Culture

Joe Biden Memes Take Over Internet as Trump Takes Over White House

People are turning to memes for comfort.

Getty Images / Hunter Martin

Joe Biden has taken over the internet more than once during his tenure as Vice President of the United States — and with Donald Trump on the doorstep of the White House, the internet has turned to Diamond Joe for comfort one last time.

Biden sparked one of 2014’s best memes when a picture of him solemnly looking out of a window went viral. And of course, all thirst breaks out whenever somebody reminds the general population how damn handsome the politician was back in the day. Now with so many conversations about President-elect Donald Trump and what he’ll do once he’s in the White House, Biden memes have proliferated at an accelerated rate. While on the surface they might be all fun and games, Biden’s recent prominence in online culture speaks to how so many people are feeling about the political landscape.

Almost a week after Trump was voted president, the reality has begun to sink in with people even if they’re still upset or frustrated with the outcome. But, for lack of better terms, many still have the incredible urge to punch the former reality television host in the face — and Biden is the angry stand-in for a frustrated population.

Many of the Obama and Biden memes from this past week have been framed with Obama peacefully transitioning executive power over to Trump, with Biden standing by, not quite ready for the change and willing to mess with Trump just a bit.

The most popular memes connect people to one another and incite some sort of feeling or emotion that pushes the viewer to share the piece of content or create their own remix. Biden memes where he’s stubborn about Trump taking over evidently connect with people all over, because they’re going viral.

Biden is already a public figure who’s generally well-liked, which also adds to his meme-appeal. For some image-based memes, diffusion can be sluggish if the subject isn’t recognizable right away. At the get go, Biden memes are accessible because people know who he is. Biden’s notoriety contributed to past moments of internet escalation, such as the window-gazing image and the thirst-trap of an old photograph. Coupled with awareness of what’s going on with American politics, the combination ensured full meme-mentum.

Successful memes symbolize the public’s emotions — that’s why people are inclined to share them. While all the Biden memes make light of a Trump administration that could very well be horrific for minorities, the general sentiment that people want to keep Trump out of the White House stands. In these memes, Biden is all of us.

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