Conservatives who troll Biden with insults need to stop the ‘poor victim’ complaining when they’re called out: journalist

When far-right Oregon resident Jared Schmeck appeared on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast on December 27, he vigorously defended the insult he had hurled at President Joe Biden three days earlier — and he has complained that he is being unfairly persecuted for it. But journalist/radio host Dean Obeidallah, in a biting op-ed published by CNN’s website on December 28, slams Schmeck for trolling the president with an insult and then playing the victim card when he is called out for it.

Schmeck called in during a Christmas Eve Day livestream that featured Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, telling the president “Let’s go, Brandon” —which, on the far right, is a popular anti-Biden insult and is code for “Fuck Joe Biden.” The president didn’t let Schmeck’s trolling get to him, humorously responding, “Let’s go Brandon. I agree.”

Bombarded with criticism for his childish stunt, the 35-year-old Schmeck told the Oregonian, “Now, I am being attacked for utilizing my freedom of speech.” And Obeidallah slams Schmeck for painting himself as a victim.

“Schmeck is now doing the cliché conservative move of saying he's being unfairly criticized because people have slammed his ‘joke’…. Aww, poor ‘victim’ Schmeck,” Obeidallah argues. “Apparently, he thinks he should be able to tell Biden to basically go f**k himself while on a family-friendly holiday call, but no one should be able to take issue with his actions. Sorry, that's not how freedom of speech works.”

Obeidallah continues, “If you want to troll a president to apparently make others on the right happy, you can expect criticism. If you don't want criticism because you are painfully thin-skinned, then don't say ‘Let's go, Brandon’ on a live Christmas Eve special. It's as simple as that.”

The CNN journalist stresses that Schmeck has a constitutional right to insult the president, but he shouldn’t whine when he is called out for it.

“I find it pathetic that Schmeck and others on the right are being politically correct when it comes to saying what they truly feel about a president,” Obeidallah writes. “If you want to curse out a sitting POTUS, at least have the courage to do it outright rather than playing politically correct games and hiding behind coded phrases.”