A Central Point father of four who wished President Joe Biden and the first lady a wonderful Christmas and added “Let’s go, Brandon,” at the end of a live streamed Santa tracker call told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he didn’t intend his parting message to be vulgar.

“At the end of the day, I have nothing against Mr. Biden, but I am frustrated because I think he can be doing a better job,” said Jared Schmeck, 35, who works for an electric company and was previously a Medford police officer for six years until he resigned in July 2018. “I mean no disrespect to him.”

The phrase “Let’s Go, Brandon” has become a conservative dig at the Democratic president, a code for “F--- Joe Biden,” which resulted from an Oct. 2 NASCAR race in Alabama, where a crowd was shouting the vulgar chant, but a TV reporter suggested during an interview with the driver, Brandon Brown, who had just won his first Xfinity Series, that the crowd actually was chanting, “Let’s go, Brandon.”

Schmeck said he’s not a “Trumper,” but described himself as “free-thinking American and follower of Jesus Christ.”

Schmeck said he and his family call into the NORAD Santa tracker every Christmas Eve. He said he wasn’t aware the call would be livestreamed.

President Joe Biden says the federal government will buy half a billion COVID-19 rapid test kits and distribute them free of charge to people to use at home. But despite the high public demand for tests, it will still be several more weeks before these kits are available to be shipped. The administration is still working on details for how the program will work.

DOES THE GOVERNMENT HAVE THE TESTS?
Not yet. As of this week, the departments of Defense and Health and Human Services were “executing on what's called an ‘accelerated emergency contract,'" the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said. A contract is expected to be signed soon.

WHEN WILL THE TEST KITS BE DELIVERED?
The first delivery is expected in early January. All 500 million kits will not be delivered at the same time but instead will arrive in batches.

MY DRUGSTORE DOESN'T HAVE ANY TESTS. HOW CAN I GET A FREE KIT FROM THE GOVERNMENT?

You'll go to a new government website to request a kit, but the site won't be functional until after the first batch of test kits have been delivered, Psaki said. She said the process was being handled that way to avoid creating more confusion for the public. But the idea is that anyone who wants a test kit would log onto this website to request one.

“We’re obviously not going to put the website up until there are tests availabl

Chelsea Clinton is on a mission to combat the small but vocal anti-vaccine movement, and it all started after an alarming encounter with a stranger.

Clinton, 41, the former first daughter and a health advocate who hosts the podcast In Fact with Chelsea Clinton, tells PEOPLE that she "really became aware of the anti-vaccine movement and industry in this country" back in 2014, when she was pregnant with her first child, daughter Charlotte.

Walking through Madison Square Park in New York City to meet a friend, a woman suddenly approached her.

"This woman came up to me and she said, 'Are you Chelsea Clinton?' And I said, 'Yes.' And she grabbed my hand and she looked at me so intensely and she said, 'Please tell me you're not going to vaccinate your child.' I was so taken aback. I said, 'You know what, I am going to vaccinate my child. Of course, I'm going to vaccinate my child.' "

"And she then just launched into this [speech] that I was killing my child, it's dangerous. She would hope I would have a different view," Clinton continues. "And I was so taken aback by that experience that it prompted me to really start looking into how many people hold these views."

On both counts, Trump's stunt suggests a man operating not from a place of confidence and strength, but of anxiety and confusion. Anyone following the House select committee on January 6 would understand why. News from the committee indicates they are focused on Trump and his inner circle, with the possibility they could make criminal referrals to the Justice Department, sources told CNN. In the meantime, key figures like rally organizer Ali Alexander are cooperating with the committee.

It's clear the former President wants to shore up his standing within the party -- but taking in his efforts to stay relevant in the last year, it's safe to say his power is limited. Sure, Trump has played an outsized role in shaping the GOP; his lies about election fraud have taken hold within the party, Republican-controlled states have passed a number of voter restriction laws and he's ushered in an era of increasing extremism. But now that he no longer holds the highest office in the land, Trump himself is far from the kingmaker he wants to be.

Looking back on the year, Trump's attempts to wield his power over the GOP have been spotty. State-level attempts to overturn the 2020 election results have all failed, and when the former president pushed the governor of Texas to advance election audit legislation, it went nowhere. Meanwhile, his hand-picked candidate for the US Senate seat in Pennsylvania suspended his campaign amid allegations of domestic abuse. And in Alabama, his support for Senate candidate Mo Brooks appears to be having little effect (you may recall that Trump's weakness showed in Alabama in 2017 when his picks for US Senate lost both in the primary and general election.)

Other Trump setbacks include the failure of his endorsed candidate in a special Congressional election in Texas. And those who are waging primary battles against incumbent Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 insurrection are struggling with fundraising. In the most glaring example, January 6 committee member Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming -- a Republican who may top the list of Trump's enemies -- has 10 times more campaign cash than her Trump-endorsed challenger, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings from October.

In Washington, DC, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the most powerful Republican in office, seems to be distancing himself from Trump. He recently expressed interest in the January 6 committee's effort to "reveal all of the participants who were involved," and added, "It was a horrendous event, and I think what they are seeking to find out is something the public needs to know."