Here is Bernie Sanders, wrapped up like a homeless senior in a cheap blue mask and mittens at Biden’s inauguration in 2021, unaware he is about to become one of the most viral memes that year.
Memes matter in politics. And they’re going to matter a whole lot more more as time goes on. Let’s look at why, and how, political memes have become so central to our national conversation – and how you can join the political meme revolution.
Political memes are nothing new. The irresistible urge to mock the powerful with jokey pictures goes back hundreds of years. James Gillray was a London caricaturist of the 18th century, whose cartoons making fun of prominent figures of his time like Napoleon or Prime Minister William Pitt were widely printed, and hugely influential. If Gillray were alive today, he’d be working in the medium of memes.
Memes, after all, won the 2016 Presidential election. At least in part. As hard as the Democratic establishment tried, Hillary never found a way to counter President Trump’s uncanny talent for shitposting. His outrageous gift for trolling that consistently made the news, day and night, around the world, for literally years.
Our first meme president. Take a bow sir.
Source: Memix
Assisted by his loyal battalion of meme lords, Trump dominated the entirety of all political discussion, on every channel, during the long lead up to Election Day. Why? Because he realized that in the modern era, people don’t have time to consume traditional political media.
With memes, you can grab people’s attention quickly. Much quicker than a newspaper article, or a two-hour cable news show anyway. And if your meme is hilarious – people will definitely remember it. You might convince them of something they weren’t sure about before.
And there’s a good chance they’ll share it, creating more converts to your side of the argument. Win win, buddy.
Source: Memix
You already know a bunch of famous political memes. That one of Bill Clinton, bursting in behind Barack Obama, clearly ready to take the credit for something he didn’t actually do.
At the spicier end of the spectrum, Pepe the Frog served as an unofficial emblem of the online Trump campaign in 2016. His adorable froggy features were everywhere that strange autumn.
Source: Memix
Controversial? Without a doubt. Effective? You bet.
The whole nature of worldwide political discourse has been upended since the dawn of the meme age. In the UK, the Brexit vote was unequivocally won by the side with the best memes.
As with Trump, the side with the best shitposting game, the strongest memes and sharpest sense of humor carried the day. The left – as so often – couldn’t meme. And as a result, they lost the ability to control the narrative, and therefore the vote.
Source: Memix
Even if by now it’s well understood that memeing is the only way to fight a successful political campaign in the 21st century, there’s still folks out there who get it wrong. Like, really wrong.
Billionaire New York Democrat Michael Bloomberg wanted to become President in 2020. A smart businessman, whatever else you might think of him, he sunk a vast chunk of his fortune into an elaborately choreographed meme campaign.
It’s believed he was spending over a million bucks a day on social media ads running memes, and paying even entry-level influencers $150 to post nice things about him and share Bloomberg-friendly memes.
Did it work? No, it did not work.
Source: Memix
Money can’t buy the ability to meme. Memeing only works when it comes from a real place. It’s patriotic, in a really profound way. Meme culture is literally freedom. A culture that is authentically by the people, for the people.
So there’s no reason why you shouldn’t try and make memes. To get your side of the debate across. To show your allegiance, and stick it to the other side. Memix is a great tool for putting dope political humor on GIFs.
You can win the argument, troll your rivals, and get a laugh from your buddies all at the same time.
Back in olde worlde London, James Gillray made this literal anti-vaxx meme in 1802. As it happens, he was pro-vaccination. But he was also a meme lord for the ages. Influencing the political culture of his time through the medium of humor.
And you can too, adding a bit of light and laughter to the Washington discourse with your own dank gif from the good folks at Memix.
Source: Memix
Members of the editorial and news staff of the Daily Caller were not involved in the creation of this content.