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Why Are the Media Treating ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Like Criminal Hate Speech?

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Kelli Stavast, NBC’s reporter was talking to Brandon Brown about his win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sparks300 race. When Brown won, fans began chanting “fuck Joe Biden.” However, that wasn’t what Stavast actually heard.

And so the “let’s go Brandon” chant—a less vulgar way of signaling one’s opposition to the current president—was born. It is a popular chant at sporting events. Conservatives often tweet at one another. So are even Republican politicians. Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas) has been known to say it.

What are you waiting for?

While it was perfectly acceptable for Democrats to hurl abuse at former President Donald Trump during his presidency, certain liberal media leaders have decided that the more mild “let’s Go Brandon” chant, while mild, is an extremely violent outburst. CNN commentator Asha Rangappa said that it is similar to pro-ISIS statements.

Her specific reference was to an incident that occurred during a Southwest Airlines flight. According to reports, the pilot had said “let’s go Brandon” which caused a Twitter storm earlier this week. Juliette Kayyem (a Harvard professor and CNN analyst) said that the flight passengers should complain to the Federal Aviation Administration.

She replied that he said these words to reflect the possibility of substance abuse or anger management.

Chris Hahn, progressive political strategist and commentator accusedPilot of Sympathy with Terrorist[s]” CNN’s Joe Lockhart attackedSouthwest Airlines for not firing the pilot immediately. This incident is under investigation by Southwest Airlines.

Remember that the Associated Press article that claimed that a pilot made that statement triggered this panic. Although we don’t have any audio footage, I was able to listen to the audio of another incident in which a pilot said “let’s Go Brandon”. He really did sound like he was saying, “let’s Go Braves,” which is the name of the team. It’s possible that he was misinterpreting the situation, although I’m not sure. Although it was not, we shouldn’t treat Brandon’s utterance of “let’s go Brandon” as a terrorist act or crime.

Make no mistake: The chant is clearly First Amendment–protected speech, even if some would consider it Anti-SemitismIt is. Hate speech is not something progressive activists mistakenly assume. IsFree speech. Because there is no universally accepted definition of hate speech and no Supreme Court rulings supporting it, there’s no exception for hate speech to the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has carved out some categories of speech that don’t qualify for protection—threats of imminent violence, for instance—but hate speech isn’t one of them. The First Amendment’s most obvious and important component is the First Amendment’s right to inflict political leaders or government officials.

Ken Dilanian, NBC News reported that he called the Secret Service to inquire whether the President’s assault rifle was a security risk. He said “let’s Go Brandon” is a valid question.

It’s not a fair question. Let me ask you a question. Why is it that mainstream media thinks their primary job is to protect Democrats from offensive speech?