So I've been looking into memes.
And how conservative groups
have gained the
upper hand in meme warfare.
So let's deconstruct one...
And see what makes
a good meme go viral.
So here's Senator
Lindsey Graham
from South Carolina.
He's just come out of the Capitol building
after the confirmation
hearing of Brett Kavanaugh.
He's looking very cool and
adjusting his tie and smiling.
♪ Yeah, stay focused, here the heat come ♪
– Behind him, a security guard
or a Capitol police officer
is restraining a protester
who's been screaming at him
as he walked out of the
Capitol to his ride.
– Your old white privilege patriarchy...
– Graham had been
a big defender of Kavanaugh
against the charges
that he had sexually assaulted
a woman in high school.
- Are you a gang rapist?
- No.
- Graham had really given
an angry performance from the dais.
- This is going to destroy
the ability of good people
to come forward because of this crap.
- That's why the lady
who's standing behind him
and screaming is so furious.
The memes that came out of this photo
are actually pretty funny.
The internet went crazy
with Lindsey Graham
and photoshopped him
over all sorts of things, like:
burning houses,
Joe Biden kissing the screaming
feminist lady in the back.
Oh, there's one where they have Lindsey
in front of the Hindenburg (laughs).
That's a good one.
People put music to it.
♪♪
- There was rap music.
♪♪
- There was country music.
♪♪
- You name it.
♪♪
- I think the reason this
photo really captured
the essence of the hearing
was that Lindsey Graham
is looking kind of smug
and cool and collected,
and this woman behind
him is supposed to look
really hysterical, and she is emblematic
of how conservatives
think about feminists.
Looking hysterical and irrational
and angry and ineffective,
because Graham is not
paying her any attention.
It's unclear how much memes
actually shape the outcome
of political campaigns,
but the Trump campaign
clearly thinks that they work.
The Russians think they're effective.
Conservative groups are actually
training their activists
to do it better, and I think
we're just gonna be seeing
a lot more of this as the
2020 campaign ramps up.
Going forward, this is
going to become a staple
of political campaigns in
the foreseeable future.
