'Let's Go Brandon' rapper Bryson Gray boots Adele out of No. 1 spot with banned anti-Biden song
When Republican Rep. Bill Posey of Florida ended an Oct. 21 House floor speech with a fist pump and the phrase βLetβs go, Brandon!β it may have seemed cryptic and weird to many who were listening. But the phrase was already growing in right-wing circles, and now the seemingly upbeat sentiment -- actually a stand-in for swearing at Joe Biden -- is everywhere.
South Carolina Republican Jeff Duncan wore a βLetβs Go Brandonβ face mask at the Capitol last week. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posed with a βLetβs Go Brandonβ sign at the World Series. Sen. Mitch McConnellβs press secretary retweeted a photo of the phrase on a construction sign in Virginia.
The line has become conservative code for something far more vulgar: βFβ- Joe Biden.β It's all the rage among Republicans wanting to prove their conservative credentials, a not-so-secret handshake that signals theyβre in sync with the partyβs base.
Americans are accustomed to their leaders being publicly jeered, and former President Donald Trumpβs often-coarse language seemed to expand the boundaries of what counts as normal political speech.
But how did Republicans settle on the Brandon phrase as a G-rated substitute for its more vulgar three-word cousin?
It started at an Oct. 2 NASCAR race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Brandon Brown, a 28-year-old driver, had won his first Xfinity Series and was being interviewed by an NBC Sports reporter. The crowd behind him was chanting something at first difficult to make out.
The reporter suggested they were chanting βLetβs go, Brandonβ to cheer the driver. But it became increasingly clear they were saying: βFβ- Joe Biden.β
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Other political news this week:
The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2022
1. Pennsylvania
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Incumbent: Republican Pat Toomey (retiring)
The biggest development in the Keystone State, which remains the seat most likely to flip partisan control, was Trump earlier this month wading into the GOP primary to replace retiring Sen. Pat Toomey. He backed Army veteran Sean Parnell, who lost a 2020 House bid to Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb (who's running for the Democratic nod for this seat). Parnell already had support from the former President's son, Donald Trump Jr., so getting the elder Trump's backing wasn't a big surprise. But rather than doing anything to clear the field, the endorsement may be making this race more ugly, with businessman Jeff Bartos launching personal attacks on Parnell. Democrats are happy to see Republicans go after each other, while they attack the GOP on issues ranging from partisan audits to abortion restrictions. Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh, for example, who's running with the backing of EMILY's List and 314 Action, has been outspoken about the threat to abortion rights and the importance of the Supreme Court. "A woman physician has never served in the U.S. Senate before -- ever," she wrote in a recent op-ed touting her science background. Republicans, however, think a national environment that looks worse for Biden could help them hold onto this seat, especially with the biggest fundraiser in the race pushing the party to the left on some issues. "Stop apologizing for the space we take up as a party and ram some stuff through and get it done," Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman told CNN in a recent interview about his strong belief in eliminating the filibuster. That's just what Republicans want to hear as they look to attack him as too extreme for this purple state. Still, Democrats have the edge in a state that Biden carried in 2020.
2. Georgia
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Incumbent: Democrat Raphael Warnock
Former football star Herschel Walker, the man who was freezing the Republican field in Georgia for months, finally launched his Senate campaign late last month, which was quickly followed by an unsurprising Trump endorsement. The former President is holding a rally in the Peach State this weekend, where he's sure to share his thoughts on candidates up and down the ballot there as he seeks revenge on Republicans whom he thinks were insufficiently supportive of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, who's tried to attack Walker, is still running for the GOP nomination, as are a handful of others. It remains to be seen how much establishment Republicans worried about Walker's candidacy can do about it now that he's in the race with Trump's backing. But Sen. Raphael Warnock, who's running for a full six-year term, is glad to have the Democratic field to himself as he raises money for what's sure to be a hotly competitive general election race, regardless of how the GOP primary shakes out. After winning the presidential contest here, as well as two Senate runoffs that flipped the balance of the chamber, Democrats are hopeful that a competitive governor's race -- and especially a potential Stacey Abrams candidacy -- will help juice turnout in a non-presidential election year.
3. Wisconsin
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Incumbent: Republican Ron Johnson
It's the question that no one seems to know the answer to -- except, maybe, the senior senator from Wisconsin himself: Is Ron Johnson running for a third term? At this point, given his penchant for saying controversial things about the 2020 election, the January 6 insurrection, the coronavirus and vaccines, Democrats seem to be just as happy running against the two-term Republican as they would be if he retired and this were an open seat. Only 35% of Wisconsin voters viewed Johnson favorably in a Marquette University Law School poll from mid-August, while 42% viewed him unfavorably. But his lowest net favorability was in November 2015, the year before he came from behind to win a second term. Republicans point to that 2016 election to argue that Johnson, who previously promised to serve only two terms, has been discounted before. While ambitious Republicans wait in the wings to see what Johnson will do, Democrats have a very crowded field. Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes recently picked up a high-profile progressive endorsement in Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
4. Arizona
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Incumbent: Democrat Mark Kelly
Nearly a year after Biden won Arizona and Democrat Mark Kelly unseated GOP Sen. Martha McSally, Republicans are still litigating the 2020 election here. Attorney General Mark Brnovich had earned Trump's ire for not doing enough to audit the state's election results, despite there being no evidence of fraud. "Hopefully he's going to do what everybody knows has to be done," Trump said of the attorney general at a late June rally in the state. Since then, Brnovich has leaned into the partisan review pushed by the GOP-led state Senate, threatening to withhold funds from Maricopa County because he alleged the county's supervisors did not fully respond to a subpoena for the so-called audit. And earlier this month, Brnovich announced the state is suing the Biden administration for "federal overreach" over the President's vaccine mandates. Meanwhile, a super PAC supporting Blake Masters, the president of the Thiel Foundation, went up with an ad earlier this month hitting Brnovich for "saying President Trump is wrong on voter fraud" and "making excuses instead of standing with our president." Democrats are happy to have Republicans attacking each other -- and pushing each other to the right -- as Kelly wracks up money. They're hoping that 2020 election denialism, while perhaps an important litmus test in the GOP primary, will be unpalatable to general election voters next November. Republicans, however, contend that issues like immigration will be of far greater importance next fall, which is why they've been attacking Kelly on the border and trying to use fellow Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema as a moderate foil to make him look too liberal.
5. North Carolina
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Incumbent: Republican Richard Burr (retiring)
Trump endorsed in the GOP primary to replace retiring Sen. Richard Burr back in June, throwing his support behind Rep. Ted Budd in a surprise announcement in front of other contenders. But former Gov. Pat McCrory and former Rep. Mark Walker aren't backing down. Meanwhile, the political arm of the Conservative Club for Growth, which has stood by Budd since helping him emerge from a 17-way House primary in 2016, is taking the airwaves to attack McCrory, arguing that he cannot win because he lost reelection in 2016 when Trump won the state. Walker has tried to make a similar argument about McCrory, while both he and McCrory have piled on Budd. Trump carried the Tar Heel State by just over a point in 2020, making this potentially competitive terrain even if Republicans start with the early advantage. State Sen. Jeff Jackson, who's been in the race since January, had raised the most money on the Democratic side by the end of the second quarter. But former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, who joined the race in late April, raised $1.3 million during the second quarter. Besides EMILY's List, she has the backing of Higher Heights PAC, which works to elect progressive Black women, and the political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus, reflecting the enthusiasm for a non-White male candidate helping turn out minority voters in a non-presidential year, especially in some of the rural areas where Republicans have continued to hold an advantage.
6. New Hampshire
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Incumbent: Democrat Maggie Hassan
As Republicans grow more excited about Gov. Chris Sununu possibly running for Senate, Democrats are finding more reasons to argue that electing a Republican at the federal level in New Hampshire isn't the same as electing one to serve in Concord. They're largely turning to abortion to make that case, highlighting a budget the governor signed that included abortion restrictions and the Executive Council's recent vote to defund Planned Parenthood and family planning providers. (Sununu does not have a vote on the council and called the vote "incredibly disappointing" in a statement.) Despite the state trending blue at the federal level, Republicans are convinced that first-term Sen. Maggie Hassan is highly vulnerable, and both sides admit this race isn't likely to look like 2020, when Sen. Jeanne Shaheen won reelection by nearly 16 points. But Sununu keeps pushing back his timeline for making a decision about running, so, for now, Hassan has the race largely to herself. She released her first TV ad earlier this month -- a positive spot that touches on her father's service in World War II and her own work for veterans. Even if the governor doesn't run, however, Hassan could have a strong challenger in former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, whom the Democrat beat by just over 1,000 votes in 2016.
7. Nevada
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Incumbent: Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto
Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto finally has a high-profile opponent in former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, whom national Republicans had long eyed as the top challenger but who officially launched his campaign at the end of August. He's the rare GOP candidate who was recruited by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and has Trump's endorsement, making it more likely he'll have the GOP field mostly to himself as other ambitious Republicans jockey for the gubernatorial nomination. As Tump's campaign co-chair in the Silver State, Laxalt followed the former President's lead on false charges of voter fraud, for which Trump praised him in offering his endorsement last month, and he's already made some noise about filing lawsuits in 2022. Democrats are hoping his embrace of Trump's election fraud narrative will help tie him to the former President and turn off voters in a state that Biden carried last fall. His position on abortion could be also be litigated in the general election, especially since Nevada has a history of GOP leaders who have been more supportive of abortion rights, like former GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval. Democrats hope to argue that Laxalt is out of touch with voters on the issue. Still, Biden only carried the Silver State by just over 2 points, and Cortez Masto is running for her first reelection, so Democrats aren't taking anything for granted here, especially with an uncertain post-pandemic electorate.
8. Florida
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Incumbent: Republican Marco Rubio
GOP Sen. Marco Rubio starts with the advantage in this state that Trump carried by 3 points last year. But Democratic Rep. Val Demings, who outraised Rubio in the second quarter, is proving to be a strong fundraiser who could give the Republican senator a real race. Rubio is trying to tie Demings to "the socialist squad" and Democrats' physical and human infrastructure bills. (Rubio voted against the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill in the Senate last month.) Demings has attacked Rubio for traveling to Iowa late last month while Florida is dealing with the Delta variant surge.
9. Ohio
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Incumbent: Republican Rob Portman (retiring)
GOP Sen. Rob Portman's decision to retire has opened up a crowded GOP primary, with most contenders trying to "outTrump" each other in a state the former President won by 8 points. State Sen. Matt Dolan, who entered the race this week, cuts a more moderate profile. He supports the bipartisan infrastructure bill that Portman negotiated, according to an interview with Cleveland.com, and has been critical of Trump's election lies. But it's unclear how much traction he can get in a GOP primary where the former President's influence is king with the base. Trump already attacked Dolan, whose family owns Cleveland's baseball team, for "cancel culture" because they decided to change the team's name. Former state treasurer Josh Mandel has been courting that conservative base hard, attacking refugees despite his own family history. JD Vance, the author of "Hillbilly Elegy," has been leading in earned media attention and is wracking up endorsements from conservative leaders like Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, the chair of the largest conservative caucus in the House. Those endorsements could help compensate for his prior criticism of Trump, which his opponents are eager to use against him. Former state party chair Jane Timken, businessmen Mike Gibbons and Bernie Moreno are also running. On the Democratic side, Rep. Tim Ryan recently got a challenge from his left in Morgan Harper, who's arguing that she can drive the minority turnout needed to turn Ohio blue. Harper lost a 2020 primary challenge to Rep. Joyce Beatty, who's now the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and has backed Ryan.
10. Missouri
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Incumbent: Republican Roy Blunt (retiring)
Missouri continues to occupy the 10th spot on this list because of the chance that the Republican nominee to replace retiring Sen. Roy Blunt will give Democrats an opening. But it would be a massively uphill climb for Democrats to flip this seat blue in a state that Trump won by 15 points. Their best hope is former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned from office following a probe into allegations of sexual and campaign misconduct, winning the GOP nomination and creating a Todd Akin situation. The 2012 Senate nominee's "legitimate rape" comments cost Republicans the Missouri Senate seat and imperiled GOP nominees across the country. Greitens, who has been picking up endorsements from Trump world -- recently former national security adviser Michael Flynn, for example -- hardly has the field to himself. Attorney General Eric Schmitt is running, with his super PAC allies leaning into his suit against mask mandates in schools to tout his candidacy. Reps. Billy Long and Vicky Hartzler are also running, as is Mark McCloskey, whom the Republican governor pardoned last month after he and his wife had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges for pointing guns at protesters near their home last summer. While GOP voters will have plenty of candidates to choose from, more candidates means a more splintered vote, which could lower the threshold it takes for Greitens to win the nomination.
Interactive: 10 Senate seats most likely to flip
UpdatedAn analysis: The 10 seats most likely to flip
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President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 response and vaccinations in the State Dining Room of the White House, Friday, Sept. 24, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
After a rough month for President Joe Biden, Republicans think they have more than historical precedent on their side to retake the Senate in 2022.
Traditionally, the party out of the White House does better in the midterms. But the surging Delta variant, a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and intra-party fissures on Capitol Hill have all threatened Biden's agenda -- and his ability to communicate it throughout the summer -- giving Republicans more to work with as they try to retake the Senate.
Biden's approval rating stood at 52% in a recent CNN poll conducted by SSRS, with 69% of Americans saying things are going badly in this country. Sixty-two percent of Americans said that economic conditions in the US are poor -- up from 45% in April. That's bad news for Democrats, who only enjoy a majority because Vice President Kamala Harris is the tie-breaking vote in the chamber.
But it's far too early to assume that the national mood heading into the fall will look anything like the political climate of November 2022.
And the worsening atmosphere for Biden hasn't yet altered which Senate races are most competitive. Pennsylvania, where GOP Sen. Pat Toomey is retiring, is still the seat most likely to flip partisan control -- for the sixth month of CNN's Senate race ranking. The top 10 Senate seats most likely to flip are based on CNN's reporting and fundraising data, as well as historical data about how states and candidates have performed. As the cycle heats up, more polling and advertising spending data will become factors.
Despite the roadblocks on Capitol Hill -- many from within their own party, as moderates and progressives in both chambers squabble over timing, scope and size of legislation -- Democrats are hoping to have significant accomplishments to tout by this time next year. The Senate has already passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill, while a much more expansive economic package, if passed, would enact much of Biden's economic agenda. Republicans see a massive spending bill they can attack Democrats over, but Democrats are hoping it'll give them tangible kitchen table benefits to talk about, like lower prescription drug costs and paid family leave.
Republicans have also given Democrats some ammunition to fire up their base in an off-year election where turnout, on both sides, is an open question without former President Donald Trump on the ballot. Texas' six-week abortion ban has reinjected reproductive rights and the Supreme Court into the national conversation. Nationally, public opinion is firmly on the side of abortion rights -- fewer than one-third of Americans want to see the Roe v. Wade decision overturned, according to a set of three polls released over the past week. It depends what state they're running in, but Democrats may look to use this issue to paint their GOP opponents as out of touch, especially in places like Nevada and New Hampshire.
The map of competitive Senate races doesn't look anything like California, which Biden carried by nearly 30 points last year, but Democrats have been heartened to see that running on Covid restrictions can be an effective message after this month's GOP-driven recall of California Gov. Gavin Newsom failed. About 48% -- a plurality in the California exit poll -- said that the Democratic governor's coronavirus policies were "about right." Another 18% said they were "not strict enough." Nationally, support for vaccine mandates has grown, with more than half of Americans supporting them for the workplace, in-person classes and concerts and sporting events, according to CNN's recent poll.
One reason, Democratic and Republican strategists agreed, that Newsom was able to capitalize on that message is he had a foil in Republican Larry Elder and was able to credibly tie him to Trump. And while that may have worked uniquely well in California, Trump -- even without a social media presence -- is still leaving his footprint on primaries as he hand-picks some candidates and torches others.
The former President, who had already endorsed in North Carolina earlier this summer, made endorsements in open GOP primaries in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada over the past month, while Republicans in Ohio, Arizona and Missouri are still duking it out over fealty to him.
It remains to be seen, however, just how much those endorsements matter.
Photos: Presidents and popes over the years
President Eisenhower and Pope John XXIII
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In this Dec. 6, 1959 file photo, President Dwight D. Eisenhower walks with Pope John XXIII at the Vatican.Β
President Kennedy and Pope Paul VI
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President John F. Kennedyβs 1963 meeting with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican was historic: The first Roman Catholic president of the United States was seeing the Roman Catholic pontiff only days after his coronation. Kennedy, who faced anti-Catholic bias during his presidential campaign, shook hands with the pope rather than kissing his ring, as is the usual practice for Catholics.
President Johnson and Pope Paul VI
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Pope Paul VIβs trip to New York in October 1965 presented protocol problems. President Lyndon Johnson wanted to see him, but the pontiff was a chief of a state not officially recognized by the U.S. The solution: Johnson flew to New York for dinner at the apartment of his friend Arthur Goldberg, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and the pontiff was welcomed to Johnsonβs suite at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel the next day.
Johnson had a penchant for somewhat odd papal presents. At that 1965 meeting, his gifts to Paul included a silver-framed, autographed photograph of himself. Two years later, at their next meeting at the Vatican, Johnson presented the pontiff with a foot-high bust of himself.
In this Oct. 4, 1965, file photo Pope Paul VI, left, and President Lyndon B. Johnson are seen during the Pontiff's visit to New York.
President Nixon and Pope Paul VI
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In this Sept. 28, 1970 file photo President Richard Nixon talks with Pope Paul VI as they meet in the Vatican.
President Carter and Pope John Paul II
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Jimmy Carter was the first president to play host to a pope at the White House. Pope John Paul II's stay at the White House featured 10,000 guests -- split between separate arrival and departure ceremonies on the North and South Lawns.
In this Oct. 6, 1979 file photo President Jimmy Carter, right, talks with Pope John Paul II at the White House in Washington.Β
President Reagan and Pope John Paul II
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President Ronald Reagan had trouble keeping his eyes open on his first visit to the Vatican in 1982. Reaganβs head bobbed and his eyes repeatedly closed for seconds at a time while John Paul talked solemnly of crises in the Falkland Islands and Lebanon. The incident came during a 10-day European trip with a packed schedule for Reagan. But it fed already rampant talk that the 71-year-old president wasnβt physically up to the job.
Reagan sparked controversy over the separation of church and state in 1984 by establishing formal U.S. diplomatic relations with the Vatican, a long desire of the Holy See. Shortly afterward, Reagan and John Paul met during refueling stops at the airport in Fairbanks, Alaska (their paths were crossing as one finished and one began trips to Asia). The Alaska stop generated lots of excitement, but also scores of T-shirts reading βThe Pope Meets the Dope.β
In this June 7, 1982 file photo, President Ronald Reagan and his wife, first lady, Nancy Reagan, meet Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.Β
President George H.W. Bush and Pope John Paul II
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In this Nov. 8, 1991, file photo Pope John Paul II invites U.S. President George Bush, accompanied by his wife, Barbara, to meet members of the clergy gathered in the Vatican's Clementine Hall. The President and the Pope met after the President attended the NATO Summit in Rome.
President Clinton and Pope John Paul II
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For his last of four meetings with Pope John Paul, President Bill Clinton flew to St. Louis to greet the pontiff as he began a U.S. tour. Back in Washington, the Senate was in the throes of its impeachment trial against Clinton, and John Paul said βAmerica faces a time of trial.β But it was generally assumed that the pontiff, who also challenged Americans to βa higher moral vision,β was speaking about his long-running and sharp dispute with Clinton over the president's support for abortion rights.
In this Aug. 12, 1993, file photo, President Bill Clinton points out people in the crowd to Pope John Paul II as he arrives in Denver, Colo.Β
President George W. Bush and Pope John Paul II
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At George W. Bushβs last meeting with John Paul, at the Vatican in June 2004, he presented the pope with the Medal of Freedom, the nationβs highest civilian honor. The pontiff responded by reading a statement about his βgrave concernβ over events in Iraq, where the U.S.-led war had been going on for just over a year.
After John Paul died in 2005, Bush became the first sitting U.S. president to attend a papal funeral.
In this June 4, 2004, file photo, President Bush is greeted by Pope John Paul II upon their meeting in his private library at the Vatican.Β
President George W. Bush and Pope Benedict XVI
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At his first audience with John Paulβs successor, Pope Benedict XVI, Bushβs overly casual behavior was noted by many Italians and Vatican watchers. He addressed the pope as βsir,β rather than the customary βyour holiness,β and leaned far back in his chair with one leg thrown informally over another, instead of the ramrod-straight physical posture more commonly seen in the pontiffβs presence. Romeβs ANSA agency flashed a βGaffe Presidenteβ headline.
For Benedictβs first U.S. tour as pope, there were several presidential firsts: Bush traveled to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to meet the pontiffβs plane, brought the largest crowd of his presidency to the South Lawn for Benedictβs arrival ceremony, and hosted a dinner in the popeβs honor that Benedict didn't attend.
In this June 13, 2008, file photo, Pope Benedict XVI and President George W. Bush walk in the Vatican Gardens during their meeting at the Vatican.Β
President Obama and Pope Francis
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Former President Barack Obama met with Pope Francis twice, once at the Vatican in 2014 and again during the popeβs 2015 visit to the U.S., where Obama met Francis on the tarmac at Andrews and played host in the Oval Office. Before 11,000 people on the South Lawn of the White House, Obama praised the pope as a βliving example of Jesusβ teachings,β while Francis lauded Obama for his commitment to addressing climate change.
In this March 27, 2014 file photo, Pope Francis and President Barack Obama smile as they meet at the Vatican.
President Trump and Pope Francis
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Former President Donald Trump had a famously prickly relationship with Pope Francis. The two sparred during the 2016 campaign, with Francis taking a veiled swipe at Trump by declaring that people who think only of building barriers instead of bridges are βnot Christian.β Trump, who campaigned on building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, called the comments βdisgracefulβ and suggested the Mexican government was using Francis as a pawn. When the two met at the Vatican in 2017, photos showed a stone-faced Francis standing next to a grinning Trump. The president later said their meeting had been βfantastic.β
In this May 24, 2017, file photo President Donald Trump stands with Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican.
