Taylor Swift, Dark Brandon, ice cream: Takeaways from Biden's Seth Meyers interview

President Joe Biden addressed his thoughts on the "Dark Brandon" meme as well as a host of other topics, including serious ones such as Gaza when he appeared on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on NBC late Monday night.

The “Dark Brandon” image with Biden's red beaming laser eyes is a once-right wing conspiracy meme that has since been embraced by the left to portray a cool and full-of-vigor Biden.

Meyers brought up the viral meme at the start of the chat, saying: "This is something that you seem to have a lot of fun with."

In response, Biden proceeded to nonchalantly put on his signature aviator Ray-Bans, and remarked with a smirk: “No, I resent the hell out of it.”

Biden, who had appeared on Meyers' debut show in 2014 was returning to celebrate the late-night host’s 10^th anniversary show with a light-hearted interview. The chat came on the heels of criticism earlier this month for skipping a pre-Super Bowl interview, which has become somewhat of a tradition for presidents.

Taylor Swift and Joe Biden conspiracy theories

Right off the bat, Meyers sought to get to the bottom of the potential Taylor Swift endorsement conspiracy theory by asking: “Can you confirm or deny that there is an act of conspiracy between you and Ms. Swift?,”

Without skipping a beat, Biden quipped, “Where are you getting this information? It’s classified.”

Adding: “But I'll tell you, she did endorse me in 2020. She did.”

The age question: "Look at the other guy. He is about as old as I am"

At 81, Biden is the oldest sitting president, and a myriad of polls have shown that it is a real concern for American voters heading into the 2024 presidential election.

Asked for his take on the subject, Biden pointed to his potential rival in the 2024 presidential election, former President Donald Trump, who is 77.

“Look at the other guy. He is about as old as I am but he can't remember his wife’s name,” joked, before striking a more serious note. “It's about how old your ideas are. Look, I mean, this is a guy wants to take us back. He wants to take us back on Roe v. Wade. He wants to take us back on a whole range of issues that are 50, 60 years.”

On Trump’s NATO comments: “Foreign leaders are scared to death”

Earlier this month, former President Donald Trump said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that didn’t meet spending guidelines on defense.

When Meyers brought the topic up, Biden said it was “absolutely bizarre.”

“It's totally against our interest. And by the way, I've known every major foreign leader for the longest time, and I know all these guys extremely well. They're scared to death,” he said. “What it means for them, for them, what it means if we walk away.”

Biden’s stop at Van Leeuwen ice cream parlor with Meyers

The president had a short outing with Meyers after the taping of the show at a Van Leeuwen Ice Cream parlor in Manhattan, near Rockefeller Plaza.

In response to a question from a reporter, Biden said a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could come as soon as the “end of the weekend” to allow the release of additional hostages still held captive by Hamas.

‘I hope by the end of the weekend. My national security advisor tells me that we’re close, we’re close, we’re not done yet. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire,” Biden told reporters during a stop at an ice cream parlor in New York City.

Biden said earlier this month that the U.S. was working to negotiate a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas that would pause fighting in Gaza for at least six weeks.

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden on age: 'Look at the other guy' on Late Night with Seth Meyers