‘Let’s go Brandon’ and the hysteria of the elites: A viral joke at Joe Biden's expense is being treated as a threat to American democracy.

It really is everywhere. Last week, a Southwest Airlines pilot even signed off his passenger address with a ‘Let’s go Brandon’. Which makes a change to being told to check if you’ve got all your belongings.

The popularity of the meme isn’t hard to understand, especially among long-demonised Trump supporters. Firstly, it provides a mockery of that endless, loud-hailed, celeb-mouthed ‘Fuck Trump’ that accompanied much of the previous president’s time in office. Secondly, it emerged from what looked like an all-too-typical mainstream media attempt to airbrush out any criticism of Our Saviour Joe Biden. And thirdly, liberals find it really, really annoying.

As a result, the ‘Let’s go Brandon’ meme has provoked a flurry of po-faced criticism from the liberal mainstream. Associated Press treated the phrase as if understanding it required a PhD in the hermeneutics of right-wing subculture, calling it ‘conservative code for something far more vulgar’, and deeming it a ‘slur’. Dana Milbank, writing in the Washington Post, says that while ‘half of America’s leaders are trying to govern… the other half are hurling vulgarities’. Another comment piece claims that those deploying the phrase are ‘weaponising the vulgar dehumanisation of our entire democratic – small-d – experiment’.

Can they hear themselves? They’re talking about a bit of accidental rhyming slang, not a far-right call-to-arms.

Besides, where exactly were all these self-appointed guardians of civility during Trump’s fractious tenure? He was serenaded by ‘Fuck Trump’ for every single day of his four years in power. No anti-Trump protest was complete without a four-letter salute to The Donald. Back then, bien pensant liberals celebrated these f-bombs. At the 2018 Tony Awards, Robert De Niro memorably announced, ‘I’m gonna say one thing. Fuck Trump.’ He was given a standing ovation.