The Joe Biden Smile from Friday’s press conference became a meme when the president stopped to smile in response to a question about Donald Trump’s felony convictions. After making a statement on the situation in the Middle East, a reporter asked for his response to Trump’s claim of political persecution.
“Donald Trump refers to himself as a political prisoner and blames you directly,” the reporter asked. “What’s your response to that, sir?”
Rather than offering a verbal answer, the President stopped, turned, and smiled at the source of the question before continuing his journey out.
What is the Joe Biden grin meme?
The video clip from the press conference rapidly became the reaction gif of the weekend, with social media users utilizing the grin to respond to questions with obvious answers. People use reaction images, gifs, and videos as a classic meme genre to respond to anything from news to random posts from other social media users to previous memes.
Users often pose their own questions or statements to use newly minted reaction memes. The Joe Biden grin has already spread to non-political humor accounts on Twitter.
Which Joe Biden grin is this?
The Joe Biden grin is not to be confused with the Dark Brandon meme, which often features an image of the President with an exaggerated smile and glowing eyes. Dark Brandon is a combination of an appropriation of the popular right-wing chant “let’s go Brandon” and what is allegedly anti-Biden propaganda art from a Chinese source.
The Dark Brandon meme was born after a Twitter user posted some of this art and commenters came up with the name, spawning an entire genre of images meant to make Biden appear as a powerful villain, or perhaps an anti-hero to his supporters.
Before long, Biden himself was capitalizing on the meme.
Joe Biden smile meme origin
Biden has long been known for his wide, toothy smile. The grin helped him develop a reputation as a charmer and a comforting grandfather figure as vice president under Barack Obama. During his 2020 campaign, he used the same grin as he related to voters on trips to ice cream parlors, factories, small towns, and other ice cream parlors.
The newly meme’d grin from May 31, 2024, is just the latest example of Biden flashing this smile to reporters asking questions about his chief political rival rather than saying what may have been on his mind.
This time, a reporter queried about Trump’s 34 felony count conviction of falsifying business records to keep the news of his affair with former adult film star Stormy Daniels from influencing the outcome of the 2020 election.
November 2024 resurgence
Joe Biden smile memes and GIFs saw a resurgence after former President Donald Trump won the 2024 U.S. presidential election against Vice President Kamala Harris. Social media users joked about Biden’s seemingly renewed vigor at leaving the White House in 2025.
Reactions
Predictably, reactions to the Joe Biden grin have split across party lines. Conservatives have panned the smile as “evil” and declared it a sign that he did, as they have repeatedly claimed, rig the trial against his rival.
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