| Months ago, President Biden promised vaccine-or-testing mandates — and now they're here. Around 84 million workers will be subject to the requirements announced this morning by the Biden administration. So if you work for an employer with 100 employees or more and you're still unvaccinated, you can either get vaccinated by Jan. 4 or face weekly testing (that you might have to pay for yourself). The testing option is not available for people who work in places like hospitals or nursing homes, where the administration has made the stakes higher for noncompliance. The administration can block Medicare and Medicaid payments to medical centers and fine employers who don't comply. Even though Biden's mandate has a pretty generous testing opt-out, if there was already controversy over where vaccinations should be required, this turns the dial up to 100.  Workers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory protest vaccine mandates this week. | How the political debate on vaccine-or-testing mandates is going Republicans, fresh off election success on Tuesday, are championing outrage over the employer mandate. The No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise (La.), said this: "The medical decision to get vaccinated should not morph into a Washington mandate that forces the firing of millions of hard-working Americans." It's easy to see how that gets the Republican base and perhaps some GOP-leaning independents fired up. Democrats are in the less-enviable political position of arguing that these mandates are necessary because not enough Americans are voluntarily choosing to get vaccinated (around two-thirds of Americans have received at least one dose): "For our country, the choice is simple: Get more people vaccinated, or prolong this pandemic and its impact on our country," Biden said. How the legal debate over this is going The Biden administration seems on firm legal ground in mandating medical-worker vaccinations. The requirement was issued on an emergency basis through what most people know as "OSHA" — the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which regulates workplace safety. Normally, there's pretty widespread acceptance of OSHA regulations. But just about everything around coronavirus mandates has become political. Republican states are preparing to sue the Biden administration over this, arguing that businesses should be free to make their own decisions that pertain to the health of their employees and customers. But OSHA has the legal authority to mandate vaccines or testing to keep workers safe, said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney in the Obama and Trump administrations now at University of Michigan Law School. She thinks the Biden administration would have been on solid legal ground to mandate vaccines period, with no testing option. Plus, about a century ago in the midst of a smallpox outbreak, the Supreme Court said vaccine mandates were constitutional. A quote in the news, explained "Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos." That's Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), talking to the New York Times about Biden. She appeared pretty angry about the direction her party is going after their losses in Virginia and New Jersey. (Did you hear that a Republican truck driver who spent just around $2,300 on his campaign defeated one of New Jersey's top Democratic lawmakers?) Her argument was that Washington Democrats, driven by liberals, are using their tenuous hold on power to make big changes in governing. That's leading to a lot of chaos in Washington when voters who are weary from the Trump era and the pandemic just want stability. What is 'Let's go, Brandon' ?  A sign reading "Let's go Brandon" at a college football game this fall. (AP Photo/Joshua Bessex) | It's a stand in for a profane anti-Biden chant that has become huge on the right. It's barely concealed code for: "F--- Joe Biden." As The Post's Ashley Parker notes, the vitriolic phrase aimed at Biden is present wherever he goes. The backstory for why you're suddenly hearing "Let's go, Brandon" instead has its roots in NASCAR. At an event this fall, some in the crowd started chanting "F---- Joe Biden!" Ashley reports: "Kelli Stavast, an NBC Sports reporter, was interviewing NASCAR driver Brandon Brown live on air at the time, and she quipped, 'You can hear the chants from the crowd, 'Let's go Brandon!' Trump supporters instantly saw signs of a coverup, claiming on social media that journalists were deliberately censoring anti-Biden sentiment." So Trump supporters have decided to make the phrase their own; not unlike when Hillary Clinton in 2016 referred to them as "a basket of deplorables" and they embraced it. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has grinned and posed with people holding the sign. A conservative House lawmaker said it on the House floor. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) called the Biden administration "the Brandon administration" on Wednesday. That some conservatives feel a need to so vocally express their animosity toward the current president — as many of them deny he actually won — is likely a reflection of the deep anger Trump help stir up against the political establishment. It's anger that helped him get elected and probably contributed to Republicans' big wins Tuesday. | 
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