Independent researcher Hampton Stall, who studies ideology and group cultures, says the phrase itself is “shareable and adaptable” and can be used in public in “way[s] that cursing out the president cannot.” But anger has now moved beyond die-hard Trump supporters, said Stanley Renshon, a political scientist and psychoanalyst at the City University of New York. Polling conducted from December 19 to 21 and released this week by YouGov found that just 39 percent of Americans approve of the president. Survey results from December 20 to 22 by Rasmussen Reports put Biden’s approval rating at 41 percent, while data from American Research Group’s December 17 to 20 polling results shows the president’s approval at 46 percent. “Merry Christmas and let’s go Brandon,” the father said as he signed off.
- Americans are accustomed to their leaders being publicly jeered, and former President Donald Trump’s often-coarse language seemed to expand the boundaries of what counts as normal political speech.
- Moments earlier, the father told the president his 2-year-old daughter Penelope would be happy with any presents from Santa and the president urged the family’s children to go to bed by 9 p.m., according to a pool report.
- The airline says it’s conducting an internal investigation of the incident.
Background: Anti-Biden chants
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posed with a “Let’s Go Brandon” sign at the World Series. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s press secretary retweeted a photo of the phrase on a construction sign in Virginia. In conjunction with Posey and Abbott, South Carolina Republican Jeff Duncan wore a “Let’s Go Brandon” face mask at the Capitol last week. McConnell’s press secretary retweeted a photo of the phrase on a construction sign in Virginia. Jared Schmeck, 35, told The Oregonian the quip – a conservative rallying cry that means “(expletive) Joe Biden” – came out of frustration over how the president is running the country.
Oregon man who told Biden ‘Let’s go, Brandon’ on call says it was ‘innocent jest’
“Before the expansion of social media a few years ago, there wasn’t an easily accessible public forum to shout your nastiest and darkest public opinions,” said Matthew Delmont, a history professor at Dartmouth College. A viral video from a Southwest flight from Houston to Albuquerque showed the pilot signing off his greeting over the public address system with the phrase. Whether by mistake or as an attempt to deflect from the swearing on live television, Ms Stavast told Mr Brown the crowd was cheering him on with chants of “Let’s go, Brandon.”
‘Let’s go, Brandon’: Caller pranks Biden at White House event
But the phrase was already growing in right-wing circles, and now the seemingly upbeat sentiment — actually a stand-in for swearing at Joe Biden — is everywhere. Billboard reported last week that the artist Loza Alexander vaulted into the Hot 100 with the Oct. 30 debut song “Let’s Go Brandon.” The song is NSFW. When the president visited a construction site in suburban Chicago last month to promote his vaccinate-or-test mandate, protesters turned to the phrase.
Biden’s opponents splash it across social media, fly it on flags and plaster it on bumper stickers. And while it’s possible that social media platforms and search engines might ban the more explicit phrase, Stall says the meme version isn’t a phrase that can be banned. “Let’s Go Brandon” is a political slogan and Internet meme used as a euphemism for the phrase “Fuck Joe Biden” in reference to Joe Biden, the 46th and current president of the United States.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response. “Yeah, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas as well. Merry Christmas and let’s go Brandon,” the man, who said he was the father of a 2-year-old daughter named Penelope, told the Bidens just before he hanging up the phone. NORAD has annually been “tracking” Santa’s journey on Christmas Eve to deliver gifts around the world for 66 years. On Friday, Biden and first lady Jill Biden participated in a broadcast as part of NORAD’s tracking efforts, taking calls from viewers.
The crowd behind him was chanting something at first difficult to make out. The reporter suggested they were chanting “Let’s go, Brandon” to cheer the driver. The phrase originated in October, when fans at a NASCAR race in Alabama chanted “(expletive) Joe Biden,” but a TV reporter said they were yelling, “Let’s go, Brandon” for the winning driver, Brandon Brown. South Carolina Republican Jeff Duncan wore a “Let’s Go Brandon” face mask at the Capitol last week.
President Barack Obama was in office as social media’s influence began to take hold, enabling the quick spread of racist images and insults online. A Southwest Airlines pilot used the phrase to sign off from a flight on Friday. The airline says it’s conducting an internal investigation of the incident. If you’ve heard people chanting, “Let’s go, Brandon!” or seen someone with a shirt or hat sporting the seemingly jovial message lately, you might be wondering who Brandon is and why so many people are rooting for him.
Last week, Biden’s motorcade drove past a “Let’s Go Brandon” banner as the president passed through Plainfield, New Jersey. But its hidden G-rated camouflage has sparked others to use the saying more than the original expletive-laced chant at the NASCAR crowd. Brown, or the “real Brandon,” drives for a short-staffed, underfunded NASCAR team owned by his father. And while that win – his first career victory – was huge, the team has long struggled for sponsorship and existing partners have not been marketing the driver since the slogan. The saying is spreading quickly, especially among conservatives who oppose Biden. Lawmakers, musicians, politicians – Sens. Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell, among others – and former President Donald Trump’s campaign PAC have been using the phrase or associating with it.
The holiday season has arrived as Biden’s poll numbers and popularity with the American public has tanked over the past several months. Numerous crises—including the ongoing surge in the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid inflation driven largely by supply chain issues—have plagued the president’s administration during his first year in office. It’s unclear whether the president and first lady were aware of the slogan’s meaning when the caller confronted them with it on Thursday.
Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson were the subject of poems that leaned into racist tropes and allegations of bigamy. When the president visited a construction site in suburban Chicago a few weeks ago to promote his vaccinate-or-test mandate, protesters deployed both three-word phrases. This past week, Biden’s motorcade was driving past a “Let’s Go Brandon” banner as the president passed through Plainfield, New Jersey. Americans are accustomed to their leaders being publicly jeered, and former President Donald Trump’s often-coarse language seemed to expand the boundaries of what counts as normal political speech. WASHINGTON (AP) — When Republican Rep. Bill Posey of Florida ended an Oct. 21 House floor speech with a fist pump and the phrase “Let’s go, Brandon!
More recently, Southwest Airlines opened an internal investigation when a pilot used it over the loudspeaker. The slogan has appeared on protest signs, in Republican congressional speeches and on merchandise sold by former President Donald Trump. Moments earlier, the father told the president his 2-year-old daughter Penelope would be happy with any presents from Santa and the president urged the family’s children to go to bed by 9 p.m., according to a pool report.
One caller, identified as Jared from Oregon, called in and decided to troll the president. According to a recent Gallup poll, only 5% of voters who identify as Republican currently approve of the president’s performance. The term, which has become a rallying cry for many conservatives, is code for a profane insult directed at Mr Biden. But, Schmeck told former Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon that it was “very serious thing” on Bannon’s program “War Room” Monday.
He drives for a short-staffed, underfunded team owned by his father. And while that win — his first career victory — was huge for him, the team has long struggled for sponsorship and existing partners have not been marketing the driver since the slogan. The biggest difference between the sentiments hurled at the Grover Clevelands of yore and modern politicians is the amplification they get on social media.
“Let’s go, Brandon” isn’t the first president-related meme to take off, nor is it the first time a president has dealt with vulgar messages. “And I think that’s probably fair. There’s a difference between calls for violence and this sort of wink that the ‘Let’s Go, Brandon’ meme is.” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, no stranger to memes, also added to this discourse when he posted a photo from Game 2 of the World Series in which he stands with another Houston Astros fan whose sign reads “LET’S GO BRANDON” in big bold letters. Either way, the phrase “Let’s go, Brandon!” quickly spread among conservative groups and continues to be used in place of the direct expletive toward President Biden, even among members of Congress. The term was soon comically adopted by Biden’s supporters and used in memes to support Biden’s presidency.[67][68] The term is currently used by both his supporters and his opponents.
And a group chanted “Let’s go, Brandon” outside a Virginia park on Monday when Biden made an appearance on behalf of the Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe. Two protesters dropped the euphemism entirely, holding up hand-drawn signs with the profanity. Republican Rep. Bill Posey of Florida ended an Oct. 21 House floor speech with a fist pump and cryptically let out the phrase that’s disguised to be upbeat.