‘Go get ‘em’: Biden’s final rallying cry at State of the Union causes confusion

‘My thoughts are with the White House speechwriter whose closing statement just got replaced with “go get em!”’

Joe Biden’s parting words to conclude his first State of the Union address left some viewers scratching their heads.

As he prepared to step back from the podium following a poignant hour-long speech before Congress and the nation on Tuesday night, the president declared: “Go get ‘em!”

Viewers sounding off on social media were quick to question what Mr Biden meant.

“What did ‘Go get him’ mean? Sincere question,” one Twitter user asked.

Another quipped: “My thoughts are with the White House speechwriter whose closing statement just got replaced with ‘go get em!’”

Several commenters speculated that he was referring to Russian Vladimir Putin, whom Mr Biden had admonished at length for invading Ukraine at the start of his remarks.

But others surmised that it was a general rallying cry.

One user explained: “My father used to say ‘Go get ‘em!’ It’s an Rust Belt Irish Catholic kind of way of saying, ‘Give ‘em hell!’ It’s not meant to go after Putin, it’s more of a ‘let’s go forward, try hard and win America!’”

Another had a more negative take, writing: “I think Biden said, ‘Go get ‘em!’ (not ‘him’) Which leads me to believe he got confused at the end there & thought he was giving a pep talk to a youth baseball team. I believe the confusion came from Jill promising him ice cream w/ sprinkles if he played his position well.”

Critics took issue with the juxtaposition of the phrase, as it came right after Mr Biden said: “May God protect our troops.”