Just when you thought the “Let’s go, Brandon” craze might die down, it came back like gangbusters late this week. The phrase, which originated via a NASCAR reporter’s hilarious commentary, has gone viral on the right as a clean way to make fun of Joe Biden and his terrible policies.

But while the press had mostly ignored the phenomena as it spread across the country, that changed yesterday when news of a Southwest Airlines pilot using the quip during a flight emerged. The freak-out has officially moved past left-wing Twitter and into the mainstream media, as RedState reported earlier.

Here are a few examples from what I’m assured are responsible news outlets.

No one is really cheering on a guy named Brandon. Instead, the phrase is being used in conservative circles in place of a more vulgar message directed at President Biden. https://t.co/lDxJQ8YYZE

— NPR (@NPR) October 31, 2021

#LetsGoBrandon is vulgar now? It couldn’t get more PG… pic.twitter.com/V1QmpTYnN8

— Misha Fitton 🐊🇺🇸🇮🇱🚀🏳️‍🌈🇨🇺 (@MishaFitton) October 31, 2021

Notice the use of the word “vulgar” here, when there is objectively nothing vulgar about saying “Let’s go, Brandon.” Yes, I understand it’s a clean way of saying something naughty, but so are the words “shoot” and “darn.” When you go out of your way to not be vulgar, you are, by definition, not being vulgar. Call it fake news or something else, but those headlines are false.

Regardless, the smelling salts are being grabbed, and I think I know why. Stick with me for a second.

The reason “Let’s go, Brandon” drives the left so incredibly batty is because the right has figured out a way to make fun of Joe Biden in any setting. After four years under Donald Trump of gross vulgarities from the left, from naked costumes with small genitalia to mock beheadings to Hitler comparisons, the media desperately want to be able to paint Republicans (and perhaps some independents) with the brush they should have painted Democrats with. But they can’t, because “Let’s go, Brandon” is as PG as it gets.

There’s nothing a bully hates more than being beaten at their own game without the other side having to throw a punch. That’s what “Let’s go, Brandon” is. It’s a harmless joke that normal people can say without feeling like they’ve crossed a line, and that is driving the media absolutely insane. They want the entirety of the right to stoop to their level. That so many are refusing to do so completely screwed up their plan to make 2022 partially a referendum on decorum and decency, a theme they pushed heavily in 2020.

On the contrary, in the end, it will always be the lunatics on the left who set the bar of obscene behavior during the Trump presidency. As much as the media want to draw an equivalency to what we are seeing with “Let’s go, Brandon,” one simply does not exist. Thus, you get laughable headlines like the ones above, and all they will do is backfire.