To
answer
the
question:
No,
President
Joseph
Biden
is
not
suddenly
a
backer
of
Bitcoin.
But
the
octogenarian
politician’s
social
media
team
is
appropriating
the
imagery
of
hardcore
Bitcoiners,
after
posting
an
image
of
the
U.S.
president
with
laser
eyes
on
Twitter/X.
This
is
an
excerpt
from
The
Node
newsletter,
a
daily
roundup
of
the
most
pivotal
crypto
news
on
CoinDesk
and
beyond.
You
can
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here.
The
picture
of
Dear
Old
Joe
is
apparently
a
reference
to
“Dark
Brandon,”
a
meme
that
Democratic
campaigners
are
trying
to
force.
As
Mashable
reports:
“In
response
to
the
Chiefs
beating
the
San
Francisco
49ers
on
Sunday,
the
president
posted
the
eerie
portrait
that
liberals
have
reinterpreted
and
used
since
2022
to
depict
Biden
as
a
superhero
…
“The
genesis
of
the
Dark
Brandon
meme
is
peak
internet,
which
really
just
means
its
story
is
murky
and
hard
to
trace.
As
Vox
explained
in
2023,
the
meme
seemingly
originated
at
a
NASCAR
Xfinity
Series
race
in
October
2021,
when
NBC
reporter
Kelli
Stavast
determined
crowd
chants
of
“F**k
Joe
Biden!”
as
“Let’s
go
Brandon!”
during
a
live
interview
with
winning
driver
Brandon
Brown.”
Biden,
eyes
inflamed,
arms
crossed
and
teeth
twinkling,
confused
the
world
especially
considering
that
bitcoin
has
been
on
a
tear.
The
cryptocurrency
is
now
trading
at
its
highest
level
since
December
2021.
But
orange-pilled,
he
is
not.
According
to
Mashable,
the
meme
is
a
response
to
a
right-wing
conspiracy
theory
that
the
Biden
administration
would
rig
the
Super
Bowl
to
secure
support
from
billionaire
superstar
country
singer
Taylor
Swift.
If
that
doesn’t
make
sense,
congrats;
you
haven’t
rotted
your
brain
by
spending
all
your
free
time
online.
To
quickly
unpack
it:
Swift,
who
campaigned
for
Biden
in
2020,
recently
started
dating
Kansas
City
Chiefs’
tight
end
Travis
Kelce,
who,
during
the
coronavirus
pandemic,
did
public
outreach
trying
to
convince
his
fans
to
get
the
COVID-19
vaccine.
This
apparently
puts
them
both
in
the
pocket
of
Big
Blue.
Swift
is
already
riding
the
wave
of
newfound
fame
after
her
blockbuster
Eras
tour,
which
is
widely
cited
as
the
highest-grossing
concert
series
of
all
time.
The
only
thing
that
could
boost
her
reputation,
and
therefore
help
her
brainwash
her
fans
into
voting
for
Biden,
would
be
if
her
boyfriend
was
part
of
the
winning
team
of
the
highest-watched,
live
televised
event
of
the
year.
Indeed,
the
Chiefs
pulled
ahead
literally
in
the
final
seconds
of
overtime,
becoming
the
first
team
to
win
back-to-back
Super
Bowl
games
since
Tom
Brady
led
the
New
England
Patriots
two
decades
ago.
“Just
like
we
drew
it
up,”
Dark
Biden
posted
on
social
media,
making
light
of
the
bizarro-land
conspiracy.
To
be
fair
to
Bitcoiners
who
got
over
excited
by
another
politician
posting
laser
eyes,
two
years
after
the
joke
stopped
being
relevant,
Biden’s
social
media
team’s
“meme”
wasn’t
exactly
easy
to
parse.
But
if
there
was
any
group
that
should
have
been
in-the-know,
it
should
have
been
crypto
fanatics.
After
all,
one
of
the
biggest
proponents
of
the
idea
that
Swift
and
Kelce
are
in
a
sham
relationship
only
for
Biden’s
benefit
was
Vivek
Ramaswamy,
who
was
the
Crypto
Candidate
before
dropping
out
of
the
race.
He
wrote
last
month
on
X:
“I
wonder
if
there’s
a
major
presidential
endorsement
coming
from
an
artificially
culturally
propped-up
couple
this
fall.”
Almost
all
the
top
posts
to
Biden’s
“meme”
(can
it
be
a
meme
if
only
democratic
insiders
can
pick
up
on
it?)
were
crypto/financial
influencers
asking
“What
is
happening”
or
“Thought
this
was
Joe
Biden
(Parody)
at
first.”
How
quickly
we
forget.
Biden’s
account
has
posted
Dark
Brandon
a
few
times,
and
everytime
the
same
people
respond
the
same
way
—
each
time
their
dopamine
receptors
seem
a
little
more
fried.
You
do
have
to
wonder
why
Biden’s
social
media
team
is
copying
crypto’s
aesthetics.
Is
he
trying
to
reconnect
with
a
potentially
large
voter
base
after
previously
calling
upon
the
whole
of
government
to
bring
crypto
in
line?
Is
he
trying
to
bait
a
“single-issue”
voter
base
who
is
likely
not
going
to
back
him
anyway?
Is
he
trying
to
woo
Sen.
Lummis?
Social
media
is
a
powerful
force
for
connecting
to
constituents,
though
it
can
backfire.
It’s
notable
that
Florida
Governor
Ron
DeSantis
essentially
based
his
failed
presidential
campaign
around
internet-tinged
culture
war
issues,
even
choosing
to
announce
his
bid
on
a
Twitter/X
live
voice
chat
alongside
super-poster
Elon
Musk.
Choosing
what
to
post
in
electoral
politics
is
often
a
question
of
choosing
how
to
post,
whether
you’re
willing
to
debase
yourself
by
trying
to
seem
“with
it”
or
sticking
to
more
promotional
language.
To
some
extent,
Dark
Brandon’s
laser
eyes
shows
how
culture
is
created
online,
often
as
a
bottom-up
phenomenon
of
people
who
share
interests
(like
the
idea
that
bitcoin
could
hit
$100K
if
everyone
believes
hard
enough).
It
seems
like
an
unlikely
coincidence
given
the
prominence
of
the
“laser
eyes”
meme,
which
has
been
sported
by
elected
officials
as
well
as
corporations
like
Franklin
Templeton
to
signal
their
support
of
Bitcoin.
But
nothing
seems
out
of
the
question
these
days
when
it
comes
to
contemporary
U.S.
politics.