# Let's go Brandon **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 18, 2021, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266 "2021-12-18T06:30:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/121 "2022-01-02T16:50:47Z")
I know their terminology is a little outdated, but I’m glad to hear the Right is finally embracing the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual community. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/122 "2022-01-02T16:57:52Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I actually love having a President that cares nothing about the idiot memes Hey, that’s great, and I agree with your idealism. But has there ever been a US President who hasn’t been worried about the media? Joe Biden has a Twitter account (whether he’s personally aware of it or not), so there’s awareness within his team of social media. Surely his team had to know about the “Let’s Go Brandon” trending media. So did Joe Biden’s team fail to brief him about the “Let’s Go Brandon” trending media? Seems unlikely, unless they were trying not to disturb him with things that might upset him, or presumed that he wouldn’t understand the meme. More likely, he was informed about the meme but simply forgot about it. Old people forget stuff. And sometimes have awareness issues. But the premise being argued is that Biden was aware of the “Let’s Go Brandon” meme and was attempting to rise above it. That’s a ridiculous premise. Someone advancing that premise possibly has their own awareness issues. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/123 "2022-01-02T16:59:53Z")
It’ll be like _teabagging_. Someone at some point will quietly tell them that “LGB” really means and they’ll drop it like a hot potato. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/124 "2022-01-02T17:04:37Z")
The first step when disagreeing with someone is to accept people have different views based on personal experiences and education and milieu but can often reach a compromise or mutual consensus on important things if motivated. The second step is to think people may not understand or have been exposed to your cogent argument and they would adopt your view if better informed. The third step is to conclude they are idiots because they cannot understand your view. The fourth step is to conclude someone who disagrees with you is evil. Since this is between good and evil then logic and rules might seem less important. It bothers me greatly when both sides adopt views which work against trying to reach for consensus. I do not blame both sides equally, at all. Democracy, as the Washington Post wrongly says. does not die in darkness. It dies in division against oneself and in false light. But it still has a few hundred years left. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/125 "2022-01-02T17:12:55Z")
> [@Roger\_That](#): > > You don’t think ignoring it completely wouldn’t have demonstrated convincingly to his trolls that he was utterly out of it? “HOLY CRAP, he just let ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ pass him by completely!!! How clueless can you get!!!” If Biden was aware of the “Let’s Go Brandon” insult and wanted to respond with class, there are any number of ways he could have done so. Ignoring it is the simplest one, and yes, it would have trolls stating that he was unaware of the insult. But that would still be far better than Biden repeating the insult against himself. Maybe on the spur of the moment, he shouldn’t be expected to have a witty riposte. But how hard would it be to reply “Merry Christmas Brandon.” ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/126 "2022-01-02T17:16:58Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > Hey, that’s great, and I agree with your idealism. But has there ever been a US President who hasn’t been worried about the media? Joe Biden has a Twitter account (whether he’s personally aware of it or not), so there’s awareness within his team of social media. Surely his team had to know about the “Let’s Go Brandon” trending media. > > So did Joe Biden’s team fail to brief him about the “Let’s Go Brandon” trending media? Seems unlikely, unless they were trying not to disturb him with things that might upset him, or presumed that he wouldn’t understand the meme. More likely, he was informed about the meme but simply forgot about it. Old people forget stuff. And sometimes have awareness issues. But the premise being argued is that Biden was aware of the “Let’s Go Brandon” meme and was attempting to rise above it. That’s a ridiculous premise. Someone advancing that premise possibly has their own awareness issues. Occam’s razor: they are all mature adults who understand that nobody needs to devote a nanosecond of thought to idiot baby-brain conservative memes. “Let’s Go Brandon” is just Republicans taking a childish delight in publicly saying a naughty word about the president. It’s utterly unimportant. It’s to the Biden administration’s credit that they’ve chosen to disregard it entirely. I specifically prefer a presidential administration that chooses to ignore these viral slapfights instead of wallowing in them. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/127 "2022-01-02T17:31:02Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > But how hard would it be to reply “Merry Christmas Brandon.” And you don’t think this would have the trolls leaping to say “See? He doesn’t understand the meme!!!”? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/128 "2022-01-02T17:37:00Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > So did Joe Biden’s team fail to brief him about the “Let’s Go Brandon” trending media? Seems unlikely, unless they were trying not to disturb him with things that might upset him, or presumed that he wouldn’t understand the meme. More likely, he was informed about the meme but simply forgot about it. Old people forget stuff. And sometimes have awareness issues. But the premise being argued is that Biden was aware of the “Let’s Go Brandon” meme and was attempting to rise above it. That’s a ridiculous premise. Someone advancing that premise possibly has their own awareness issues. “Waaa! Joe Biden didn’t engage with my kindergarten level insult! That means he’s senile! Waaaa!” You can’t make this shit up - you’re self-owning yourself with posts that appear more and more infantile and petty each time. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/129 "2022-01-02T17:43:41Z")
Remember when Gerald Ford said there were no Soviet domination of Poland, and the press (and most Americans) lost their shit because the question of Soviet troop dispersal (there were three divisions of Soviet troops in Poland at that time) was something that the current US President should have on top of his head, for easy recollection? This is _just like that_. > **[When 'Ford freed Poland': Debate lessons from 1976 for Trump, Clinton](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/09/13/debates-1976-ford-carter-trump-clinton/90303644/)** > > In 1976, President Gerald Ford, who’d challenged Jimmy Carter to a televised debate, was figuratively knocked out — by his own punch. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/130 "2022-01-02T17:53:53Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > But the premise being argued is that Biden was aware of the “Let’s Go Brandon” meme and was attempting to rise above it. That’s a ridiculous premise. Someone advancing that premise possibly has their own awareness issues. I think your political biases are coloring your take on this event. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/131 "2022-01-02T18:01:22Z")
Tell ya whut: you come up with your perfect response for Biden to have made, and I’ll show ya what a troll would have said about that response, OK? ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/132 "2022-01-02T18:03:49Z")
[quote=“HMS\_Irruncible, post:126, topic:956266”] “Let’s Go Brandon” is just Republicans taking a childish delight in publicly saying a naughty word about the president. It’s utterly unimportant. It’s to the Biden administration’s credit that they’ve chosen to disregard it entirely. [/quote]] Which Biden would have done by simply ignoring the comment. Instead, he replied to it. “Let’s Go Brandon” is an incident of a reporter’s word substitutions for “Fuck Joe Biden”. You’re actually acknowledging that the meme is “publicly saying a naughty word about the president”. Posters here are saying that Biden was aware of the insult, but was being high-minded when he chose to reply to it with the words “Let’s Go Brandon”. I’m saying Biden was unaware and clueless about the “Let’s Go Brandon” social media trend. As an individual incident, it’s an inconsequential gaffe. But Biden has a history of gaffes, and his administration should be judged by whether it’s a competent one, or a continual series of legislative failures and gaffes, ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/133 "2022-01-02T18:09:14Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > I’m saying Biden was unaware and clueless about the “Let’s Go Brandon” social media trend. I’m saying the same thing. I’m also saying it’s a mark of well-placed priorities for the President to be clueless about internet slapfights. I know this is confusing after 4 years of a President who spent his mornings on the toilet scrolling Twitter for grievances and slapfights to jump into… but to be clear, that’s not normal. That’s bad. Biden is the opposite of that, and we should all be thankful for it. > [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > But Biden has a history of gaffes, and his administration should be judged by whether it’s a competent one, or a continual series of legislative failures and gaffes, Listen to yourself suggesting that an administration should be judged by its lack of engagement with schoolyard taunts. To be candid, this is quite a deranged thing to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/134 "2022-01-02T18:12:27Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > “Waaa! Joe Biden didn’t engage with my kindergarten level insult! That means he’s senile! Waaaa!” You can’t make this shit up - you’re self-owning yourself with posts that appear more and more infantile and petty each time. Beat me to it one that one. > [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > Instead, he made himself look unaware and clueless. Pretty much a snapshot of his presidential term so far. Yeah, possibly facile concluding, there. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/135 "2022-01-02T18:15:20Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > I’m saying Biden was unaware and clueless about the “Let’s Go Brandon” social media trend. If so, so what? The dude has actual policy and world leading decisions on his mind. He’s not MTG, Bobert, Trump or some other childishly obsessed weirdo. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/136 "2022-01-02T18:16:24Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > It’s a _meme_. Since when are memes facts? It’s just a phrase that resonated because it represented something a lot of people are feeling. That’s exactly the problem. Rather than having a legitimate complaint, all they can fall back on is a meme. The meme in its current state expresses nothing to anyone not already in the group. It really is like 4chan trolls, thinking they’re being clever. We used to at least aspire for real life political discourse to be better than what you’d have on anonymous image boards. It’s telling that you’re referring to a chant as a meme—a term primarily associated with frivolous online communication. It’s telling that you think chanting political stuff at non-political events is normal. Or trying to slip it into a non-political public phone call. You’re describing the very devolution of political discourse we’re decrying. It’s a troll meme. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/137 "2022-01-02T18:28:49Z")
@Wrenching_Spanners The point remains that, no matter how Biden responded, there would always be a way to spin it as a gaffe or incompetence. Rather than put the blame where it belongs, on the person who decided to try and troll the Santa hotline, you’d rather try to spin their childishness as a way to prove Biden is a bad president, _actually_. Heck, you’re pushing the “Biden gaffe” meme, which hasn’t applied since before he was a presidential candidate. There’s no substance there, at all. When you have to grasp like that, it becomes clear that he would have been attacked no matter how he responded. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/138 "2022-01-02T18:33:33Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > If there was “no possible response” that Biden could have given that would have countered his trolls, then he should have just ignored the phrase. I don’t agree with your premise, as I think a witty, or at least deflecting, response would have countered the insult. Instead, he fed his trolls by repeating the insult with no apparent awareness that he was being insulted. Maybe Trump was right and Biden is “sleepy”. > [@Roger\_That](#): > > Tell ya whut: you come up with your perfect response for Biden to have made, and I’ll show ya what a troll would have said about that response, OK? Yeah, ^This. There’s nothing he could have done, or not done, that couldn’t have been spun as a negative by trolls. That’s what trolls do. Completely ignore it? “Ha, look at the senile old man who doesn’t even know he was just told to fuck off! He’s so out of touch!” Repeat “let’s go Brandon”? “Well, he’s either unaware of what it means (see response to ignoring it above), or he does know, and telling himself to fuck off is stupid!” Explain in calm manner why even concealed obscenities directed at the President are disrespectful to the office? “Man, listen to this policy wonk, trying to debate with an internet meme! _\>Insert "old man yells at cloud meme\<_” Come up with a clever retort? “Ha! The “president” had his staff spend hours coming up with that response! I’m living in his head rent-free, what a loser!” > [@BigT](#): > > That’s exactly the problem. Rather than having a legitimate complaint, all they can fall back on is a meme. And let’s not forget, even the original “Fuck Joe Biden” chant was just a lazy-ass complaint to begin with. Something edgy you could get on TV with, that required no actual reason, or reasoning, to justify. “Fuck Joe Biden!” “Why fuck him?” “Just because!!” It’s just become standard on the right to now declare anyone on the other side as the “worst person ever”, “stupid”, “Ignorant”, with no attempts to ever explain why they’re the worst, stupid or ignorant. They do it to Biden, the do it to Harris, they do it to AOC and the Squad, they even do it to politicians in other countries, like Justin Trudeau. It’s just stupid slogans all the way down. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/139 "2022-01-02T18:35:53Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > “Waaa! Joe Biden didn’t engage with my kindergarten level insult! That means he’s senile! Waaaa!” Joe Biden did engage with the insult. He did so in a way that showed he was totally unaware of the insult, although it had been around for weeks. The insult was “Fuck Joe Biden” and it was done as a verbal substitution of “Let’s Go Brandon”. When Joe Biden uttered the words “Let’s Go Brandon”, he was saying “Fuck Joe Biden”. Essentially, he insulted himself in a foreign language, social media language which he surely wasn’t aware of, but someone on his team had almost assuredly told him about. The self-insults show his incompetence. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266/140 "2022-01-02T18:39:33Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > It’s just a moment that captured a feeling, That’s how viral memes work. I agree, which is part of what makes it so perfect for Trump supporters, who are very, very angry at “media bias” and also very, very bad at recognizing actual examples of it. This was clearly not an example of any sort of political bias, just a reporter trying to deflect a vulgarity being chanted during her interview, and this is now touted as the alpha example of dishonest media being in the tank for liberals. You couldn’t ask for a more perfect encapsulation of the way can spin literally anything in a way that reinforces their grievance-based politics and general sense of victimhood. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-go-brandon/956266.md?page=8)