"Let's go, Brandon" isn't a pleasantry.
The Oregon guy who said it to Joe and Jill Biden didn't blurt it accidentally.
Now Jared Schmeck is a celebrity hero.
My error was to think "Let's go, Brandon" was so normalized within some circles that it had become a familiar and positive affirmation, said in parting. I thought it was perhaps equivalent to "Have a nice day."
My point in yesterday's blog post was that Trump-oriented people on the political and religious right, people who publicly assert their Christianity, have conflated Trump with Christ. They have replaced Christian virtues with the Trump's warrior temperament and virtues. The replacement is necessary because this is wartime. I had thought that politics has so thoroughly infused Christian nationalism that coded "Fuck Joe Biden" had lost its meaning as crude insult. Therefore, Schmeck saying "Merry Christmas and Let's go Brandon" was borne of habit, not intention.
I was wrong. Jared Schmeck meant it as an insult. He took two days to get his political feet under him and get his story buttoned down, but he has done so. He is a celebrity guest in right wing media. I was fooled by the situation and his demeanor--until the last half second, which ended abruptly with a video edit. That made me question my conclusion. Here, again from yesterday, is the three-minute video:
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1ulpuUKI4Q |
I had understood this call to be primarily an interaction between parents of young children and the Bidens, acting as trackers of Santa. Parents of young children are familiar with this kind of intergenerational attention from older adults. The adults understand it to be part of the social education of children. The adults ask questions about toys and Santa, and the children's responses are greeted with apparent seriousness and enthusiasm. Kids are being taught that adults other than their parents are interested in them, and kids get practice interacting politely with adults. I saw it as socialization.
Jared Schmeck became a folk hero within right-wing media. He was criticized. That made him a victim. The liberals are howling because I exercised my free speech, he said.
He was invited to be on Steve Bannon's show, where he wore a MAGA hat and said he was a "Christian man." He said, "Donald Trump is my president and he should still be president right now. The election was 100% stolen. So, I just want to make that clear." Here is a two-minute clip:
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| Schmeck on Bannon's show |
Schmeck is having his moment. He is getting praise. He feeds the appetite of a very profitable audience segment. The segment represents much of the new GOP remade by Trump. This audience feels itself under siege. The dominant culture outvotes them and its values shape the primary organs of culture: News media, Hollywood, universities--but not Evangelical churches. The segment believes that Schmeck and people like him are victims, but Schmeck is fighting back. The culture is teaching their children things they don't want them taught. The culture calls them racist, both personally and in the institutions they created. It wants to tax them to give the money to people who don't deserve it.
Abortion is the primary wedge and it gives a bright line justification for feeling their cause is just. Beyond abortion, Schmeck is part of the opposition to the general cultural movement toward acceptance of diversity. White Christians are pushed from the default center of cultural and political power. They know it and don't like it. They want to fight a guerrilla war against it. In a guerrilla war, the normal rules of religion, democracy, politics and even courtesy don't count.
Schmeck is a hero. He poked the bear.
16 comments:
Is it really any surprise that so-called conservatives would turn a dork like Schmeck into one of their heroes? They did the same for Michael Flynn who advocated having a military coup in the U.S., and Ollie North who illegally sold weapons to Iran and gave the proceeds to Nicaraguan terrorists. Maybe Schmeck will become a Fox Noise commentator.
Being a colossal Jerk on a major, sacred Christian holiday in front of your children does not make anyone a hero. It shows us exactly who these fake Christians are. What a loser. Happy Birthday Jesus
Oh yeah, he meant it.
I made an observation some time ago that it seemed to me that one aspect of the MAGA mentality was disdain for authority, while at the same time celebrating the elevation of someone who clearly was authoritarian and certainly worthy of disdain. The effect being the "tail wagging the dog". I've long felt that Trump was the product of his fans, who saw in him a patrician who was willing to debase himself to win their praise. This of course is textbook cognitive dissonance.
Our media environment has been corrupted by the “social media algorithm“ effect; outrage grabs more attention anything else. It’s the equivalent of Gresham’s Law, which states that bad currency will drive good currency out of circulation.
Think of all the more important things that the nation could be paying attention to instead of what some Schmuck said.
But if we view our nation as a living thing and consider the level of development of its central nervous system, it may be at about the level of a horse; very reactive to threats, very short term in its limited thinking, very prone to herd behavior, not very smart, very distractible by bright shiny objects. Also big and potentially dangerous.
Meanwhile, the world is developing a new nervous system in the form of the Internet. So far, it looks like that one is even dumber than what we had before. But there’s hope that it might eventually evolve into something smarter if we’re lucky.
One hopeful sign: the planet can now detect potential asteroid threats and is rapidly developing the ability to do something about them. That’s not nothing.
This schmuck disrespected the highest office in the country and taught his kids a very poor lesson.
Isn't the eroding of respect for social norms one of the things that the MAGAt hate?
I see it all the time in Oregon, people disobeying traffic lights/signs, and anyone who dares to try to hold them accountable.
Yes, this guy is getting his 15 minutes of fame.
He will soon wonder why his children and his community disrespect him. I feel sorry for his spouse.
The jokes on Schmeck. He may think people think he's a hero.
But this media attention is just exploiting him and further holding up his family and employer to ridicule.
I blame Schmeck's parents. I pity his children.
Schmeck. Schmuck, Meiskeit. Yiddish speakers alway have a word for the occassion.
So this guy used to work for Medford PD? I wonder what happened ...
Go to CONAN AND FIND OUT THE 13 interesting info about his Daddy, Bill Schmeck. The company Winema Electric Co. web
site in Klamath has crashed, just a statement with Christian gobble de gook thrown in. A classy guy making classy children. Comment on any site you find him, track him down…Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, no mercy.
Resigned in lieu of termination obviously. Better question is how did he get hired?
Two wrongs don’t make an adult. I pity him none but yeah, doesn’t sound like the greatest of ideas. Beat them at the ballot box instead.
I did read yesterday that the Senior Shmmeck is just as much a Schmuck as Junior, and allegedly got $440 Thousand in Covid Relief loans, for which there has been no repayment.
I don't know that's obvious.
Maybe he decided law enforcement wasn't for him?
But then, in law enforcement you need to be a professional and respect the authority of the office, even if you don't like the person.
His well-publicized disrespect of POTUS indicates trouble with that concept.
Are you familiar with the term "bleed the beast"? The idea is to soak the government (us taxpayers) so government goes broke and can't function.
It's a well-known concept of some religions that dislike government because it encourages equality and isn't based on superstitions.
Of course, it's also rooted in greed. People who bleed the beast don't want anyone else to get government assistance.
Garbage in, repurposed garbage out?
Hey Schmuck,
Who would Jesus do?
Tell someone to F off?
They must have covered that after I left the church (for good).
Let's Go Schmuck!
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