whispering into the ear of Stephanie Carter, the wife of then-the newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, during a photo-op at the swearing-in ceremony (shown below, right). The animated GIFs of the awkward exchanges from both events quickly entered circulation online via Twitter and major political news blogs, giving rise to the nickname "Creepy Joe Biden".

Prankster Joe Biden

On November 10th, 2016, the day after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was declared the president-elect of the United States, Twitter user Mollie Goodfellow posted a photograph of Joe Biden peering out the window captioned with a mock dialogue in which the vice president threatens to assault Trump (shown below, left). Two hours later, Goodfellow tweeted a picture of Biden holding captioned with a scheme to throw the ball at Trump (shown below, right). Over the next four days, the tweets gained over 93,000 and 100,000 likes respectively. Soon, the imagined conversations were dubbed Prankster Joe Biden.

Biden Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom

On January 12th, 2017, President Obama held a ceremony in which he surprised Biden by presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, an honor only Pope John Paul II, President Ronald Reagan and General Colin Powell have received before.^[20] Biden was moved to tears by the surprise, wiping away tears as Obama gave a very heartfelt speech about his Vice President.

The moment struck many as moving, and also inspired jokes using the childish Biden character established in previous memes. The jokes were compiled in a Twitter Moment^[21] the following day.

Joe Biden's Favorite Meme

On March 13th, 2017, Moneyish^[22] reported that Biden's daughter Ashley had shown him many Obama/Biden memes and that his favorite was a joke posted by TheDiLLon1 to Twitter on October 17th, 2016 (shown below).

Ashley Biden also said that when her father discovered the memes, he "sat there for an hour and laughed." The story set off a string of articles reporting on Biden's favorite meme from outlets including Huffington Post,^[23] Vanity Fair,^[24] and more.

On February 4th, 2018, Imgur ^[25] user tunnelofplatonicfriendship posted to pictures of the meme printed on a piece of paper signed by Joe Biden. The post is titled "I Got Him To Sign His Meme" and captioned "My Mom's business is near where Joe lives. I asked her to ask him to sign this meme if he ever came in. He is a real nice guy. It says 'Still good friends. Always be loyal.'" The post (shown below) received more than 10,000 points and 300,000 views in 48 hours.

Several media outlets reported on the image, including TIME,^[26] Mashable,^[27] Hello Giggles^[28] and more.

Joe Biden Yelling During 9/11 Ceremony

On September 11th, 2021, President Joe Biden was captured by Getty Images^[43] pulling down his mask and yelling at someone during a 9/11 ceremony.^[42] In the photo, he is standing next to Barack Obama and both Clinton's. The image of him gained attention on Twitter after a tweet^[36] posted by @charliespiering. The tweet (shown below, left) received roughly 17,000 likes over the course of two days. Others users in the replies began to post memes using the image, like user @mike24bradley,^[37] whose meme (shown below, right) called back to President Biden's "leg hair" speech.

The image of Biden yelling spread to memes posted on imgflip and Instagram, like Instagrammer @notdeactivating, who posted a photo^[38] on September 14th, 2021 (shown below, top left), which received roughly 290 likes in one day. Other examples from imgflip^[39][40] and Instagram^[41] are shown below.

Joe Biden Falls Off Bike

Joe Biden Falls Off Bike refers to a viral video of U.S. President Joe Biden falling off a bicycle during a promotional bike ride in Deleware. The stumble resulted in multiple memes, reactions and tweets going into June 2022, many in regards to his age, health and condition to be running the country. It also prompted a response from former President Donald Trump who said, "I make this pledge to you today: I will never, ever ride a bicycle."

My friend just filmed Joe Biden @POTUS falling off his bike no joke. Just happened at Rehoboth Beach 😂 #JoeBiden #BidenIsAFailure #RehobothBeach #Trump #EpicFail #Biden pic.twitter.com/cVMycEwuI0

— jonboy (@jonboy79788314) June 18, 2022

Dark Brandon

Dark Brandon or "#DarkBrandon" refers to a series of memes depicting a darker, edgier Joe Biden. The memes appropriate DarkMAGA imagery originally used by rightwing posters to depict Donald Trump as well as the Let's Go Brandon catchphrase used by conservatives to mock Biden and the media. The trend started in early 2022 on Twitter and in its original usage, Dark Brandon was highly ironic, with the memes mostly joking about Biden's perceived senility and inability to act in the forceful, dramatic ways depicted in Dark Brandon memes.

As the meme trend evolved through August 2022, however, it increasingly expressed an unironic appreciation of Joe Biden and the accomplishments of his administration. The memes often feature deep-fried imagery and laser eyeballs borrowed from Dark MAGA, as well as many of Biden's most meme-worthy catchphrases such as "Marlarkey" and "Listen here, Jack." Many of the original Dark Brandon image macros were created by a Chinese WeiBo artist named Yang Quan (@插画杨权) and were labeled as propaganda. However, this claim is currently unfounded.

Joe Biden Red Background Speech

On the night of September 1st, 2022, Biden addressed the nation during a primetime slot to talk about what he deemed extremist "MAGA forces" in the country as the November midterm elections were inching closer. The background of the speech was dark red (shown below, left), which drew comparisons to Dark Brandon memes. The image macro of Biden with his fists raised during the speech was first posted by Twitter^[44] user What46HasDone on September 1st, captioning it, "Dark Brandon is real," earning roughly 5,600 likes in one day (shown below, right).

On September 1st, 2022, Twitter^[45] user ContraPoints quote retweeted What46HasDone, writing, "There’s no way this lighting isn’t deliberate Brandonification," earning roughly 11,000 likes in less than a day (shown below, left). Also on September 1st, Twitter^[46] user johnntremain captioned the red panel from the Kramer, What's Going On In There? meme with, "It's Biden, Jerry," earning roughly 3,200 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

Personal Life

Biden was born on November 20th, 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania in a Catholic family of Irish, English and French descent. At the age of 10, the family moved to Delaware where Biden attended the Archmere Academy. After graduating from the University of Delaware in Newark, Biden attending Syracuse University College of Law, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1968.^[1]

Search Interest

External References