Dell Rapids Let’s Go Brandon Road Sign Eyebrow Lift in South Dakota

SIOUX FALLS— “Let’s Go Brandon, “AgainstJoe Biden The catchphrase has been making waves this holiday season — as highlighted by a former policeman said it directly to the president—Officially now in roadside joke territory.

An electronic road sign in Dell Rapids, South Dakota, a town of 3,600 about 20 miles north of Sioux Falls, has shown the message in recent days.

“Let’s Go Brandon FJB,” it states, the last three letters giving up any pretense that the phrase means something other than “Fuck Joe Biden!”

As for who put the words on the sign, it’s something of a mystery.

The sign, located on Garfield Avenue, belongs to the Sioux Falls Sign Construction Company. According to Travis Dressen, a regional engineer with the South Dakota Department of Transportation, it is used to send warning messages to drivers in Dell Rapids when they approach a construction project near a railroad crossing. .

Dressen pointed out that the DOT was not involved in the project. But after social media posts in recent days displayed signs with the notice, the DOT sent employees to Dell Rapids and shut it down on Tuesday, Dressen said.

“It’s not clear who programmed it,” Dressen said, noting that the sign isn’t secured with a padlock. “But DOT was blamed for it, so we turned it off.”

Kyle Schievelbein, whose company owns the sign, said none of his employees programmed the abusive message and he’s not sure who did.

“I don’t know,” Schievelbein told The Daily Beast.

It attracted a lot of attention from locals in just a few days, with one local posting a photo on Facebook and posting, “Coming into town from the south on the white bridge… LMAO I love the town. this town.”

Dell Rapids Representative Tom Pischke, a Republican representing District 25, posted a smiley emoji in response to the post. A Pischke representative did not return a phone call or respond to an email seeking comment.

Dell Rapids Mayor Tom Earley told The Daily Beast he did not know why the sign remained on the city property after the project was completed, nor why the message was displayed.

“I don’t know. I didn’t even know the sign was out there,” Earley said.

Public Works Director Clarence Fjellanger said it was a private sign and the city had nothing to do with the message. He declined to comment further, hanging up three times when a reporter tried to find out more.

Let’s Go Brandon has become a worthy conservative code in recent months. It started at a NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on October 2. When a reporter tried to interview the winning racer, Brandon Brown, some attendees started cheering “Fuck Joe Biden” on Live show. The reporters suggested that they were saying, “Let’s go, Brandon.”

Soon after, Republicans in and out of public life embraced and echoed it. An Oregon man and a former police officer even used the phrase during a phone call with President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on Christmas Eve.

“Merry Christmas, and let’s go, Brandon!” Jared Schmeck said on the call, one of many young women who did just that. Jill Biden seemed to wince, but the president continued, asking if he was from Oregon.

Schmeck initially said he was not a Trump supporter and was merely joking, but on Monday he donned a red MAGA hat while appearing on a podcast with Steve Bannon, a former adviser of Trump under the supervision of the January 6 riots.

“Donald Trump is my president, and he should still be president right now,” Schmeck said.

This electronic insult in South Dakota comes after another occurrence in the state, where Winner Supporter, a weekly newspaper, published a questionable ad in its December 22 issue.

In a group advertisement, under the headline “Rejoice Good Christian Men”, a photo from Winner Welding & Machine showing three men standing under a Merry Christmas banner, with owner Brad Assman, pronounced “Aus-man,” holding a sign that reads “Let’s Go Brandon.”

In October, Governor Kristi Noem, a first-term Republican and four-term former congresswoman, fabricate with a t-shirt with the message of her annual pheasant hunt. At least one metal road sign outside Brandon, a suburb of Sioux Falls with a population of 10,200, is reported tagged with the words “GO” last fall.

South Dakota is a politically bright red state, overwhelmingly supporting Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. The last Democrat to rule the state was President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Republicans hold all offices statewide and have supermajority in both legislative chambers.