Former CBS newsman Dan Rather blasted the anti-Joe Biden chant “Let’s go Brandon” as a sign of the Republican Party’s contempt for democracy.
The phrase has become popular in right-wing circles since a sportscaster, interviewing NASCAR Xfinity driver Brandon Brown at a race, mistook a chant of “Fuck Joe Biden” for “Let’s go Brandon.”
In a Substack essay posted Sunday, Rather, writing with frequent collaborator Elliot Kirschner, accused conservatives of using the veiled obscenity to further “the vulgar dehumanization of our entire democratic ― small d ― experiment.”
“Joe Biden is not only a person; he is the President of the United States, whether your tinfoil-shrouded conspiracy brain cares to recognize that fact or not,” Rather wrote.
Rather, 90, noted the use of “Let’s go Brandon” among GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.), who spouted the phrase after making a speech on the House floor last month. The expression has also been turned into campaign merch by former President Donald Trump, and was recently uttered by a Southwest Airlines pilot on a flight.
“This chant perfectly encapsulates the rot and unseriousness of the Republican party ― like the smart-alec in the classroom who adds nothing but juvenile taunts and distractions,” Rather wrote.
In conclusion, the former news anchor and “60 Minutes” correspondent, who has previously denounced Trump’s “malignant ego,” said the twice-impeached former president has enabled “a party that marches, in almost lockstep, under a banner of misplaced victimhood, of vilifying those who are different, of denying the truth, and having the chutzpah ― fueled by privilege ― to announce a hateful ignorance to the world with raw vulgarity, or the meekest fig leaf of innuendo.”
“Let’s go Brandon?” Rather wrote. “How about let’s go America?”
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