Les-be sincere, girl liberty. (screenshot by way of @CISFAKER on X, all screenshots Hyperallergic)
I hate to say it, however once I noticed that lubricated hippo go for the Trump cake, I knew it was over. Months in the past, I predicted the downfall of Moo Deng, and I’m happy to say my speculation was largely appropriate: Many on X are actually blaming her for the end result of america presidential election.
I keep in mind the November 2016 election, largely as a result of I used to be a freshman in highschool, but additionally as a result of Macklemore launched his cheugy entice ballad “Wednesday Morning” in response to Trump’s first election and I favored it (as a result of I used to be 14, please depart me alone). Eight years later, on one other Wednesday morning, I used to be trying — as Macklemore writes in his tune — “for change on the couch.” However on this Wednesday morning, I used to be additionally on the lookout for memes. The day after the election, although, social media was so saturated with dread that I couldn’t parse via my feeds with out dropping my thoughts.
Moo Deng precisely predicted the US election outcomes by consuming a Trump-labeled cake. (picture by way of @loveshutterbug on Threads)
New Groundhog Day simply dropped and it’s Moo Deng selecting the subsequent president. (screenshot by way of @aidanthereup on X)
As we settle into no matter we’re all settling into, memes which have floated to the highest of the frankly terrifying world of X reveal how this election inextricably linked popular culture and American politics, with memes concurrently main the branding of a $1 billion greenback marketing campaign and turning into a delicate type of resistance.
I’ll start the saga earlier than Election Day, when a buddy of a buddy shared a personalised Brat meme despatched by the Kamala marketing campaign reminding her to vote. What began off as a queer fan base meme of Charlie XCX was rapidly adopted into the marketing campaign technique when the singer endorsed Harris, months earlier than Dangerous Bunny and Beyoncé backed the Democrat. Harris rapidly exploited the recognition of the meme, even lengthy after it was formally useless.
Message allegedly obtained by the buddy of a buddy from Kamala Harris’s marketing campaign
Memes from earlier than the election embody a cult fandom for the election as a spectator occasion, very like tuning right into a present like The Bachelor. One spotlight from my number of memes is a mock textual content trade of MSNBC journalist Steve Kornacki (who by the best way was featured in a dwell “Kornacki Cam” on YouTube throughout the election, at a digital camera angle solely exhibiting his bottom).
Shortly, these posts devolve into the grimmest imaginations of the human thoughts about faith, immigration, and gayness, and the recirculation of the superstar rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine” that got here out throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
I’m sharing my private favorites under, for my sanity (and yours).
Me however with lots of hair (screenshot by way of @benyaher on X)
https://twitter.com/django/standing/1854678322544099618
Finest film ever. (screenshot by way of @repftv on X)
