President Joe Biden‘s staffer tweeted a meme Sunday of a super-imposed picture of the president standing in front of what resembles the Reichsadler Eagle symbol used by Germany’s Nazi Party.
Andrew Bates, deputy press secretary for the White House, tweeted on Sunday a meme that altered the movie poster of Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” the final installment of The Dark Knight Trilogy.
“THE DARK BRANDON RISES,” the meme reads with Biden standing in front of a flaming Nazi Germany eagle symbol replacing the bat symbol, wearing a black suit, striped tie, and an eye patch.
“THE MALARKEY WILL END,” the tagline reads on the altered image.
Bates replied to a quote tweet from an original post of a separate Biden meme with laser eyes that read, “Your malarkey has been going on for long enough, kiddo.”
“Dark Brandon is crushing it,” Bates tweeted.
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) August 8, 2022
Biden’s communications army has attempted to make the “Dark Brandon” trend happen since March in response to America First Conservatives, who initially started using the phrase “Dark MAGA.”
One could argue that the symbol looks closer to the classic emblem for the Ford Thunderbird, which has straight edges on the wings rather than the curved imperial eagle wings. However, Twitter users took the opportunity to slam the tweet and the “Dark Brandon” trend.
Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, asked, “Why would a White House Deputy Press Secretary post a meme of his boss with a Nazi symbol in the background?”
Tim Murtaugh, former communications director for President Trump, compared the tweet with previous hits accusing on the 45th president that accused him of using neo-Nazi symbolism.
“In 2020, the Trump campaign faced a week of stories and fact checks about a t-shirt with an eagle on it,” Murtaugh said. “Let’s see if a tweet from an official Biden White House account gets the same treatment.”
Cyd Zeigler, a sports commentator and co-founder of Outsports and the National Gay Flag Football League, alluded to the fact he has lost hope for the Biden Administration since the president took office last year.
“The White House has lost its collective mind,” Zeigler said. “Now Nazi imagery for the Biden Administration. I had such high hopes 18 months ago. Now this November they have no one to blame but themselves …”
Alec Sears, a digital staffer at the Republican National Committee, said the “Dark Brandon” expression began as Chinese propaganda.
“… and then the White House co-opted it using Nazi Eagle imagery …” Sears tweeted. “They’re not sending their best.”
“Dark Brandon” appeared to have started on Twitter back in March when anonymous Twitter accounts sought to create an “edgy” version of the president, according to an online meme database.
Daily Wire CEO and Emeritus Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro slammed the trend on Twitter.
“You can try to Dark Brandon meme your way out of sub-40 approval ratings all you want, but throwing hundreds of billions at green boondoggles in the middle of an inflationary spiral isn’t going to turn things around,” Shapiro tweeted.
“That said, the imagery of a dotard who can barely form words from his face-hole actually being a laser-eyed deathlord is pretty hilarious,” he added.
“THE DARK BRANDON RISES” supposedly hits theaters Nov. 8