Rep. Jordan slams Biden's policies
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Media pundits spent much of Christmas weekend berating a father who yelled "Let’s go, Brandon" at President Biden on Christmas Eve.
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden took part in a "Santa Tracker" event with NORAD officials on Friday to speak with callers tracking Santa Claus for Christmas. One caller, who identified as Jared from Oregon, ended his family’s call by saying "Let’s go, Brandon," a phrase usually intended as a disparagement against the president.
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden speak with the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center on Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, via teleconference in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The phrase "Let’s go, Brandon" emerged after a reporter claimed that NASCAR fans shouting the phrase "F--- Joe Biden" were actually saying "Let’s go, Brandon" in reaction to driver Brandon Brown. It has since become a media sensation to mock the president and media reporters who slam Biden critics.
Mainstream media journalists have since treated the phrase as "vulgar" and "vitriol," going so far as to compare people who use the phrase to ISIS sympathizers.
The pattern continued after reporters identified the man as Jared Schmeck, a former Oregon police officer who has since insisted that the phrase was made "in a joking manner."
Some outlets, however, appeared to disagree, with titles like NBC’s "Parent uses right-wing slur during Biden call with NORAD Santa tracker" and ABC’s "Father uses vulgar insult during holiday call with President Joe Biden."
Slate also referred to the phrase as a "right-wing slur" in describing the situation.
A protester holds a "Let's go, Brandon!" sign in Grand Park at a March for Freedom rally demonstrating against the L.A. City Council’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city employees and contractors on Nov. 8, 2021, in Los Angeles, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
"What has become a traditional White House holiday call with children tracking Santa Claus took an awkward turn this year when one father used the opportunity to insult the president using a slur that has become popular in right-wing circles," Slate wrote.
CNN was particularly harsh against Schmeck in their reports.
CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond tweeted, "If you think it’s appropriate to tell someone — anyone, really — to go f*** themselves after they gave your kids the time of day on Christmas Eve, it says a lot more about your personal character than anything else. That is all."
Senior reporter Edward Isaac-Dovere followed up, writing, "Consider the mentality here of the father whose child is excited to talk about Santa Claus and then also gets to talk to the president and First Lady, but he waits out the end of the call to sneak in a cutesy way of flipping off the president on Christmas Eve."
During an on-air segment, The Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein went as far as to claim the phrase was a form of "insurrection."
"I don’t think it’s fundamentally about incivility. I think it is fundamentally about insurrection," Brownstein said.
Other reporters also had similar comments against the use of "Let’s go, Brandon."
BIDEN’S MOST MEMORABLE CLASHES WITH REPORTERS IN 2021
A NASCAR fan holds a "Lets go, Brandon" sign during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Andy's Frozen Custard 335 at Texas Motor Speedway on Oct. 16, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
This contrasted with the media’s previous response to several instances of people publicly disparaging former President Trump or yelling "F--- Donald Trump" in public. Some examples of vulgarity were not only excused by media outlets but promoted and celebrated.
The Washington Post defended comedian Kathy Griffin in 2018 after she infamously posed in a fake, bloodied image holding Trump’s severed head. That same year, the New York Times published an "assassination fantasy" account of Trump being killed by a Russian assassin.
Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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