President Joe Biden‘s alter-ego made an appearance at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and he came for Ron DeSantis.
After donning his signature black aviators, Biden, who let the audience know that “Dark Brandon” was taking his turn at the mic, jabbed at the embattled Florida governor.
His first crack referenced DeSantis’ futile feud with Disney, his state’s top private employer and tourism attraction. “I had a lot of Ron DeSantis jokes ready. But Mickey Mouse beat the hell out of him. He got there first,” said Biden.
Indeed. Disney sued DeSantis’ administration last week, alleging the governor is waging a “relentless campaign” against the company over its opposition to the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” classroom bill, which outlaws discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-12.
DeSantis has made attacking LGBTQ+ people a central component of his governorship. In February, the Florida board of medicine outlawed gender-affirming care for trans minors, and a bill recently passed the Florida House that would make it a felony to provide transgender-affirming care to minors. Legislation restricting drag shows seems to be on the way as well.
With that in mind, Biden, er, “Dark Brandon” decided to poke a little fun at DeSantis’ attempts to project himself as a socially conservative firebrand.
He hit him with a gay joke!
King!
“Can’t be too rough on the guy. After his reelection as governor, he was asked if he had a MAN-date,” joked Biden. “He said, ‘Hell no! I’m straight.’”
To make sure the swipe resonated, Biden asked attendees to take some time and “think that one through.” Their laughter indicated they were on the same page as the comedian-in-chief.
damn he still has some good ones left in him💀
— compte privé (@fkaedison) April 30, 2023
Four more years baby
— Steven 🌷 (@srnsb___) April 30, 2023
Brandon is locked and loaded pic.twitter.com/TermHIshaV
— Rogue Stereo ➐ (@Rogue_Stereo) May 1, 2023
Biden’s ripping was an appropriate capper to DeSantis’ wretched April, which featured anonymous donors and supporters ripping him to the press and an array of public blunders.
The man who was once described as having the personality of a “piece of paper” lived up to that ignominious billing.
Though DeSantis hasn’t officially announced his presidential campaign, his poll numbers are falling fast. A recent Fox News poll shows him at just 21% in a hypothetical Republican primary, comparable to anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert Kennedy Jr.’s 19% among Democratic voters. Oof.
Over the weekend, Politico quoted multiple British business leaders who say they were underwhelmed with DeSantis when he visited London Friday to cap off his error-laden five-country tour.
“It felt really a bit like we were watching a state-level politician,” said one.
“He was horrendous,” added another.
Leave it to the Brits to accurately size up the presidential pretender. Though it’s widely believed that Barack Obama‘s ribbing of Donald Trump at the 2011 WHCD sparked his presidential ambitions, Biden shouldn’t worry about re-igniting DeSantis’ momentum.
His declining numbers show he has no mandate, or MAN-date, among Republican voters nationwide.
Check out some more reaction to Biden’s roasting while you let that one sink in…
My president pic.twitter.com/DwmL0K5hyx
— Quarry (@QuarryCo) April 30, 2023
he’s winning
— Emma Berquist (@eeberquist) April 30, 2023
It’s DeSantover
— Sam (@Sam613_) April 30, 2023
People writing his jokes pic.twitter.com/FbjAqYFBVX
— New Jersey Roundhead (@Alejandro27655) April 30, 2023
He’s making bangers at 80 years old.
— LocomotiveMonarch 🇵🇸 (@LocomotiveMonar) April 30, 2023
Love him 💖
— Kimmy 💙✌️🗳️🌊🟦 (@KimKimmmmay) May 1, 2023
abfab
Rhonda is a fool as are his supporters. What an awful group of humanoids.
correctio
actual president makes jokes (= reads off jokes written for him by others) about man who will never be president
cool and neat!
abfab
It’s an annual event you fukking idiot. Something you obvioulsy know nothing about. They are called jokes. Like you….a joke.
Washington Hilton
White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Usually Known for Laughs, attacks on journalists and politicians. It’s fun and light hearted. It’s out of your realm, where ever that me be.
Diplomat
Oh Absnotfab,
I constantly marvel at your baseless wit and yawning logic. How does someone get so droll? I see the tongue relaxing exercises didn’t work. Is it that gay people can’t stand how vehemently obnoxious your front runner trans people are? Keep trying little man! You’re just making things so much better aren’t you.
abfab
If you say so.
correctio
@abfab the only reason Biden and the press keep talking about Desantis, is that it draws attention away from how little the Biden administration is getting done its (alleged) key priorities.
but no, keep on praising these jokes. which, by the way, are incredibly derivative and not that funny
dbmcvey
You’re trying too hard correctio. If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say it.
Mack
I see “Correctio” is backing up his other screen name “Diplomat” with stupidity
abfab
He/they belong in a correctio-nal facility.
correctio
@abfab I chuckled at this one. But “he/they”? correctio is a boy’s name!
Diplomat
Mack,
Dude. Are you that uninformed? I’m Democrat Bidden. I support Trans and their health care. I just don’t sign off on psychotic behavior like str8 bio men w woman brain in women’s locker rooms naked getting hard ons. Yeah look it up. Or men on women’s sports teams or pushing they them psychosis. Pay attention before you speak.
dbmcvey
No, “correctio” is a bot’s name.
abfab
WTF is a democrat bidden?
Kangol2
@abfab, Diplo was bidden to become a Democrat but somehow failed to. He’s clearly fixated on trans men’s genitalia and pronouns, though. I guess the GQP “woke” him up!
Diplomat
Haha screw the GOP. They suck. That doesn’t mean every issue they support is off limits to democrats. I don’t vote on party lines. I vote on rational lines. So far the Dems win out per usual, though the Rs have it right on sports and locker room issues with trans psychos who can’t justify their actions, ever bc of dysphoria. Get your own teams and locker rooms. Problem solved. Crazy brain obviously isn’t working for you.
FreddieW
Ron DeSantis is abominable, maybe more so than Trump.
But, I’m sorry. There’s nothing to celebrate about an 80-year-old man in cognitive decline who’s dead set on sinking any chance that things in the United States will improve with a younger Democrat being elected President. We have the potential for war with China or war with Russia or economic crisis, and there’s an old man who might not even be able to find his way driving home at the helm of our government.
abfab
You’re reprehensible.
FreddieW
And you’re totally predictable, abfab.
abfab
We try to keep things predictable just for you. You have a very small brain.
FreddieW
You know size doesn’t matter, right? It’s what you can do with it that counts. Spite doesn’t score highly.
abfab
Apply that reasoning to your bullshit about President Biden. An old man? You ‘re the old man, buddy, and yes, so is your brain.
ZzBomb
Considering the train wreck we just went thru w/ Trump, Biden is actually doing really well.
correctio
@ZzBomb “well, Biden’s doing pretty well, if you consider how poorly Trump did”
the Democrats can’t just keep presenting themselves as the better of two evils. already Dems are losing support among key demographics (Blacks and Latinos) because they refuse to change the status quo, which is not good for most Americans
correctio
@abfab do you have someone you can talk to about your anger? I don’t agree with you that much on here, but it doesn’t seem healthy for you to just hurl insults at people in the comments
dbmcvey
Hey correctio, trying to gaslight someone for being “angry” only works if you’re not also a rage monster.
correctio
@dmcbvey I meditate for 30 minutes every morning. it really helps!
dbmcvey
He’s not my first choice, he wasn’t 4 years ago either but I will vote for him over ANY of the Republicans candidates. I will support him with my money and time.
ScottOnEarth
Well, FreddieW, you clearly don’t do your own thinking or reading. Biden is certainly not in cognitive decline and has done an incredible job as President. You are simply parroting GOP talking-points but you are definitely not paying attention to facts.
dbmcvey
Correctio meditates but still types stupid things. Time to try something else, meditation doesn’t work.
abfab
Corry–you are a gas bag of hot air endlessly spewing loooooooooooooooong run on sentences of crap. Of course, you’re gonna make me hurl.
Now scram. Go work on the Rhonda campaing in your home state of Florida…I’m sure he’d love a good blowjob from you and don’t worry, he won’t give you cancer.
correctio
@abfab xoxo
Diplomat
LoL
Abs is like a rattlesnake. He hates getting cornered.
FreddieW
@ScottOnEarth
I pay attention to what he looks like when he speaks publicly compared to the elderly people I’ve known — my grandmother, aunt, and now my mom and dad, who is Biden’s age. Cognitive decline is inevitable for most people. It’s a biological fact. But yes, I know it plays hell with PC fantasies.
Octogenarians have no business in jobs critical to safety, and there is no job more critical than POTUS.
FreddieW
BTW, Scott, I haven’t voted Republican in a general election since 2000. So no, I’m not parroting Republican talking points.
dbmcvey
@FreddieW,
I’ll still vote for that octogenarian over the septagenarian running on the Republican side, or any of the quadragenarians or quinquagenarians.
abfab
It’s amazing how hung up on age some of the dull dull dull queens here (and you know who you are-you openly display your age-trip on us) can be. There are a few 90 year old ELDERS who I know would be great for this ever-antsy country.
abfab
Dip and other right wing maniacs. I don’t mind being cornered…….it’s assholes I can’t stand. Your statements require a written response. Bug spray won’t work here.
Diplomat
Absess,
It was a response to a comment about your anger that seemed appropriate.
But all in all I will give you this; you are my favorite bitch.
FreddieW
@dbmcvey
Yes, the Democrats keep giving you bad options because you keep voting for bad options. I didn’t vote for Biden in the last election, and I didn’t vote for Trump, either. There are 3rd parties out there that may not win elections, but they signal your displeasure with the crap being placed on the ballot.
And BTW, if senility keeps Biden from negotiating to prevent a debt default, I doubt he will be on the ballot in 24, anyway. Nobody with a brain is going to care whose fault it was.
DBMC
Freddie, Democrats always give better options than the alternative. It’s best not to vote FOR the people who want to send you to the concentration camp.
Mister P
Both houses are almost evenly divided so it is difficult to break the status quo. At least the Demoscrats have ideas instead of just bullying women and trans people.
correctio
what are their ideas? more subsidies for the private insurance sector? more money for defense contractors? not going after Clarence Thomas for obvious corruption?
dbmcvey
True. The Republicans seem to be entirely about culture wars now. The only other plan they have is more tax breaks for billionaires and corporations (except Disney).
Kangol2
Correctio, perhaps you missed it but the Democrats passed the most extensive funding for green technologies ever in 2022. They have spurred resurgence in manufacturing in the US, and are helping to bring back microchip production to the US, which was once the world’s pioneer in that technology.
Democrats have passed substantial changes to retirement programs to help more Americans save for retirement, and under Biden the unemployment rate reached its lowest level since 1969; the Black and women’s unemployment rates reached record lows; the most Americans EVER have been employed; there are still more jobs than people to fill them; and the workforce participation rate has returned to levels it saw before Don the Con crashed the US economy in 2020.
This is only a partial list and they have their faults, including the fact that they cannot ever seem to sell their achievements, but the Dems and Biden have actually accomplished a lot, and certainly more than most people expected.
Mister P
Clearly you are incorrectio about the two parties.
correctio
well then please, correct me. isn’t it a problem that we all know what Ron Desantis is up to, but we have to struggle to figure out what the Democrats are trying to do?
dbmcvey
Hey correctio, just on gay issues alone the Dems are better than Republicans. But, the Dems are also trying to reverse, or at lease slow climate change, Republicans still don’t believe it’s real. Dems brought down prescription prices, Republicans don’t care. Republicans are trying to dismantle Social Security and Medicare, Dems want to, and have, strengthened and improved them.
If you’re still trying to figure that out you’re not paying attention.
correctio
I mean, just on your first point, here’s a little inconvenient insight from the Center for Biological Diversity:
“Federal data show the Biden administration approved 6,430 permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in its first two years, outpacing the Trump administration’s 6,172 drilling-permit approvals in its first two years.”
there are a number of good things about the Inflation Reduction Act, so I take your point if that’s what you mean by prescription prices. and at least for now, cuts to SS and Medicare are off the table (but I’m sure in a few years we’ll see centrist Democrats go after them again)
Big picture: the Republicans are only going to get worse, but that doesn’t mean we can stop working to elect better Democrats. I just finished listening to Robert Caro’s massive biography of Lyndon Johnson. In domestic policy, Johnson knew how to get things done. Makes me wish we had a president like that again.
still_onthemark
LBJ had massive majorities in both houses, but with plenty of Southern Democrats who were racists (and proud of it) and plenty of Republicans who were pro-civil rights. Utterly unlike today. You might as well compare today’s situation with Whig Party days.
The last congress (Jan. 2021-Jan. 2023) did get a LOT done, despite Democrats having only a 50-50 “majority” in the Senate and only a 4-vote majority in the House.
correctio
@still_onthemark all good points.
End of the day, my thinking is that Joe Biden is a mediocre president. he seems like the safe choice and may well be in the short term. and I’ll vote for the dem in 2024. but we don’t have to pretend that he’s perfect, politically or in terms of physical/mental shape.
also a lot of you have an unhealthy fascination with extreme republicans. you’re addicted to news about freaks like MTG or desantis. it’s ruining your attention and almost certainly bad for your mental health. as a young person, I don’t like seeing older boomers (especially, but also Gen x-era) get this way. save yourselves while you can!
dbmcvey
@correctio
He’s a good president. He’s gotten a lot done, which you would know if you really wanted to. And he’s much better than any of the Republican alternatives. But I like that you’re just letting your Republican flag fly and ditched the pretense.
Openminded
I rarely agree with correctio, but he is making very valid points on this. It’s not just a matter of being the lesser of two evils. As a country, right or left, we have to strive for the best leaders possible, not just “good enough”. If you can’t be honest with yourself and admit that neither side has offered an outstanding candidate for the last couple of elections, then you are doomed to accept just o.k. until this country is gone. I’m not saying don’t vote for Biden, if you are so inclined. I’m saying never quit looking for the best choice. Sadly, politics no longer really cares for the countries well being and therefore the likely good candidates simply aren’t interested in getting on the sinking ship called politics.
DBMC
@Openminded, so openminded the brain has fallen out.
Don’t vote for the party that wants to take away your right to marry, take away your healthcare, and ultimately want you gone.
Openminded
DBMC, reading comprehension is important. I NEVER said anything about who to vote for. I just pointed out that neither side was offering up a great candidate. Both sides can clearly do better. It’s dangerous when one becomes so obsessed in their beliefs that they can’t possibly realize they may still have a fault or two. Even as a conservative, I believe Biden is still the lesser of the two “evils”, but he is still far from a great choice, with Trump or DeSantis being no choice at all.
abfab
The Openminded Conservative. Great title for a psychodrama.
dbmcvey
Openheaded, coherency is important. Work on that. And don’t vote for Republicans if you don’t want your rights taken away.
Openminded
It is really sad how so many of you can’t read and understand what someone posts. Ur so full of hate you can’t accept anything except that which follows your beliefs in nazi lockstep.
abfab
Open…………understanding your posts are a teensy bit above our pay grade.
Fahd
I was glad to see some normalcy return to the Correspondents’ Dinnner, and I thought Dark Brandon and the host, Roy Woods, Jr. I think his name is, were funny.
The media is also reporting that Ron DeSantis had a disasterous speech in London, too. Also, what a fool to keep escalating with Disney; it will be a sad day for America if a wedge issue panderer gets back in the White House, whether Desantis or the Count of Monte Crisco. Let’s hope the Republicans keep tearing each other apart.
I’d rather have old Biden than old Tr*** or any other Republican for that matter. I just wish they could figure out how to drop Kamela Harris from the ticket, she’s no good to anyone, and I personally don’t like her at all.
abfab
Well, just based on your last statement alone WE MUST GET RID OF HER!
Kangol2
Fahd, you “personally” might not “like her at all” but I’m telling you, if the Democrats drop her, they are risking losing one of the only groups who consistently ensure that they win any elections at the national and state level, Black voters. I know the concerns of Black voters probably don’t count to you, but Democrats aren’t fools. A reminder: Barack Obama received only 43% and 39% of the White vote in 2008 and 2012 but won both elections handily, over John McCain and Mitt Romney respectively. Joe Biden beat Don the Con in no small part thanks to overwhelming support from Black voters and young voters, who often are the only bulwark between a complete extremist takeover by the GOP. (Cf. Wisconsin this past election cycle.) So while you may not like Kamala Harris (no need to butcher her first name), millions of voters the Democrats need not only have no issue with her but like her. Biden may be many things but he’s no fool about this issue. He knows who put him in office.
still_onthemark
So… FreddyW is ready to blame the debt ceiling crisis on BIDEN (!) because his supposed “senility” hampers his ability to “negotiate” with the insane, drooling Republicans who are causing the whole idiotic crisis?
Correctio is ready to blame Democrats for… Clarence Thomas? Because they’re “not going after Clarence Thomas for obvious corruption”! Uh, what exactly are they supposed to do? Impeachment would start in the House which is not controlled by Democrats. There are no ethics laws or even rules to get him on.
FreddieW
Blame for a debt default will fall on whoever wouldn’t negotiate first, then on everyone equally. Do you think anyone in a bread line cared which party bore the most blame for the Great Depression? Get your head out of the partisan insanity and think like a rational person.
And yes, rational people know that 80-year-olds are not suited to the office of President of the United States.
abfab
Tell us what 80 year olds are suited for, in your infinate wisdom, Freddie.
FreddieW
retirement, writing books, reading books, enjoying their remaining years
but not — serving as surgeons, serving as senators or representatives or presidents or judges