Back in the days of Donald Trump, it was a dangerous thing to protest at a rally or a speech. Trump would happily sic his supporters on a protester, telling them to commit violence against their fellow Americans, even offering to pay their legal fees if they did (he didn’t, he lied). It’s refreshing to see a president brush off such criticism, and to lead a crowd in brushing it off, as well.
Biden spent his Labor Day in Milwaukee, speaking at Laborfest in support of labor unions. celebrating recent victories to help the middle class such as student loan forgiveness and the Inflation Reduction Act. A protester in the crowd, who began yelling the so very original “let’s go, Brandon,” began to make noise, to which the crowd responded with boos.
Biden encouraged them to let the man have his moment to protest, saying:
‘No, no, no, don’t — let him go. He’s, look, everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.’
The crowd laughed and moved on, tuned in again to the president. No one punched anyone. No one chased people out or surrounded them, pushing and threatening them. Instead, it was a harmless moment in which one American expressed his discontent and the rest let it roll right off them.
This is not the first time Biden has reminded a crowd that, while some of the protests of him may be based in nonsense, he wants no one hurt and that dissent is American. On Thursday, when he spoke in Philadelphia, another protester started the “let’s go, Brandon” chant, to which Biden responded:
‘They’re entitled to be outrageous. This is a democracy. Good manners is nothing they’ve ever suffered from.’
Twitter largely agreed with Biden and were happy to see a president handling himself like a grown-up. Read some of their comments below:
