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US senator and internet star. Bernie Sanders was one of the central figures in President Joe Biden’s possession for his wardrobe. But this isn’t the first time his personal style has made him a popular meme.
On Wednesday, the United States closely watched the inauguration ceremony of President Joe Biden. There were several milestones and memorable moments: Kamala Harris made history by becoming the nation’s first female vice president, Democrats regained control of the Senate, and Lady Gaga’s performance of the national anthem surpassed all expectations. Her performance came to be compared to Whitney Houston’s epic Super Bowl performance. But it was Senator Bernie Sanders and his gloves that stole the show today.
The memes of Sanders sitting in his chair, attending the possession ceremony with a wardrobe that contrasted with that of the designer coats that the rest of the guests wore, continue to flood social networks. There are no barriers to montages with the scene: from classical paintings to historical scenes and many witty messages that accompany historical photography.
The media inside and outside have taken advantage of this to get compilation notes on the best montages and details about the behind the scenes of this story. The gloves were knitted by Jen Ellis, an elementary school teacher in Vermont and a fan of the senator. In 2016, Ellis presented the popular gloves to Sanders after he lost the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton. Sanders’ daughter-in-law was Ellis’s daughter’s preschool principal, so the teacher had a close connection with him.
Sanders loved the gift and began wearing it frequently in his 2020 primary campaign. Once this garment gained notoriety among the senator’s base, questions began about the origin of the gloves. Ellis took credit for the gift on social media, so he soon started having success with them and was able to sell them in his small business. Now, with the worldwide success of this meme, there is no doubt that Ellis sales will increase.
“We are journalists and we cannot choose how people react to things. It’s okay for people to take a break from heavy journalism to find joyous moments, ”said Brendan Smialowski, the journalist who took the Sanders photo. “It’s hard why something becomes a meme, it doesn’t make sense,” he added.
But why did Sanders wear them at the possession ceremony? The answer is very simple.
“In Vermont we dress warm. We know something about the cold and we are not concerned with good fashion but staying warm. And that’s what I did, ”Sanders said in an interview with CNN in which he reacted to internet memes.
This is not the first time that Senator Sanders has become a social media star. Sanders is, in fact, one of the masters of memes in America. But why is it so successful?
To understand the Sanders phenomenon, one must also understand his political positions: he is a democratic socialist who fights for education and health insurance for all, a decent minimum wage, among many other things. And this has touched a good part of the millennial generation. In fact, it should be noted that Sanders came close to defeating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primaries and fought side by side with Joe Biden in the 2020 primaries, before the Democratic Party machine left with the now president.
Those Sanders policies have resonated with citizens who have huge debts after leaving college and who are stressed about not getting a job and being able to afford a house. Furthermore, this generation of young people also has little faith in government institutions. All this and that Sanders has shown throughout his career to be a consistent and, above all, authentic politician, has made citizens identify with him. If you watch his political rallies and his allies, one finds that he is surrounded by the youth of the country.
So when Sanders came to the ceremony in her warm clothes rather than dressy, many identified with her position. And the senator from Vermont, of course, has known how to take advantage of this support to strengthen his political platform.
In 2016, before the primaries, a group of meme creators formed the Facebook group “Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash ‘, in which thousands of people gathered to share images of Senator Sanders accompanied by montages and references to pop culture . This helped spread their messages.
“They speak in a language that people have grown up with on social media, which can make (the messages) articulate and very moving,” Benjamin Burroughs, professor of emerging media at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, told The Washington. Post. “The memes of this generation are the C-SPAN (Congressional channel) of that generation or the Huffington Post,” added Sean Walsh, one of the group’s original moderators.
This is the new form of political communication. Think of the meme groups like Colombia Simpson that you follow on Twitter and notice how they can transmit a much more powerful message than a news story from a mass media. Politicians are using these tools to reach new generations. From Donald Trump to Alexei Navalny in Russia they have used it. And it is a sign that communication strategies, as well as their channels, are changing. Not only to benefit a candidate, but also movements to demand fair housing policies, crisis management, protection policies for minorities and any idea that comes to mind. All this can be translated into a citizen mobilization at the polls. But let’s continue with Sanders.
This use of the image of Sanders in memes of all kinds also represented a problem for his campaign. Some memes distanced themselves from their true policies, so their message was distorted and it was difficult to coordinate all efforts on digital platforms. Certain images that were more successful than others, such as the ‘Bernie or Hillary?’ Poster, turned out to be the most misleading at the time, as they did not present the former candidate’s actual agenda.
The glove montage came after another hit image starring Sanders: the “Once again I ask for your financial support” meme, which has been used online in a litany of ways to ask for sponsorship or support. In this meme Sanders was wearing the same coat that he wore to the inauguration ceremony, and the origin of this meme is in a 2019 video in which the then candidate for the Democratic Party nomination asked for help with his campaign.
Memes are shaping the political arena. Just look at the content of the groups of supporters of Donald Trump. In general, Sanders’ success on digital platforms through memes means that the population has a genuine connection to his positions, actions, or feelings about the federal government. In the image of “Once again I ask for your financial support,” there is also some frustration from the former candidate, which was a sentiment shared by many Americans.
This meme also shows, as Angela Watercutte points out on Slate, that “the internet is restarting.” This in the sense that we will go from a period marked by Trump’s incendiary and scandalous tweets to a season of inconsequential memes about American politics that, in addition, have reduced the tension that the country has experienced in recent weeks.
“Many of the best memes are born this way. Like most good humor, they break tensions. It is a collective launch. The internet has had some good ones in the last four or five years, but often, in the midst of political squabbles, it’s hard to know when to step in with a joke. On Wednesday morning, all of a sudden, what kept everyone warm was laughter, ”concludes Watercutte.
Now yes, a selection of the best Sanders memes made by the team of the international section.
Finally, we remind you that you can visit the page ‘Put Bernie anywhere ‘ with which they can create their own Sanders meme instantly. This portal takes the address that you write in Google Maps and will show Sanders anywhere in the world.
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