It was probably inevitable that we were going to get this at some point. President Biden’s predecessor has finally shared some public comments about the viral “Let’s Go, Brandon!” meme that serves as a euphemistic f-bomb directed at the current occupant of the White House.
Just a few days ago, at Trump’s palatial Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the former president was speaking at an event. Eventually, the audience started chanting “Let’s go, Brandon!” In response, Trump reportedly quipped that “I still like the first phrase better somehow. It’s more accurate.” To understand what he means, in case you’re not already aware, it helps to be reminded of where the phrase came from in the first place.
Trump reaction to viral catchphrase
Donald Trump prefers the profane version of ‘Let’s go Brandon!’ https://t.co/mRjvUe0oTS pic.twitter.com/eSpEfTMXVE
— New York Post (@nypost) November 8, 2021
It stems from a NASCAR race in early October, at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. NBC sports reporter Kelli Stavast was interviewing winner Brandon Brown afterward. The crowd was chanting — live, on-air — a three-word f-bomb directed at President Biden. And whether Stavast misheard the chant or not, she told Brown that the crowd seemed to be saying, “Let’s go, Brandon!”
That crowd’s actual chant is what Trump was saying he prefers.
Needless to say, the popularity of the phrase has exploded in recent weeks. Saturday Night Live even filmed a sketch about it, which got cut last weekend for time but ended up on the SNL YouTube channel.
“Brandon has become a big star”
Trump Cracking Up At “Let’s Go Brandon” Chant pic.twitter.com/H7kPkURzUa
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) November 1, 2021
“I still haven’t figured out, was that young, attractive female reporter — was she trying to cover (it) up?” Trump asked the crowd, a reference to some people’s belief that the NBC reporter misrepresented the crowd’s chant on purpose. “Or was she being nice? Did she not understand what was happening? She works for NBC. So it’s about 94% sure that she knew exactly what she was doing.
“Anyway, well, Brandon has become a big star. Nobody ever heard of this guy. Now, he’s one of the biggest stars. Nobody ever heard of Brandon’s history.”
At other points during the event, Trump blasted Biden for helming what the former attacked as a “failed presidency.” He didn’t directly address the prospect of whether he’d run again in 2024. But the feeling reported among some crowd members seemed to be that he would.
“We have great, great people in our party,” Trump is said to have remarked. “But this is a much different party. They even call it the party of Trump. And I said, ‘it’s not the party of Trump’. This is the party of all of you in this room, and this is going to long outlast Trump. This is a great thing that we’ve done in a very short period of time.”
