What the 'let's go Brandon' chant tells us about passive aggressive nature of conservative Christians | Opinion

“Let’s Go Brandon” became popular in October 2021 after fans at the Sparks 300 NASCAR race in Talladega were heard chanting “Fuck Joe Biden.” The NBC reporter Kelli Stavast who was interviewing Brandon Brown after his win told him the crowd was chanting “Let’s Go Brandon.” It’s unclear if she misheard the crowd or she purposefully altered it, given the content.

Since that event, fans of former President Trump, including Evangelical Christians, have been using the phrase as a sanitized way of criticizing President Biden. On Christmas Eve, Jared Schmeck became famous or infamous by ending his conversation with the president and his wife with “Merry Christmas and Let’s Go Brandon.”

A Guardian article quotes Schmeck as saying he’s not a Trumper, but he’s a “free-thinking American and follower of Jesus Christ.” Later, Schmeck says, “It was merely just an innocent jest to also express my God-given right to express my frustrations in a joking manner.” His combination of American free-thinking and free speech with Christianity, a typical approach in Evangelical Christianity, overlays a type of American patriotism with Christian rhetoric, which is troubling.

“Let’s go Brandon” allows Evangelicals to use a curse word to refer to a sitting president without using the actual word. Rather than saying what they are thinking and feeling—“F--- Joe Biden”—they use a sanitized means of doing so.

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This type of rhetoric is nothing new

Having taught at a Christian university for almost two decades, I heard my share of language Evangelicals use to avoid actually cursing: “Son of a biscuit eater”; “Judas Priest”; “Fudge.” “Let’s go Brandon” is different, though, as it’s not an expression of frustration over stubbing one’s toe or being cut off in traffic. “Let’s go Brandon” conveys forethought and malice. The speaker isn’t angry with anything Joe Biden has done right now—Schmeck had a pleasant conversation with the president—they are angry because Joe Biden is president.

The past few years have shown Evangelicals’ support for Donald Trump, but it has shifted since 2020. In a Dec. 20 TIME article, Samuel Perry states, “over two-thirds of white evangelicals felt the 2020 election had been stolen from Trump. And 63% believe the liberal media wildly exaggerated the threat of COVID-19 to damage Trump’s chances at re-election.”

Perry adds about the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 2021, “a full 70% disagree that Trump held any responsibility for the event.” These numbers show the source of the rage behind “Let’s go Brandon;” Biden is the president, and Trump isn’t.

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What the Bible says about authority

Traditionally, Evangelical Christians draw from the book of Romans to encourage others to submit to authorities. They quote Romans 13, which begins, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves”—New International Version. Evangelicals haven’t been quoting those verses recently, citing the stories of Moses and Daniel in relation to mask or vaccine mandates.

“Let’s go Brandon” gives Evangelicals a way to express rage at what they see as a stolen election without breaking the letter of the law. They submit to authorities by not saying, “F--- Joe Biden,” but they are rebelling against what they think is an unjust authority by using a phrase that means exactly that.

As with so many rhetorical phrases they use“love the sinner, but hate the sin or God-given right” to free speech—they want to have their supposedly American values align with their Christian beliefs. In reality, they’re being hypocritical in regards to both areas, behaving as if free speech that harms others is an American value and that harboring hatred for one’s neighbor—president or otherwise—is a Christian virtue.

Kevin Brown is a teacher and writer now living in Nashville.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Deeper meaning of chant 'let's go Brandon' explains conservative Christian rhetoric