Dark Brandon: Can Leaning Into Corruption Be a Winning Move?

Simone and Malcolm have a fascinating discussion about the power of "vices" in political campaigns and messaging. They analyze how Trump leveraged his flaws into strengths, and how Biden supporters are now embracing "Dark Brandon." Other topics include DeSantis' campaign struggles, Trump's unpredictable economic policies, and more election analysis.

Simone: [00:00:00] how the investigations into corruption via Hunter Biden, whereby the Biden family, brought in more than 20 million for God knows what I mean, basically purchased influence.

Simone: That's really interesting. Is that. People are leaning into it that are, that are supporters of Biden. And it's, it's showing up as the dark Brandon meme.

Simone: So

Malcolm: Biden's supporters are the ones spreading this dark Brandon meme.

Simone: Mm hmm. Well, what I've noticed about irony today, which I think is really interesting is that irony is both 100% ironic and 100% earnest. This is, this is actually a much more powerful thing.

Malcolm: We talk about a lot with presidential campaigns. Is one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to try to run without obvious flaws, because then people will make up flaws for you. And that was one of Trump's biggest strengths is people knew what his flaws were.

Malcolm: And I think moments like that when he's first getting on the wealthiest person's list that he can't even afford his own PR [00:01:00] agent and he is pretending to be his own PR agent to talk himself up, I think shows the reality of the situation and talk about his finances at the time, you know, the left will take this this is a damning thing.

Simone: But when we, we're like, dude, this guy has hustle. This guy makes things happen

Malcolm: So the way Trump actually got rich, cause I think a lot of people don't really understand what he did.

Would you like to know more?

Malcolm: hello, Simone. It is wonderful to be chatting today. I am really excited for this one.

Simone: Well, as you know, because we're huge fans of Susie Weiss who writes for the Free Press, I try to follow as many of their publications as I can.

Simone: And one of my favorites that's not by her, because I really just go there for her, is called TGIF, where they do a news roundup. And I was reading in today's TGIF about. Dark Brandon, this really interesting thing that's trending. So let me, let me kick this off by describing what's going on here.

Simone: Cause I feel like this is just so intriguing. I can't, I [00:02:00] can't not dive into it. Brandon. Yeah. So let's, let's start with some. Background, right? At one point there was a baseball game where someone was being interviewed and the audience were chanting in the background while someone was being interviewed, you Biden again and again, so you Biden.

Simone: And then the. The interviewer, a woman, very charitably thought that the person that she was interviewing was being cheered on. She says, Oh, they're all saying, let's go, Brandon which is really sweet. And so moving forward virally the phrase, let's go. Brandon became basically shorthand for you, Biden which.

Simone: You know, has, has been very fun. So obviously this is the

Malcolm: reason why is it was seen as the way that the press just distorted anything they saw about the world or anything they heard into a positive message for progressives.

Simone: Exactly. Yeah. And what's interesting [00:03:00] now is it appears to be that. Brandon as a meme is now being appropriated by Biden supporters.

Simone: So, basically what, what was covered in TGIF by the free press this week was how the investigations into corruption via Hunter Biden, whereby the Biden family, well. President Biden was vice president brought in more than 20 million for God knows what I mean, basically purchased influence.

Simone: And you know, to your point about the, the mainstream media, there's very little coverage of, of this, this investigation, but what's going on. That's really interesting. Is that. People are leaning into it that are, that are supporters of Biden. And it's, it's showing up as the like dark Brandon meme.

Simone: So

Malcolm: Biden's supporters are the ones spreading this dark Brandon meme.

Simone: Mm hmm.

Simone: . So what the Free Press basically said was Biden's campaign has embraced the new YOLO middle finger vibe.

Simone: The top selling products on his campaign website for this week are dark [00:04:00] Brandon items, the old saying goes, never explain it, never apologize. And these are literally like, so the, the dark Brandon mean is, is sort of like, it's, it's, it's images of Biden, but with like evil shining eyes and literally you can click over to the Biden campaign website and see.

Simone: Like a mugs and t shirts. Like I'm on shop. joebiden. com slash dark dash t shirt. So I can

Malcolm: imagine two reasons for this happening. Okay. And they're both really interesting. One could be that what they actually see as, as one of Biden's biggest weaknesses going into this next campaign cycle is that he's just a pussy.

Malcolm: And it's not terribly interesting. And this is a way to imbue him with agency, with power, mystery and danger in the same way that I think drove many people to Trump and that he actually embodies those things for a lot of people. But [00:05:00] then the other way to look at it is it's just a middle finger to, you know, within their cultural group, things like let's go, Brandon have become such a.

Malcolm: Sign of people who aren't in their cultural group and people who they detest that they are embracing this completely ironically, which of those do you think is, is more what's happening?

Simone: Well, what I've noticed about irony today, which I think is really interesting is that irony is both 100% ironic and 100% earnest.

Simone: So I think people who are buying dark Brandon merchandise 100% are like, oh, yeah snub it to the people, you know, I'm appropriating your appropriation, I'm gonna take your meme you, but at the same time they're kind of like, yeah, I have a badass, dark leader, he's playing 4D chess, he'll take, you know, you know, payments under the table, it doesn't matter that's how badass he is, and I think part of us Maybe we want a strong man kind [00:06:00] of leader.

Simone: I mean, there's that old research that found that people who look presidential get elected for president. Maybe this is people wanting their president to be a strong man. And frankly, because right now people are concerned about president Biden being senile, being out of it, not actually being in control.

Simone: This is, this is actually a much more powerful thing.

Malcolm: We talk about a lot with presidential campaigns. Is one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to try to run without obvious flaws, because then people will make up flaws for you. And that was one of Trump's biggest strengths is people knew what his flaws were.

Malcolm: Meanwhile,

Simone: one of Hillary's weaknesses, she was trying to be Little Miss Perfect. Yeah. She

Malcolm: was trying to be everything to everyone in a big way. And what that meant is, is everybody who didn't like her. One, it makes you suspici