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PORT ST. LUCIE — In otherwise quiet spring training stadiums, it’s impossible to miss as Brandon Nimmo steps up to bat.

“Let’s go Brandon!” has screeched from several fans, to either laughs or groans around them, turning a baseball game into a political statement against President Biden.

At a time when nearly everyone has strong thoughts on Biden, former President Trump and the rallying cry itself, Nimmo is not sure how he feels about the newest soundtrack to his at-bats.

“I don’t know which way to take it right now,” Nimmo said before the Mets lost to the Astros, 5-3, in 10 innings at Clover Park on Wednesday. “Right now I’m taking it as they’re cheering for me. And that’s the way I’ll take it for now.

“I do hear it, for sure.”

Nimmo said he tries not to consider its coded political meaning. The phrase became popular in right-wing circles after an Oct. 2, 2021, race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, where fans began chanting “F–k Joe Biden” during a televised interview with the race winner, Brandon Brown. An NBC reporter relayed the chant as “Let’s go Brandon,” which has been embraced by critics of Biden.


  Brandon Nimmo AP Brandon Nimmo AP

What has become a highly polarizing phrase is less polarizing if you take it literally.

“I’m just taking it as, ‘Oh, OK, good support,’ ” said Nimmo, who was greeted with the chant while stepping to the plate Tuesday in Jupiter, Fla., and then again in Port St. Lucie on Wednesday. “I’m so locked in. I hear it when I get up to bat, but when I get in the box, I’m thinking about: OK, what’s my plan, what’s this guy got … I’m thinking about all these things.”

Between the decibel level and the politics of the state — Florida and New York fans have their differences — the slogan probably won’t follow him to Citi Field.

If it does, though, he would be OK with it.

“I have no clue. People are liking to have fun with it, so I have no clue how it’s going to manifest during the season,” Nimmo said. “But we’ll see.”

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