A.H. Scott: Dark Brandon vs. the Spit Ball Squad

Illustration of President Joe Biden by the the artist Thomcat23
Illustration of President Joe Biden by the the artist Thomcat23

Text by A.H. Scott, Copyright 2023

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Dark Brandon vs. the Spit Ball Squad

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“The story of America is a story of progress and resilience. Of always moving forward. Of never giving up.” – President Joseph R. Biden[1]

At his second State of the Union Address before Congress on February 7th, 2023, President Biden’s first words exemplified the character of the man that he is. 

Yet, it is more than just the words of Joe Biden that he speaks, but the actions for which he’s taken as he walks that walk of progress.  

Biden is not bathed in bitterness, as his predecessor is. Joe is more along the elemental lines of a man who was known as the ‘happy warrior’[2] of many decades ago. Former Minnesota Senator and Vice-President Hubert Horatio Humphrey had been given that nickname for his sunny and upbeat disposition. 

From the 1806 poem of William Wordsworth’s description of a moral, generous and brave man who retained his virtue even as all around him was festered in chaos, that ‘happy warrior’ comes to be a rarity in today’s political arena.

“You can go down the list of landmark federal legislation from the past 60 years, and Hubert Humphrey’s fingerprints are there: civil rights, Medicare, nuclear arms control, the Peace Corps, and countless others. But I think the most important thing about Hubert Humphrey is that he was an optimist, and he believed in America and believed in our democracy.” –Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota[3]

And, from the other side of the political aisle, Ronald Reagan also exuded the same attitude of positivity: 

“We’ve made much progress already. So, let us go forth with good cheer and stout hearts – happy warriors out to seize back a country and a world to freedom.” – President Ronald Reagan[4]

The greatest note taken of the caliber of the man who Joseph Biden is, came also from a person who had also helmed the ship of state – President Barack Obama. 

“I want to thank my friend and partner of the last four years, America’s happy warrior, the best vice president anyone could ever hope for: Joe Biden” –  President Barack Obama[5]

‘It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought

Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought

Upon the plan that pleased his childish thought:

Whose high endeavours are an inward light

That makes the path before him always bright:

Who, with a natural instinct to discern

What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn,

Abides by this resolve, and stops not there,

But makes his moral being his prime care.’ – “Character of the Happy Warrior” by William Wordsworth[6]

Alas, to Wordsworth’s sonata of serene stature may to some exhibit a false narrative of a warrior in the arena of public life being only a doormat who will suffer fools lightly just to keep both sides of the spectrum at ease; having an air of happiness does not equate to being willfully hoodwinked. 

Obviously without a doubt, this includes President Joseph R. Biden. Don’t be lulled under some illusion that “Grampa Joe” or “Jovial Joe” is a will-o-the-wisp that can be knocked around by a cruel, conservative current. He is a man of wisely, tempered timber. 

Today’s shaping of messages has taken so many new levels and platforms, that the way of less than a few years prior of just communicating a political triumph, agenda, and vision via press secretary, press release, newsletter, brief interview or longer-format podcast has in many ways gone the way of a rotary telephone.

Marshall McLuhan’s[7] 1964 expression of ‘the medium is the message’ never loses its’ potency as the decades have passed. In fact, it has become more of an intensified and invasive reality in our daily lives. 

As avenues of politics and culture have meshed into the same pipeline of conveyance to the masses, the medium of yesteryear is now the meme of the present and future. 

A graphic appears across the screen and immediately grabs hold of your attention quicker than even 250 characters strung together. 

In the realm of social media, Biden has faced disparagement by the right-wing in being given a three-word tagging of the lewd chant of “Let’s Go Brandon”, which is a coarse code for “F.U. Biden” (without a censor of the first 2 initials). 

Okay, the words are tasteless and low-brow. But, what can you do about it? Will the chant cease or is there a way to drown out a hateful vibe of negativity with a credo of bad-assery rising up from the left side?

Alas, for that which some uses as a dismissive diminishment of the President of the United States, there is an opposite force of fierceness that has come to be. Credo has risen unexpectedly. This force is an alter-ego of irony and iron-will named Dark Brandon[8]. It is the friendly and humble Joe Biden, but with an edge of sharper wit and accentuated steely resilience against those who test his mettle. 

Although, it may seem like something frivolous or light-hearted, the alter-ego of Dark Brandon has that manifestation of a political superhero that some Democrats have been secretly waiting for. As for myself in the liberal-progressive base of the Democrat Party, whenever the figure of Dark Brandon comes into my view, I chuckle to myself and give a mighty thumbs-up in approving the unapologetic message that is promoted. 

As the antics of the Republican members of the House were going on during that State of the Union Address, it was obvious that the immaturity in the chamber would be met with an astute edge.  

Dark Brandon[9] stood there, bold as a brick and not playing into the Republicans’ petty tricks.  

This man who holds the seat of the Presidency is not some weak-kneed, mushy-hearted pushover that can be rolled by the spit-ball squad that thinks they are a steamroller because they are in the majority of a single chamber of the Congress.

Joe Biden is 80 years old. It is a fact. 

But, you know what is also a fact is that those in the political opposition to him don’t have any pep in their step and a game that is so damn lame. 

They can’t step to Dark Brandon, even if they tried harder. Even chucking those spit-balls his way at the State of the Union Address from the cheap seats wasn’t reaching the speaker’s platform where he was rattling off all he has gotten done for the American people so far. 

“The people sent us a clear message. Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere. And that’s always been my vision for our country. To restore the soul of the nation. To rebuild the backbone of America, the middle class. To unite the country.” – President Joseph R. Biden

But, hey, who listens to wisdom and sanity? Not those raggedy members of The Spit-Ball Squad.

Marjorie Taylor-Greene whooping like a howler monkey in that white coat[10] was giving off that viral-video vibe of the face-painted, bare-chested, horned fur hat wearing, insurrectionist who bellowed an entrance into the well of the United States Senate of two years ago. Coat of her flamboyance was like a flashback of some sort of 1970’s street-hustler garb trying to make its’ comeback.

Representative Greene and the other congressional disruptors in that chamber mocking the President as he spoke thought they were getting the better of him. But, in reality, their insulting act was landing no punches to a man who came with the receipts of the results of his administration’s successes from these past two years. 

“My economic plan is about investing in places and people that have been forgotten. Amid the economic upheaval of the past four decades, too many people have been left behind or treated like they’re invisible” – President Joseph R. Biden

At the State of the Union Address before Congress on February 7th, President Biden laid out his administration’s historic accomplishments and proposed legislative agenda for the future. 

There he is! Joe Biden, at 80 is hitting his groove. Yes, he is 80 and he isn’t pretending that he’s a young and untested whippersnapper. We all are getting older, even the Republicans who whine, wail, and act as if there is some magical stopwatch that is under their purview only. 

Speaking of President Biden’s fitness for office which he holds, his physician has given him a clean of bill of health during an annual[11] physical at Walter Reed Medical Center in February 2023.

“President Biden remains a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief” – Dr. Kevin C. O’Connor, Physician to the President[12]

During his speech, the President laid out his administration’s agenda for building and improving upon the economic state for all Americans.

“I ran for President to fundamentally change things, to make sure the economy works for everyone so we can all feel pride in what we do. To build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not from the top down. Because when the middle class does well, the poor have a ladder up and the wealthy still do very well. We all do well.” – President Joseph R. Biden

So, for those who belittle and scowl at the policies that Joe Biden and his administration are putting forth, the obvious retort to the Republican opposition in the House and Senate comes so eloquently from the man in the oval office himself: 

“My dad used to have an expression.  He’d say, “Joey, don’t compare me to the Almighty.  Compare me to the alternative.” – President Joseph R. Biden[13]

Monday, February 20th, 2023, President Joseph R. Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv[14], Ukraine to stand shoulder to shoulder with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It was the expression ‘one good turn deserves another’ coming full circle, as this moment in Ukraine for Biden was parallel to Zelenskyy coming to the United States in December 2022.

On the ground in Ukraine, President Biden was greeted at Mariinskyi Palace by President Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska, with hearty handshakes of friendship and mutual respect. In the midst of this raging, hot-war, the image of these three people standing there were the exemplification of a unified vision for victory over the Russian aggression on freedom. 

Just like her husband, Ukraine’s First Lady is a human being of unstoppable strength and courage. The Ukrainian President and First Lady have stayed and fought the good and just fight, not because it is a an easy thing to do, but they have a vested obligation to stand with the people for love of their homeland. First Lady Zelenska has experienced the tears, wails, and the panoply of this war’s horrors and tragic toll on the men, women, and children of Ukraine. 

“No one expected that this war would be so cruel. Animalistically cruel. War is always terrible but this war is staggeringly cruel.” – First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska[15]

As both men walked through the streets of Kyiv and around St. Michael’s Church[16], sounds of air raid sirens could be heard overhead from possible incoming Russian missile airstrikes. 

One thing which was not known at the time when the video and images from this visit to Ukraine by the President of the United States that was televised around the globe, was the fact that this was probably the first time when an American President had his protection and security not overseen solely by his own security apparatus. For President Joseph R. Biden and the national security staff of his administration, it was the ultimate show of faith and cooperation between the United States and Ukraine.

Knowing this was the only way this clandestine trip could be possible without any information leaks, Biden placed his own safety in the hands of others. Without arrogance or hype, Biden got the job done without wincing or standing with wobbly knees in the face of what must have been a seemingly scary reality in going into a war zone. 

“One year later, Kyiv stands, and Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.” – President Joseph R. Biden

Yet, once again The Spit-Ball Squad continues to lob criticism from the cheap seats on how Biden should do this and not that. And, harp on the fact that they don’t comprehend or want to admit why the United States is supporting Ukrainian forces and the people of Ukraine in their battle against Vladimir Putin. 

Speaking of which, it is straight up bizarre of how the party that used to have that rah-rah cheer of loathing Russia for not being a beacon of democracy such as our country, are suddenly affection-laden apologists for Vladdy. 

Putin’s war is grinding on and on, but there is no victory in sight for his agenda to crush Ukraine. Even with the brutality inflicted via the Wagner Group, a shadow mercenary organization doing the Russian President’s bidding in Ukraine; the losses to those forces have been escalating over these months as the war has dragged on.

Anyone would wonder out loud how Yevgeny Prigozhin would be a name worth mentioning in this article. But, the importance of whom that man is links back to the election interference[17] in the Presidential campaign of 2016 in the United States of America. Known as Putin’s ‘chef’, Yevgeny Prigozhin is also the founder[18] of the Wagner Group which has tentacles of torture across the globe. 

Not only that, but it was a bunch of contractors with the Wagner Group that were tasked with snuffing[19] out President Zelenskyy and others in his government in the middle of January 2022 to soften the ground for the Russian invasion of Ukraine that was about to take place in February 2022. 

From the events that occurred in 2016 and 2022, the connective tissue of a level of odd support for Vladimir Putin from some corners of the conservative skeletal structure definitely placed a bit more flesh on revealing the crass craving for political power which some sees for their own home-town victory. 

Some on the conservative side have chosen whom they stand with. And, in their words and actions, it proves it definitely isn’t with you or I. 

Crushing the libs’ is more important than defending democracy and freedom is what some have allegiance to. 

But, then again, that is what the alternative has proven itself to be.

If the Republicans think they hold the stopwatch all by themselves, they are sadly mistaken; for it is the voting American public who hold it in the palms of our hands. With the direction things are going under the tutelage of Kevin McCarthy’s Speakership in these first couple of months, he and his minions better remember that two-years of a congressional term are ticking away and can snap in a jaundiced blink of an eye. As the days run closer to the next election, many a conservative will be begging and pleading for more time to serve in office, while many a voter will come to realize they are not the glorious defenders of smaller government and reformed rectitude. 

As just your average voter, I have two pieces of advice. First to President Joe Biden, just keep on, keeping on and racking up those successes from every corner of your agenda, which includes leaving a lasting legacy on the judicial[20] bench.

Secondly, to the Republicans; any word of advice I could offer would obviously be ignored. So, I’ll keep my words to you as only a suggestion – you have to clean your own house and put it in order for yourselves. Don’t expect anyone outside of your ideological bent to lighten the load and burden which you have chosen to carry. For the time being, the house is yours. 

If you want to remain the political party that brings nothing to the table beyond anti-trans, anti-autonomy, anti-book, anti-intellectual, anti-regulation, anti-truth, and every other ‘anti’ a person can think of; then have at it. 

They come to the table with spit-balls and straws only. No solutions or any attempts at pretending to lay out some sort of plan for the economy. Damn, not even some whacked-out, trickled down, love-fest of tax cuts in even a peep out of their mouths.

The Spit-Ball Squad are the vile victors who won’t take winning as the destination of being successful, because their nomenclature is so repelled to muster up a modicum of maturity. 

With the pithiest of irony as Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ohio’s Jim Jordan, and Florida’s Matt Gaetz are ensconced in power as well as some of the others in the majority party of the House, they still have to act like school-yard bullies. 

Even at the State of the Union Address, Marjorie Taylor Greene had to put her hind quarters on display like a brat on the savanna screeching at the President of the United States.

Yet, it is not just the pithy Georgia peach who’s showing out, but also the jacketless joker[21] from Ohio who has decided to make the most out of his time in the spotlight.

But, for the present GOP it is not just the obvious persons who gleefully tow that line of conspiracy-driven drivel and caustic refrain in the public square. Even those in the Republican hierarchy that were considered the mainstream have gone into the hinterlands of the fringe. One of which is Iowa Senator Charles Grassley.

Iowa Senator Charles Grassley has the veneer of an elder (well, at his age, he definitely is that) statesman with a supposedly good reputation of working well with his colleagues across the aisle of the opposite party. 

Yet, his desire for self-grandiosity and sustained political relevance[22] in the incinerator’s illumination of what is now ‘Trump’s Party’, has caused that façade to fall away. 

The 89 year-old politico put on such a weakly crafted, bitter old man performance during the so called ‘weaponization’ hearing by the House Judiciary Committee that was chaired by Jordan of Ohio, as if he were auditioning for a gig as a fourth-rate newsreader in need of making his bosses and benefactors in the conservative ecosystem proud. Oh yeah, good ‘ol Chuck sat there rambling on and on about a ‘triad of disinformation’[23] and that he was locked arm in arm with right-wingnut Ron in an ongoing ‘Biden Family Investigation’. 

Grassley has even tripped the lie-fantastic with a whopper about an armed[24] strike force of IRS agents ready to bump off some small business owners in Iowa, which is something almost as bonkers as any chasing windmills theory Johnson has tossed out into the public. 

With an almost obsessive[25] bent and breathless tone in his voice, the Republican from Wisconsin speaks with such ecstatic fervor over Hunter Biden, as if when that pair of words pass his lips that he’ll reach a lost ascension. 

Nobody needs a defective Johnson. And, yet, the Republicans consistently are left with one named Ron. 

Faltering and flailing in a quizzical quest that would make Melville do a double-take from their waxing on and on with a fetishistic spillage, I’m surprised Gaetz, Jordan, and the rest of the GOP members weren’t slippin’ n’ sliding on that dais. 

The aforementioned younger Biden is already under investigation by the Justice Department and will be dealt with in the judicial process. If he did something wrong and is brought up on charges, then he’ll have to stand in the dock for them. But, that doesn’t take the Spit-Ball Squad off the hook of droning and drowning over a subject matter that the majority of the American people could care less about. No doubt that the GOP controls the House of Representatives. Question is: can they walk and chew gum at the same time, or are they only just going to fiddle with a Johnson? 

Senator Johnson may be one of several squeaky wheels in need of constant attention on conspiracy-laden carousel of conservatism. 

When fringe transforms to that which is fawned over, then that tweaking of a personal brand has touched upon being a success in the making. 

But, oh no, she is respectable now. So respectable is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that she gets to sit in the high chair and preside (temporarily) over the House with gavel[26] in hand. It’s definitely an image never to be forgotten for anyone who thinks the gentle-lady from Georgia is not part of the highest plateau of power in the echelon of modern-day conservatism and Republican tutelage of leading the House of Representatives. 

I guess her straw is golden and her whining wads of spit-balls are of finer parchment from the perch she exists upon in the present moment. 

“We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government” – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia[27]

Now, that’s a stupid idea, because within every so called red state there are blue cities and towns. And, then there is this teensy tiny thing called the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. But, hey, I’ll go with it. 

You know what? Let’s do just that! 

Let all 48 contiguous states separate; not physically, but financially. Let’s see just how much of a wonderland all of the Republican (RED) states will be if the economic (tax and workforce) base which has many aspects of that flows from the federal government and interstate commerce has to make their way on their own. 

First we’ll start with Georgia and hope there are no natural disasters that need FEMA to come in to save the residents. Let’s hope the utility grid for that single state is self-contained. Let’s hope there isn’t another pandemic outbreak or even a bad case of influenza or measles that tears through all the counties of that state. 

Now, if everything is then copasetic without the need for any other entity to assist the citizenry of Georgia in any little thing they may need, then I say let’s divorce. And, nobody in Ms. Greene’s Fairy Tale Neighborhood or Sedition Sadie’s Swamp better peep up is distress over what will happen if this so called divorce of America takes place.

Oh, by the way, if you and yours that are the supposed ‘regular people’[28] are the one that is doing the leaving, then the name of your new acreage is not going to be the United States of America. No, you don’t keep that glorious name. You no longer have a claim to it, if you want to divorce the rest of this country. 

I can think of a few names you can call this place you want to isolate your intolerant kind in, as “Bleachville” or something like “Wackadoodle Hollow” will definitely be perfect possibilities.

Yet, Marjorie’s melody of misery is so off-key in logic, that only those of her sanctimonious squad can find it audibly pleasing to their ears.

Like her buddy Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida, she’s tooting the horn of intolerance to expand on her agenda and paints the Democratic Party as the ones who are trying to divide America.

“From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done.” – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia[29]

As for Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, he’s a little bit pre-occupied by going even lower under that limbo bar of half-baked propriety by giving sole access of over 41,000 hours of surveillance[30] footage around the Capitol complex during the insurrection of January 6th, 2021 to FOX News’ Tucker Carlson.

With this action Kevin has shown that what was given up with such ease is just another capitulation to the January 6th revisionists from a man who epitomizes the figurehead of a coreless coward. 

Since journalism and Carlson are not even in the same galaxy, the product which will coming at the end of the crafting of whatever Tucker is going to edit together will be a monstrosity of misinformation and misdirection on behalf of those who want to whitewash and gas-light the public to what we all saw happen in real time on that fateful date. 

In some ways, this is just a thought of he who controls the editing button becomes king of what truth shall be; just like those who are crowing about bashing all which are tossed into the right-wing’s caustic cocktail of what is considered the culture of woke. 

That which Greene, DeSantis, and so many others across the conservative causeway who have gotten on the bandwagon of bigotry, is using a single term as the whipping boy for them to attain more political power from a conservative base, bent on demeaning fellow citizens. 

For some, they aren’t even trying to see the cracks and crevices that are holding up the foundation of the bricks of what makes America, America. Those disavowed people are the blood, sweat, tears and dismissed humanity of all who were not white men of that Gentry class. 

And, whether those who are pushing this false narrative would ever admit to it, those often ignored groups are the people who are more than just the cemented base, but the spackle into the chipped crevices and oil that kept the mechanism of the eras of colonial, antebellum, post-reconstruction, industrial, and present-day modern life in the United States of America continuing. 

Acting as if their lives are in bubbles of self-isolation from the rest of this country, these citizens are clinging to some ‘lost cause’ of revising reality which all of us are living through. 

During the reprehensible rebuttal to the President’s State of the Union Address, the newly elected Governor of Arkansas Sarah Huckabee-Sanders had to toss a few cents of nonsense into the mix with snidely stating that ‘his administration has been hijacked[31] by the radical left’.

Well, it seems Sarah should know a whole lot about ‘hijacking’, for the person she used to shill for as White House Press Secretary knew how to hold the truth for ransom and get her to peddle rancid lies to the American public. 

For those of that political ilk, the reality of history[32] is like kryptonite – it explodes the myth they have structured. 

I guess those mothers, fathers, legal guardians, and opportunistic politicians have to find something to be against; so, when their fair-haired and fair-skinned little Johnny or Jane might be exposed to the history of some schoolmates who are of a different hue and familial ancestry or status that is different than their own, well the boogeyman has to be blamed for it. 

In this case, the mythical monster that has been tagged (or, should I say tarred) is an amorphous amalgamation called WOKE. 

They are so stoked on WOKE that they’ve lost their marbles and gone BROKE. They are broke of new ideas, possibilities, and that sinking reality within themselves in coming to terms that they are wrong in their thinking.

For those who are shaking their fists in rage over books, queens and everything in between, I have one question for them to ponder: 

Are you sleeping or are you awake?

For me, I’ve broken it down to easily understand where I’m coming from in describing sleep and woke – 

If you stay SLEEP

(So Lost Envisioning Everything Perfect)

You won’t be WOKE

(Wide Open Keeping Enlightened)

To me, it’s just that simple. If you are so tightly wound that you can’t listen to anything beyond your own comfort zone of what you think is history, then you are truly SLEEP. If you can expand your thought pattern, open your vision and keep enlightened on what the history of people have existed within, then you are truly WOKE. 

Neither end of the spectrum is perfect, but to have an empathetic heart may be something we all could wish to have in seeing the world through another person’s point of view. 

But, if those elected Republicans could come forth with some sort of plan and purpose beyond just what they are against, then maybe these two years until the next election could be that of constructing upward out of vision, than deconstructing downward out of spite. 

Have no doubt that the street of that which is snarky can go both ways. The Spit-Ball Squad of division and derision are not the only players upon the field of politics. Dark Brandon has proven to be a mighty force of exceeding estimations of what can be possible and done on behalf of the American people. 

Stopwatch is running – two years…tick, tick…

And, that is no malarkey.

Like the mild-mannered Clark Kent pushed to his limit from the churlish snickering and misjudgment of breaching many a boundary of normalcy, Joe Biden has taken all he’s about to take from the Spit-Ball Squad and confidently put on his aviators for Dark Brandon[33] to show them what victory really looks like. 

It is delivering on progress for the American people. It is a daily striving of unity, even when it seems the fuselage of recalcitrance and resentment in the form of splattered flecks of gloom mar the canvas of America’s conscience. 

It is not perfection. It is the State of the Union 2023. 

“We are not bystanders to history. We are not powerless before the forces that confront us. It is within our power, of We the People. We are facing the test of our time and the time for choosing is at hand. We must be the nation we have always been at our best. Optimistic. Hopeful. Forward-looking. A nation that embraces, light over darkness, hope over fear, unity over division. Stability over chaos. We must see each other not as enemies, but as fellow Americans. We are a good people, the only nation in the world built on an idea. That all of us, every one of us, is created equal in the image of God. A nation that stands as a beacon to the world. A nation in a new age of possibilities. So I have come here to fulfill my constitutional duty to report on the state of the union. And here is my report. Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the backbone of this nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the State of the Union is strong. As I stand here tonight, I have never been more optimistic about the future of America. We just have to remember who we are. We are the United States of America and there is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together.” – President Joseph R. Biden, State Of the Union Address 2023[1]

By anyone’s honest measure, February 2023 has been a great month for President Joe Biden. From the triumphant State of the Union Address on February 7th to the unprecedented trip to Ukraine on February 20th, the national and international policies of the Biden administration have exhibited many avenues of success. 

To those who were doubters of whether Biden could be the man for this moment in time, they have been faced with a bolder and unfiltered truth. 

Dark Brandon is defiant, deft, and determined.

“Dark Brandon v. the Spit-Ball Squad”

By

A.H. Scott

“Dark Brandon v. The Spit-Ball Squad” – THE FOOTNOTES: 

1.-State of the Union Address 2023 – Miller Center/UVA

https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/february-7-2023-state-union-address

2.-Happy Warrior – Political Dictionary

happy warrior

3.-Happy Birthday ‘Happy Warrior’: Senate Honors Hubert Humphrey – MinnPost

Happy birthday ‘Happy Warrior’: Senate honors Hubert Humphrey

4.-Remarks at the Annual Dinner of the Conservative Political Action Conference – Reagan Library

https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-annual-dinner-conservative-political-action-conference

5.-President Obama Calls Joe Biden ‘America’s Happy Warrior’ During Victory Speech – Hollywood Reporter

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/obama-bidens-americas-happy-warrior-387291/

6.-English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald, the Harvard Classics – Bartleby 

https://www.bartleby.com/41/391.html

7.-The Medium Is The Message: How You Communicate Changes What You Communicate – Medium

https://medium.com/the-mission/the-medium-is-the-message-7a42b8a41f8d

8.-Dark Brandon Begins: How WH Aides Appropriated The Meme of Their Boss As An Underworld King – Politico

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2022/08/08/how-a-meme-of-biden-as-an-underworld-king-became-appropriated-by-his-aides-00050405

9.-‘Dark Brandon’ Shows Up At State of the Union, Mops the Floor With Lost Republicans – USA Today

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/02/08/state-union-biden-deflects-republican-heckling-sarah-huckabee-sanders/11202538002/

10.-‘Liar!’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Interrupts Biden During Speech – CNN

11.-Health Summary(2-16) – The White House

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Health-Summary-2.16.pdf

12.-Biden is ‘Healthy’ and ‘Vigorous,’ White House Doctor Says

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/16/biden-healthy-vigorous-white-house-doctor-physical-00083353

13.-Remarks by President Biden at Democratic National Committee Reception – White House

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/10/06/remarks-by-president-biden-at-democratic-national-committee-reception/

14.-Biden and Zelenskyy Walk In Kyiv As Air Raid Sirens Blare – The Guardian 

15.-Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska Praises Biden’s Suprise Visit Ahead Of War anniversary – ITV

https://www.itv.com/news/2023-02-21/ukraines-first-lady-praises-bidens-suprise-visit-ahead-of-war-anniversary

16.-Biden Makes An Unannounced Trip To Kyiv And Offers More Support to Ukraine – NPR

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/20/1158285342/biden-makes-an-unannounced-trip-to-kyiv-and-offers-more-support-to-ukraine

17.-A Russian Businessman Linked to Putin Admits to U.S. Election Meddling – NPR

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1134878028/yevgeny-prigozhin-russia-election-interference-putin

18.-“Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin Admits Founding Wagner Mercenary Group” – The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/26/putin-ally-yevgeny-prigozhin-admits-founding-wagner-mercenary-group

19.-Volodymyr Zelensky: Russian Mercenaries Ordered To Kill Ukraine’s President – The Times

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/volodymyr-zelensky-russian-mercenaries-ordered-to-kill-ukraine-president-cvcksh79d

20.-How Biden Could Surpass Trump’s Record on Judges – VOX

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/2/16/23601553/biden-trump-judges-record

21.-Jim Jordan and His New Subcommittee Look Poised to “Benghazi” Joe Biden – Vanity Fair

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/jim-jordan-gop-weaponization-of-the-federal-government

22.-Chuck Grassley’s Last Act – Vanity Fair

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/06/chuck-grassley-last-act

23.-Grassley Testifies at House Subcommittee Hearing on Weaponization of the Federal Government – Sen. Chuck Grassley

24.-Grassley Warns Iowans of IRS Agents With “AK-15s … Ready to Shoot” Business Owners – WHO13-TV

https://who13.com/news/grassley-warns-iowans-of-irs-agents-with-ak-15s-ready-to-shoot-business-owners/

25.-Watch “Ron Johnson Asks Dem Chair If He Wants To Retract Original Statement On Hunter Biden Laptop – Forbes Breaking News

26.-Marjorie Taylor Greene Presides Over House of Representatives – The Independent

27.-Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls Again For ‘A National Divorce’ – The Hill

Marjorie Taylor Greene calls again for ‘a national divorce’

28.-MTG Desperate For Another US Civil War – The Majority Report 

29.-Marjorie Taylor Greene Commits Borderline Sedition – The New Republic

https://newrepublic.com/post/170674/marjorie-taylor-greene-national-divorce-tweet

30.-McCarthy Gives Fox News’s Tucker Carlson Access To Jan. 6 Capitol Surveillance Footage – The Hill

McCarthy gives Fox News’s Tucker Carlson access to Jan. 6 Capitol surveillance footage

31.-‘Bizarre’: See John King’s Reaction to Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Speech – CNN

32.-Newsflash To Gov. Sanders: Arkansas Schools Remain Deeply Segregated – MSNBC

33.-‘Dark Brandon’ Returns With Biden’s Latest State of the Union – The Independent

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/dark-brandon-state-of-the-union-b2278347.html

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A.H. Scott is a poet and essayist based in New York City and is a veteran contributor to this blog.  To access additional articles by A.H. Scott, click here: https://tonyward.com/a-h-scott-when-the-ish-hits-the-fan/

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