Washington state cop fired over ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ bumper sticker

A veteran Spokane Police Department officer who was previously named cop of the year lost his job because he had a “Let’s Go Brandon” bumper sticker on his police car, the Daily Mail reported. 

Bradley J. Moon, 49, reportedly had the bumper sticker on the back of his police cruiser during the summer of 2023. Although seemingly innocuous, the phrase has been used to mean “Fu*k Joe Biden.” The police department let Moon go in May, ending his career for “engaging in prohibited speech.” 

In October 2023, Moon told his inquiring supervisors that he had no idea that the sticker could be seen as vulgar to some or was in any way political. He reportedly told them that he had only bought the sticker to support another police officer’s son who had suffered health problems but was now okay. 

However, body camera footage showed Moon talking to other police officers about the meaning of the sticker. Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) helped popularize the “Let’s Go Brandon” chant when he finished a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives by shouting the phrase and pumping his fist in the air, the Mail noted. 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was seen with a “Let’s Go Brandon” sign at the World Series and other Republican lawmakers and supporters began to pick up the slogan until it became a de rigueur form of protest. 

Moon was unable to explain why he put the sticker on a police car and not his own vehicle, saying “I have no idea.” A subsequent review of the police department’s decision was apparently not favorable for Moon. The Office of the Police Ombudsman said that Moon had related how Spokane then-Mayor Nadine Woodward had praised the sticker and that none of the police officers that Moon worked with complained about the sticker being on the police car. 

The police department’s Administrative Review Panel stated that “regardless of policy, it is common sense that there is no justification for placing such a sticker or phrase on a city owned vehicle. The sticker was obviously inappropriate and should have been recognized by any supervisor as a violation of department policy.”