Vincent Scuzzese owns a shop in New Jersey called Let's Go Brandon.
Yeah, that Let's Go Brandon, the pro-Trump mantra that adorns Scuzzese's products: T-shirts, flags, mugs, makeup cases and more. There's a Let's Go Brandon coloring book for adults (subtitle: “The story of the WORST president in U.S. history.”). And for the sporty, a 32-inch Let's Go Brandon skateboard.
So what happens now that “Brandon” himself has dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed his second-in-command, Vice President Kamala Harris?
A rebrand.
Scuzzese's shelves now offer products with a new slogan: Let's Go Brenda.
“My sales are skyrocketing,” said Scuzzese, 59, who opened her store in a strip mall off Route 37 in Toms River, New Jersey, two years ago. “Biden retired, but Kamala has the same views, even worse. She’s more of a socialist.”
After Biden dropped out of the campaign on Sunday, social media quickly filled with jokes about warehouses filled with decaying, heavily discounted anti-Biden merchandise and Let’s Go Brandon flags flying at half-staff. One meme includes an altered photo of a marquee sign from another Let’s Go Brandon store; the meme’s creator added a fake banner from Spirit Halloween, the seasonal retailer that pops up in empty stores.
But the people selling anti-Biden merchandise say they'll be fine, thank you very much.
“Dear Snowflake Liberals, We appreciate your emails and phone calls to express your concerns regarding our now ‘useless inventory’ since Sleepy Joe retired. We understand that liberals do not have even double-digit IQs and have no idea how printing companies work,” read the post on the Let’s Go Brandon online store’s website Thursday.
Even if Let's Go Brenda — the female version of Brandon — catches on, it doesn't look like the original catchphrase is going away anytime soon.
The crude phrase, which began as something of an inside joke (though not really) among supporters of former President Trump, became so ubiquitous that the Republican National Committee sells its own Brandon-branded drink sleeves, bumper stickers and grill mats.
“It was a way to signal to other MAGA people who are in the club and to signal to liberals in the community that they are not welcome,” said Tim Miller, a former RNC spokesman who left the Republican Party in 2020 and is now a Trump critic.
“I'm sure there will be a lot of anti-Kamala slogans,” Miller said. But Brandon “might stick around,” he said, such as Trump's Make America Great Again slogan and the MAGA acronym, as well as red hats.
The Let's Go Brandon taunt stemmed from a viral video of NASCAR driver Brandon Brown being interviewed in October 2021 by an NBC reporter after winning his first Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.
In the crowd, people were chanting, “Fuck Joe Biden!” The reporter, apparently trying to cover up the obscenity, suggested they were chanting, “Come on, Brandon!”
Let's Go Brandon is an anti-Biden slogan seen on countless flags, t-shirts and merchandise across the country.
(Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The mockery later inspired pro-Biden memes featuring a laser-eyed alter ego of the president called Dark Brandon. Though Biden adopted the image and his campaign sold its own Dark Brandon swag, the meme never came close to surpassing Let's Go Brandon.
Or, for good measure, the vulgar acronym FJB (which means whatever you think it means) that adorns countless flags and bumper stickers across the country.
Outside the Thunder-Rode motorcycle accessories shop on Route 66 in Kingman, Arizona, owner Jack Alexander waves a flag with an anti-Biden slur. He keeps a few inside, too. They sell well, he said.
For now, he has no plans to get rid of them. Alexander said it makes no sense to “spend a lot of money” on new products before the party’s nomination becomes official at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.
“We don’t think Harris is going to make it past the convention,” Alexander said. “We think there will be a war within the Democratic Party because of the non-electoral process that put her where she is.”
In New Jersey, Scuzzese said sales at the Let's Go Brandon store have increased since the failed assassination attempt on Trump during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. That night, Scuzzese said, he was so busy that he kept his store open long after closing time.
“Before he was shot, people were afraid to wear their hats and put their flags on their houses,” Scuzzese said. Afterward, “they came to buy hats and said, ‘I’m not taking this hat off. I wear it with pride. I’ve hidden it for a long time.’”
Scuzzese was quick to sell T-shirts with the iconic photo of a bloodied Trump raising his fist in front of the American flag. And his Let's Go Brenda shirts were on sale two days after Biden dropped out of the race.
Despite Biden's departure, Scuzzese has no plans, at least for now, to change the name of his business.
And the phrase “Let's Go Brandon” itself?
“At least until the elections,” Scuzzese said, “he won’t be going anywhere.”
