"Let's go, Brandon" and the demise of conservative sloganeering
As slogans go, “Let’s go, Brandon” is abysmally stupid.
“Let’s go, Brandon” is not a slogan created out of the Trumpists’ desire to communicate their hatred of President Joe Biden. It was an NBC reporter at a NASCR race trying to interview a driver named Brandon Brown while the crowd screamed “Fuck, Joe Biden” In trying to save a potentially ruined interview with the winner of the race, the reporter said the crowd was shouting “Let’s go, Brandon” .
I’ve been to NASCAR races, no one shouts “Let’s go" to the winner of the race. They certainly don’t do it, when the win is on a technicality (The race in Talladega was called with 5 laps to go due to darkness). Just ask Bubba Wallace1.
And “Let’s go, Brandon” as a coded conservative slogan has become more of a trigger for the Right than a rallying cry. The Left has used the “Brandon” phrase to highlight Biden’s achievements and successes.
Luckily for the Right, the Left is not adroit enough to thumbs up the “Let’s go, Brandon” apparel wearing Trumpists and say “Number 68. Big fan!2” That would not merely trigger, it would make the wearer implode.
As a general rule conservative slogans outdo liberal ones. Conservative slogans are highlighted by their over-simplifications and brevity. Nuance and integrity are rarely distillable into 3 or 4 words.
“Build the Wall” solves nothing and expensively so. Worse still, its popularity died when the people shouting it were told they had to pay for it.
“Drill, Baby, Drill” and its call for unabashed off-shore drilling wouldn’t produce a gallon of gas for years.
“Lock her Up” is nothing more than a Trump threat turned slogan and procedurally fifth or sixth in time in criminal prosecutions. Pesky things a crime, evidence thereto, etc. such must happen first.
The Right is obsessed with reducing its positions and views into the Orwellian NewSpeak. Condensing down political views into an amalgam of acronyms (e.g. CRT, AOC, MAGA), nicknames (e.g. the Squad), and terse political communication is essential. Just ask a dittohead3.
But “Let’s Go, Brandon” is a whole new level of political messaging failure.
Think about the phrase “Let’s go”. What are we doing? Taking a trip, going shopping, carpooling? Maybe we are picking a fight. It certainly does not speak to victory or viewpoints.
Four syllables, three words, and a quick thinking sports reporter created it. It means very little and messages nothing. Just ask Brandon Brown.
In refusing to take the political bait, he tweeted “To all the other Brandons out there, You're welcome! Let's go us"
The political Right has attached itself to a rhyming dictionary to mute a vulgar expression.
Bubba Wallace, an African-American NASCAR driver, won in Talladega last month in a race that was called with several laps to go due to rain.
Brandon Brown’s NASCAR number is 68.
Dittoheads were fans of Rush Limbaugh. Callers would often start their comments with “Ditto to what the last guy said….”. Ditto replaced words, sentences, and additional discussion of a topic in 2 syllables and 5 letters.