'I agree': Biden responds to dad who said 'let's go, Brandon' as the president took a Christmas Eve call with children
- A parent told President Joe Biden "let's go, Brandon" after Biden wished his kids a merry Christmas.
- Biden replied, "Let's go, Brandon. I agree," and moved on.
A father told President Joe Biden "let's go, Brandon" — a conservative euphemism for "fuck Joe Biden" — on Friday morning after Biden wished the man's children a merry Christmas and told them to be in bed by 9 p.m.
Biden allowed the insult to slide and replied: "Let's go, Brandon. I agree."
You can watch a video of the exchange here:
The father, who a White House pool report said is named Jared, tossed the insult as the president and first lady Jill Biden held a series of calls with families while monitoring Santa's progress through the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center tracker.
"Santa's really moving, man," Biden said at the beginning of the event. "That's a heavy sleigh, man."
Jared's four children had wildly different requests for Christmas presents: One asked for a piano, while another said she'd be "happy with anything." One of his sons, named Hunter, asked for a Nintendo Switch. Jared closed out the call by saying, "Merry Christmas, and let's go, Brandon," the pool report said.
The phrase took off earlier this year, after a reporter apparently misheard a chant of "fuck Joe Biden" as "let's go, Brandon" while interviewing the NASCAR driver Brandon Brown. Earlier this week, Brown told The New York Times he found the chant distracting.
Presidents wishing children a merry Christmas is an annual tradition and typically goes by without note. The last time the event made news was in 2018, when President Donald Trump quizzed a 7-year-old about whether she still believed in Santa Claus.
"Are you still a believer in Santa?" Trump asked. "'Cause at 7, it's marginal, right?"