We Need To See Dark Brandon Thursday Night

On Thursday, March 7 President Joe Biden will deliver the most important speech of his life. Many think it will be one of the most important President speeches ever when history looks back on it. I’ll let you decide how much importance to attach to it. What I do think for sure is what I said in an article here on Politizoom yesterday which is that it will be the REAL start of the 2024 general election campaign for the White House. Trump will almost certainly have enough delegates by the end of tomorrow night to be the presumptive GOP nominee. Come Wednesday it will be Biden vs. Trump. Like it or not.  What I’m wondering is whether President Biden is going to let “Dark Brandon” out for a long run around the House chamber, as in on the GOP side. I sure hope so.  If Biden is on his game, Dark Brandon moments (throwing punches) will be remembered in the months ahead.

However, first to my fellow Democrats who are giving me 2026 flashbacks about Hillary (she’s highly qualified, but “reasons”, or from women “does SHE have to be the first? and other such nonsense) GET OVER IT! Right now we have a-holes who aren’t content to have tossed some sand in Biden’s/the Democratic Party’s gears by voting “uncommitted” in Michigan. Oh no. NOW they want to keep it going in additional states. I’ve already said it’s “Defund the Police” all over again and the GOP made us pay and pay dearly for not slapping that crap down and HARD.

And since no one answered the question before I’ll ask it again. What EXACTLY would you have Biden do in Gaza he hasn’t already been doing?  He’s exerted enormous public pressure on Netanyahu and more intense pressure privately. He’s been instrumental in an earlier cease fire and hostage release.  And another one might be about to happen. With Israel screwing with allowing humanitarian aid the administration began preparing for air drops of food and supplies, as well as establishing a temporary dock/port to delivering ships full of much needed items. The air drops have already started and the logistics of ships and getting supplies inland is in the works. So again, what else do you expect?

With all that as a backdrop fellow Democrats have made already high demands for Thursdays SOTU that much higher. IF the President can deliver a performance like he did last year the Trump and the GOP will be knocked back on their heels. Biden has shown a willingness at times to “lean into the punch” and I think he’s ready to do it again and for the rest of the campaign. And that my friends is where Dark Brandon comes in. GOPers are already afraid of it, which is why some tried to get Speaker Johnson to rescind the invitation for Biden to speak. Now we have an asshat from Indiana making demands. Newsweek reports Rep. Jim Banks(R) of Indiana is demanding Biden highlight the murder of a woman in Georgia by an “illegal immigrant.

The President might actually do so but not in a way Banks will like. He’s already started flipping the script on the GOP over their bowing to Trump and dropping support for that bi-partisan legislation to fix problems at our southern border. This is a made-to-order moment for Dark Brandon to put GOPers on the spot, just as he did to them last year on a different issue. That’s what many of them are afraid of. Most know Biden’s still sharp as ever mentally and has more command of more issues than damned near any of them!

What can we likely expect Thursday? Well, NBC has a predictive overview you can read here. It’s nothing earth shattering but worth a couple of minutes to get the general lay of the land.  The article talks about how Biden will get the chance to frame the issues and remind voters about who is on which side. (and more importantly that Biden and Democrats are as they have always been on the side poll after poll says Americans are on most important issues) It also plainly states:

The stark choices facing the U.S. will be the propulsive theme of Biden’s third State of the Union speech, advisers say. He’ll use the moment to remind voters about hard-won legislative victories of which they’re mostly unaware, polls show, while pledging to revamp the tax code in a second term so that middle-class Americans get some financial help.

The article goes on to note it’s a chance for the President to reassure Americans he’s still up to the job.  NBC points out that a SOTU always gets outsized attention and though it doesn’t say so the fact it’s being held so late this year (the last time it was this far into the year was 1934, ninety years ago) and right after it’s officially Biden vs. Trump give (as I’ve said) the President an outsized opportunity.  He won’t get such a large audience again until the convention and maybe not even then. Trump? Nope. Even Fox doesn’t carry his rallies wall to wall and at best can only pull in a couple million viewers for Town Halls.  As NBC notes:

“For regular folks who are not following the day-to-day news cycle, this will break through on [Super] Tuesday,” a Biden campaign adviser said in an interview. “There will be a number of Americans who on Tuesday will stop for the first time and really kind of digest that this is going to be Trump versus Biden in November.”

The article goes on to say:

With Biden’s poll numbers sagging and his re-election in doubt, he has a chance to get a fresh look from an electorate that seems willing to dump him in favor of an ex-president who is defending himself against 91 felony charges.

A crisp performance will go a long way toward demonstrating Biden’s fitness and acuity at age 81. By the same token, should he trip while walking to the rostrum in the House chamber, or lose his place on the teleprompter and stare blankly at the screen, he risks a viral moment that would be tough to overcome.

What I’m driving at is that President Biden needs to state his message and park it deep in voter’s minds. Just as importantly he needs those who watch to be talking about it on Friday so even more people are thinking and talking about it over the weekend and letting Dark Brandon loose to throw punches is I’m convinced the way to do it. There’s no doubt Joe Biden is old-school down to his DNA but at times he’s seemed to understand that old-school is largely gone, at least when it comes to public politicking.

Anyone reading this who is old enough to have voted in 2004 remembers the patrician John Kerry not deigning to respond to the Swift Boat attack ad. Old-School thinking. That such an outrageous thing wasn’t worthy of a response. It KILLED him. When someone at a freaking NASCAR race (a fan and a driver) got the whole “Let’s Go Brandon” thing started (just in case you don’t know when you hear GOPer’s say it it’s code for “Fuck Joe Biden!”) the President didn’t let it pass. He chose to own it and Dark Brandon was born. Clearly Biden has had some fun by at time clearly being Dark Brandon. GOPers who expected him to cower were stunned. He was… PUNCHING BACK!  They still haven’t figured out to regain the upper hand.

That’s why I think (and hope) we’ll see a fair amount of Dark Brandon on Thursday night. There are multiple places where Biden’s alter ego can take over. From border security, to holding up aid for Ukraine AND Israel, to his legislative accomplishments and all the public works project already started or will start in the months ahead that GOPer attend but voted against, to reproductive rights (and boy are GOPers all in panic mode with IVF nowdays), and the GOP causing the current Congress to be the least productive in our lifetimes – because Donald Trump (and he can point over at the GOP side) and many of them have said out loud and on camera they don’t want to give this administration any “wins.” That they’d rather let the country and the economy and even world security fall apart to please Donald Trump.

Biden can throw punches and then let Dark Brandon kick the GOP while they’re down, right there on national TV.  I want to see lots of Dark Brandon, and as he leaves the podium see Biden, as he’s sometimes done pull sunglasses out of his suitcoat and put them on. It’s a pointed retort to the GOP, as in “You say fuck Joe Biden? Well fuck YOU!” My how they will howl in protest which of course will make people look at how Biden “owned” the MAGAs (and Trump) which is the kind of advertising money can’t buy.

Obama had his “anger translator” Luthor. It came about for a running gag on the comedy show Key and Peele, where Jordan Peele would play the calm, “No drama Obama” and Keegan-Michael Key would go off on rants saying what a President can’t.  Obama got a kick out of it. So much so that at his last WH Correspondent’s dinner he had Key make an appearance and it’s a wonderful five minutes which I’ll show below. The best part however was near the end, when Obama himself turned into Key’s character as in NOT needing an anger translator! I’ll bet more than a few of those correspondents were both shocked and embarrassed to know Obama knew their both sider bullshit and was for once treating them like they deserved. “Luthor” has to actually step in and settle him down.

I can’t help but think that Biden, who also has a wicked sense of humor might have remembered that and when the whole “Let’s Go Brandon” thing started thought to himself: Screw that whole anger translator stuff. I’m going to do all the pushback and punch throwing myself. And use THEIR pet name as my character to rub their faces in it.” I hope that’s what he’s got in mind for Thursday night.

Since this has been serious, I’d like to leave you with a laugh and even if you don’t watch the whole five minutes skip to the last minute or so and see Obama “speak for himself” instead of  using Luthor the Anger Translator.  It’s funny and serious at the same time, and I think Biden has the chops to do the same Thursday night.