So right off the top let me reiterate that I'm not super political. I don't go all Ga Ga for any one party or one politician. I do think that all politics in today's governments, the US especially, are mostly corrupt and have become the products of a global gaslighting that has been cultivated and manicured for decades. But the same can be said for business, social groups, civic organizations and, of course, religious groups.
That being said, I have to say I'm bemused to see our so-called leadership in this country so out-of-whack as to make logical and sane people like me scratch our heads.
First it was four years of Trump and his bombastic and narcissistic approach to everything. He contributed most to this crazy "Idiocracy" style of a national zeitgeist we're in the midst of these days. And the forces of people "for" his antics and "opposed" to them coalesced into the seemingly hardline combatants in a fight for the social order. It's a decidedly undeniable fact that we're in an "Us against Them" struggle. We've seen this before in history.
But now we have a president who, it seems, is very, very confused and/or deluded. Case in point, this televised call-in segment pasted below. I guess it was regarding the annual NORAD tracking of Santa Claus making his way over the skies of America delivering gifts for all the good boys and girls. A dad of a young one enjoying the cute "exercise" calls in and though the clip below doesn't show it, I would guess all went normally for the most part...until the end when the caller, after bidding a seemingly heartfelt good holiday to the Bidens then flatly states: "Let's Go Brandon."
Frankly, I predicted this would happen before this meme's 15-minutes-of-fame wore thin. I thought it would be at some town hall or some rally or something but this president doesn't do many of those. So it waited to pop up last night. On supposedly peaceful and loving Christmas Eve.
Here are the most shocking things about this, in my opinion:
1. The fact that someone would actually say this to the President of the United States, to his face, so matter-of-factly and with the First Lady right there. And on Christmas Eve!
2. Biden, after hearing the phrase, appeared to not know what it meant. HOW?! How could he not?! Surely someone on his staff would have briefed him about it long ago. It's been months now! No one, like me, predicted it would be uttered during an appearance by him and built a contingency plan for it? Does he not review his poll numbers on a regular basis?
3. After hearing it and showing no sign of a wince or regret that the caller said that, he then goes ahead and says: "I agree." WHAT???!! Doesn't he realize someone on national TV just told him, the President of the United States, TO HIS FACE: "FUCK YOU!" And, since he clearly is unaware of the phrase, why is he agreeing so readily? Isn't he thinking: "Who's Brandon?" He just wants to placate anyone and will agree to shit he doesn't even know about.
4. Then Biden asks the caller if they live in Oregon? Not sure what that has to do with anything, but the fact that he thought the caller would still be on the line is further proof of his inability to "read the room." Of course, either by the caller himself hanging up or the handlers of the broadcast cutting him immediately off there was no one there anymore.
5. Lastly, that this was uploaded to various media sites like NBC and The Independent...credible news outlets to be sure, but decidedly in the same insular camp as the Democrats is mind-boggling. I guess once the deed was done they couldn't rightly avoid posting about it since they knew the outlets like Fox and the like sure would. But politics aside, it still boils down to someone, albeit in the clever substitution speak of the well-known phrase, said that, boldly, on TV. Blows my mind.
Well, I guess there is some precedent, like the time that reporter took his shoes off and threw them, one at a time, at Bush. But at least Bush ducked!
And as I shake my head, I guess I'll leave it at that. The now some 13 years old footage playing in my head of a president speedily whipping around like Neo avoiding Agent Smith's bullets in The Matrix.
And we used to criticize Bush as being dim witted.
"C'mon Man!"
EDIT: Biden's clueless yet innocent reply and his reference to Oregon intrigued me. I looked up "Brandon" and "Oregon" and there's a University of Oregon football player named Brandon Dorlus. I bet you that's who Biden thought the caller was calling out. I guess Joe knows more about college football than social media memes.