What is His Brain? No. His Heart?

A fake 2020 Joe Biden presidential campaign ad made by artist Brad Troemel that pairs a photo of a smiling Biden with a beam of light shooting from his chest and the tagline "His brain? No. His heart."

Where did His Brain? No. His Heart come from?

Brad Troemel posted it to Instagram on April 21, 2020, with a caption framing it as DNC self-sabotage, and the image jumped to Twitter the next day.

What does His Brain? No. His Heart mean?

The parody effectively concedes Biden's mental sharpness isn't his strong suit and sells him on heart instead, mimicking his real warmth-focused campaign ads so closely that Trump staffers shared it as genuine.

How do you use His Brain? No. His Heart?

Users typically repost the original image or photoshop variants like glowing eyes, with some deep-frying the file to beat Twitter's detection algorithm.

Is His Brain? No. His Heart still popular?

It's a classic artifact of the 2020 primary cycle, mostly remembered now as an example of Twitter enforcing election-misinformation rules against a joke image.

His Brain? No. His Heart

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Published October 8, 2026

"His Brain? No. His Heart" is a fake Joe Biden presidential campaign ad that artist Brad Troemel posted to Instagram on April 21, 2020, pairing a photo of a smiling Biden with a beam of light shooting from his chest. The parody fooled enough people, including Trump campaign staffers, that Twitter started banning accounts for sharing it, turning the hoax into one of the strangest political meme flashpoints of the 2020 primary season.

hoax memes political satire memes photoshop memes presidential memes 2020 memes

Overview

The fake ad copies the design of real Biden 2020 campaign materials down to the "Approved by Joe Biden. Paid for by Biden for President" disclaimer at the bottom1. The joke works because the Biden campaign had been messaging on warmth and empathy, so a solemn image that reads as effectively conceding his mental sharpness isn't the pitch carries a tinge of plausible self-sabotage2. Troemel captioned his Instagram post with a line about "DNC self-sabotage scientists only believed to be theoretical"2.

Variations started appearing as users photoshopped the image with edits like glowing eyes, and some deep-fried the file to slip past Twitter's detection filters10. The Biden campaign confirmed to The Verge that the image was faked, while Twitter cited rules against misleading voting information when it began locking accounts for sharing it1.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Instagram (origin) / Twitter (viral spread)

Creator

Brad Troemel

Date

2020

Artist Brad Troemel uploaded the fake ad to Instagram on April 21, 2020, where it drew over 4,200 likes and a wave of comments from users asking whether a real campaign could have run it2. The underlying photograph was taken by Washington Post photographer Salwan Georges at the Iowa State Fair on August 8, 20193. The Verge initially miscredited the meme's source, prompting Troemel to post a video claiming authorship on April 251 8.

How It Spread

Instagram user huffdaddy76 reposted the ad on April 22, 2020, where it pulled close to 1,000 likes and more "is this real?" comments4. The same day it jumped to Twitter via @RLewisReports, who shared the image with the line "This campaign ad can't be real"9. An account called @khakijorts then drove much of the viral spread with the caption "This is a real ad 100% cannot make this up"1.

Current and former Trump campaign staffers, including communications director Tim Murtaugh and 2016 Florida strategist Karen Giorno, boosted the fake ad as if it were genuine1. By April 23, Twitter had started suspending accounts for posting the image, and user shoe0nhead collected examples of locked accounts in a thread that drew over 11,000 likes5. KristySwansonXO publicized the ban of user iheartmindy specifically6, while GabeTwoThousand floated the workaround of deep-frying the image to beat the detection algorithm10.

The meme hit Reddit the same day, where r/tumblr user _thisisforreddit's screenshot pulled over 4,500 upvotes before moderators removed it7. Troemel followed up with an April 25 Instagram video addressing the response, which later passed 52,000 views and noted that outside of Know Your Meme nobody had initially credited him as the artist4 8.

Timeline

2019-08-08

Salwan Georges photographs Biden at the Iowa State Fair for the Washington Post, capturing the image that will later be used in the fake ad.

2020-04-21

Artist Brad Troemel posts the fake "His brain? No. His heart." ad to his Instagram feed.

2020-04-22

Huffdaddy76 reposts the image on Instagram; @RLewisReports brings it to Twitter.

2020-04-23

Twitter starts suspending accounts for sharing the image; The Verge publishes its report after the Biden campaign confirms the ad is fake; r/tumblr post hits over 4,500 upvotes.

2020-04-25

Brad Troemel posts an Instagram video claiming authorship and discussing how the meme spread.

How to Use This Meme

People typically repost the original fake ad verbatim or photoshop new elements onto Biden's chest, with glowing eyes being a common convention1. Edits often include deep-frying the image, a technique users floated specifically to dodge Twitter's detection filters after the platform started locking accounts10. The format works best when the "Approved by Joe Biden. Paid for by Biden for President" disclaimer is kept intact so the parody still reads as a campaign ad.