It feels like the 2016 election has been going on for 17 years. Can you believe that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump only *officially* became the (historic, natch) Democratic and Republican presidential candidates in July? Yeah. Us either.
So much has unfolded since February’s lifetime-ago Iowa caucuses, including of course lots of RNC drama and DNC inspiration — and that’s just barely scratching the surface. As the November 8 election date gets closer and closer to being within grasp, we thought we’d take a look at some of the lighter, if no less defining, moments that have made this election so totally of its time that sometimes, we can hardly believe it’s real.
1. Delete your account. Back in June, Hillary’s team demonstrated their mastery of social media use in her campaign with just three simple words: “Delete your account.” The common social media phrase took on a whole new life when used as a response to Trump’s tweet about President Obama endorsing Hillary, in which he took the time to call her crooked, because of course he did. It quickly became boss B Hillary’s most retweeted tweet. It was epic.
2. The Trump Yourself Tool: Hillary’s team further proved their social media strategy with the release of Trump Yourself in July. Honing in on Facebook users’ love of applying a filter over their profile picture to support trending world events or causes, the Trump Tool isolates identifying elements such as whether you’re a woman or are gay, as examples, and applies quotes or viewpoints Trump has expressed. SPOILER: He has said some pretty awful things.
3. The Selfie Picture: Everyone immediately jumped all over this photo as a terrible example of society and the state of politics in the year 2016. The photo, it turns out, was staged, to a degree. “There were 500 people [in that overflow room] that couldn’t fit in the main event so she went and visited them in an adjacent room afterwards,” a spokesman for Hillary’s campaign told TIME. Clinton suggested they take a group selfie, and Barbara Kinney, her staff photographer, captured the poignant moment.
4. The Great Snapchat Debate: Anyone can be *on* Snapchat (which Hillary has been since last summer), or have custom geofilters (which both campaigns have done), but are you even anyone at all until the whole world has put a Snapchat filter on your face? If you checked your Snap stories the night of or the day after the very WTF debate, it was filled with these.
5. MEMES GALORE: Of course, this isn’t the first election to be memeified. Not even close. But you can tell we’re in the thick of 2016 by the sheer volume and rapidity of the memes during this campaign. Of course, Trump’s hair has been a big one.
And who could forget this fake campaign poster meme? It seemed like it was EVERYWHERE at the beginning of 2016. (Image via Imgur)
The debate on Monday night has already proved a treasure trove of memes. Like Trump’s sniffling. (Image via Imgur)
And Hillary’s shimmy.
And, of course, that SMIRK.
What will the next month have in store? We’re here for it, whatever it is.
What do you think of the modern memefied take on the election? Let us know @BritandCo.
(Featured photo via Drew Angerer/Getty)