White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested Friday that President Joe Biden is unfazed by the 'Let's Go Brandon' ch...
White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested Friday that President Joe Biden is unfazed by the 'Let's Go Brandon' chants, signs and merchandise that are supposed to be a stand-in for 'f**k Joe Biden.'
NBC News' Peter Alexander welcomed Psaki back to the briefing room after 13 days following her COVID diagnosis by asking: 'Across this country, we've seen the new phenomenon lately, chanted at sporting events and on signs, the phrase is "Let's go Brandon," a sort of code for a profane slogan attacking President Biden. What does the president make of that?'
'I don't think he spends much time focused on it or thinking about it,' she said at the briefing about the slogan that critics across the country and prominent Republicans including Donald Trump have embraced.
Psaki added: 'Well, it takes two to move toward a more civil engagement and discourse in this country.'
'And the president's going to continue to operate, as you said, from the promise he made early on, which is that he wants to govern for all Americans,' Psaki stated.
It was her first press briefing back at the podium in 13 days after recovering from COVID-19 and missing Biden's trip to Europe.
She said she was 'grateful for the vaccine' and 'missed her slippers' after quarantining at home and then testing out based on White House protocols.
'Let me say it's great to be back with all of you. Although as a longtime hater of heels, I do miss my slippers,' she said at the top of Friday's press briefing.
'I was experienced a little bit of life fatigue in the first couple of days, but none that prevented me from participating in meetings here engaging with the president and the team on the road. And certainly, probably calling members of my team so many times they were tired of hearing from me,' she said of her bout with the illness.
During the 2020 campaign, Biden called for an end of the 'uncivil war' between Republicans and Democrats.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki (left) said Friday that President Joe Biden (right) doesn't spend 'much time' thinking about the 'Let's Go Brandon' chants, signs and merchandise. The phrase has become a stand-in for 'f**k Joe Biden'
Fans put up a 'Let's go Brandon' sign at a college football game between Boston College and Syracuse in Syracuse in late October. The phrase has been embraced by those on the right critical of the Democratic president
Psaki pointed to the passage of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which received Republican support in both chambers, as an example of Biden getting things done for Americans of all political persuasions.
'That's going to help expand broadband to everyone no matter your political party, no matter whether you voted for him or not,' she noted. 'That's going to replace lead pipes, make sure kids have clean drinking water, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican or not political at all.'
'That's how he's going to govern,' she continued.
'And certainly we're hopeful we'll have partners to move toward more civil discourse with in the future,' the press secretary added.
But prominent members of the GOP have embraced the motto and chants have broken out at college sports events and concerts.
For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the Biden White House the 'Brandon administration' during a press conference last week.
'If you look at what's going on with some of the big corporations with their woke agenda, when you look at the Biden - the Brandon administration - in terms of what they're doing,' DeSantis said.
Cheers and applause broke out before DeSantis finished speaking, prompting him to trail off and laugh as chants of 'Let's go Brandon' filled the room.
Instead of toning down the crowd's cheer, which is more commonly seen at sporting events than small-scale political remarks, DeSantis quietly nodded and allowed the crowd of mostly middle-aged and older adults grow louder with some people clapping and whooping along.
He then ventured to explain the origins of the phrase and defended it by saying Trump endured worse criticism while in office.
A street vendor's wagon is filled with caps for sale showing 'Let's go, Brandon' a phrase growing in popularity in right-wing circles as a stand-in for swearing at President Joe Biden
Former President Donald Trump has embraced the motto and is selling t-shirts that say 'Let's go Brandon.' Psaki said Friday that it 'takes two to move toward a more civil engagement and discourse in this country'
'Do you know how that started? Like it was - you have the media and their hand-wringing over this, but you know it was at a NASCAR race. They're doing the interview with the driver, I guess his name was Brandon,' DeSantis began as the crowd egged him on.
'And the crowd starts chanting very colorful language about Joe Biden. And it was obvious what they were doing, and you know it is what it is.'
He added, 'They said way worse about Trump for four years, we know that,' to more applause.
The Republican governor then turned the anecdote into an attack against the media, claiming that a reporter who mistook the chant for the now-viral 'Let's go Brandon' phrase was actually lying to protect Biden.
'But so they're chanting this, and so you have a reporter from NBC, who knows that's what they're saying, and she's trying to cover for Biden so she says 'Yeah, they're chanting let's go Brandon.' And that was a lie,' DeSantis claimed.
'It was a lie, and so this chant, I think, has taken on a life of its own because it exposes the dishonesty of these corporate reporters and what they do everyday to try to lie - and now you see it,' he said.
Trump is pushing merchandise, a 'Let's go Brandon,' t-shirt, for political donations, while right-wing Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia have frequently invoked it in recent weeks.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the Biden White House the 'Brandon Administration' during a press conference last week
And DeSantis' fellow Republican governor, Greg Abbott of Texas, tweeted the phrase late last month when he shared a clip of himself talking about Biden's 'dangerous liberal policies' in an interview with Breitbart.
The meme worked its way into the mainstream beyond political figures as well.
Southwest Airlines is investigating one of its pilots who said 'Let's go Brandon' over his intercom upon landing the plane.
He was apparently seen on a TikTok video telling passengers 'Let's go Brandon' at the end of the flight from Texas to New Mexico.
And a song by rapper Bryson Gray of the same name knocked superstar singer Adele off the top of the iTunes charts.
The controversial song, which contains provocative lyrics such as 'Joe is a crook', 'they buildin' back better, but only the Taliban', and 'pandemic ain't real, they planned it,' has been banned on YouTube for spreading 'harmful false information' about the coronavirus.
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