Man who uttered ‘Let’s go Brandon’ during Biden call-in event mulls running for office

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden participate in NORAD’s Santa tracker event at the White House in Washington on Dec. 24. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

An Oregon man who invoked a coded vulgar insult of President Biden during a Christmas Eve call-in event with the president and first lady is considering running for office and says he would welcome former president Donald Trump’s blessing.

“I want to pray about it, see what God has for me,” Jared Schmeck said of his political ambitions during an interview this week with conservative Christian broadcaster Todd Starnes that focused on his use of the phrase “Let’s go Brandon.”

“At the end of the day, I want [God’s] will for my life and the direction that it goes,” Schmeck added. “And I strongly believe that standing up is the right thing to do here as long as that message that I’m portraying is glorifying his name. And yeah, I’ll see where it goes.”

“Something tells me if you do run, you’ll be invited to a certain place in Florida,” Starnes said, referring to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, where the former president now lives.

“I would be honored,” Schmeck replied.

Schmeck garnered national attention on Dec. 24 when he called in to an event hosted by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Biden and first lady Jill Biden spoke to parents and children during the event as NORAD tracked Santa’s progress around the globe.

Schmeck, a father of four, ended his call-in by uttering the conservative catchphrase, “Let’s go Brandon,” prompting a startled Biden to say, “Let’s go Brandon, I agree.”

The phrase is a stand-in for a cruder anti-Biden chant that has erupted at sports venues and rallies across the country. It stems from a reporter misinterpreting a chant after a NASCAR race.

Since the Dec. 24 episode, Schmeck has been embraced by Trump allies, including former White House aide Stephen K. Bannon, who hosted Scheck as a guest on his podcast. During his appearance, Schmeck repeated Trump’s baseless claim that the 2020 election was “stolen.”

“Donald Trump is my president, and he should still be president right now,” Schmeck told Bannon. “The election was 100 percent stolen. I just want to make that clear.”

In explaining his use of the vulgar phrase, Schmeck said, “ ‘Let’s go Brandon’ is more than just ‘F Joe Biden.’ ”

“‘Let’s go Brandon’ encompasses the entirety of our frustration with Joe Biden, the administration, the leftist mob, the cancel culture, the mainstream media,” he said.