The United States Presidential election of 2016 has been a crazy one so far. We have a socialist, a former First Lady, and Donald Trump running for president all in one year. GOP candidates have dropped like flies recently, leaving Trump the only remaining nominee. And one of the biggest changes of all in this election: this is the first election where the Millennial influence is one of the biggest on swaying the winner. This, of course, has led to the production of memes, or an element of culture, an image, a video, or other form of media that is passed down and becomes viral. There have been many this election, spreading from Tumblr to Twitter and beyond, even ones created by the candidates (looking at you, Hillary). Here are some of the best and most memorable of this election process.
1. Ted Cruz Is The 'Zodiac Killer'
This is by far the most prevalent meme of the election, although it is by far the most impossible. Cruz didn't live at the time the murderer was killing, but his seemingly inhuman nature made this idea incredibly plausible to some. Some are even going as far to speculate that he dropped out of the campaign to begin killing again, but it was most likely the fact that he had no chance of defeating trump. Cruz has made no attempts to deny these accusations, however.
2. Birdie Sanders
During a speech at a rally in Oregon on March 25, a bird flew into where Sanders was giving a speech and landed on his podium. The bird stayed their for about half a minute, during which the audience applauded and determined that Mother Nature was telling us all that she "feels the Bern." This rally occurred in Portland, home of the popular television show Portlandia, which popularized the phrase "put a bird on it" to reflect the hipster nature of the town. The Sanders campaign made "Birdie Sanders" stickers, and sent them to supporters with a $1 donation, and the occurrence went viral.
3. Hillary Clinton's Attempts For The Youth Vote
I am in no way putting down Hillary Clinton, or her campaign team, but their campaign strategies are becoming more and more ridiculous. Clinton is continuously losing the youth vote to Sanders, and it's dragging her candidacy down; so, they've decided to frame her as a "relatable" candidate. All it's done for her is make her seem even older than she is, given her use of outdated memes and celebrity endorsement. It definitely isn't working to make her a more appealing candidate for the youth vote.
4. SNL Ignoring The Other Candidates
If you're an avid viewer of Saturday Night Live, you'll know that many parts of their humor comes in the form of political satire. This isn't a bad thing -- rather, it's very funny -- especially given the fact that they've ignored every GOP candidate that wasn't Trump or Cruz. It's put a visual to the fact that these other candidates don't matter, that Trump is now literally the only candidate and guaranteed to get the nomination. It serves to put an emphasis on the ridiculousness of the 2016 campaigns.
5. Trump Without Spray Tan
This is by far the most horrifying meme to come out of the campaign, and I'm including the belief that Ted Cruz is a serial killer. Trump is never seen without his signature, Cheeto colored, spray tan, and seeing him without it is shocking. The photoshopped image quickly began trending on Twitter, with many as equally terrified as myself. The editing makes him look almost alien like, and lead to the other candidates being edited with his spray tan.
6. Trump Baby Hands
The sixth and final trend is Trump's baby hands. Many people noticed the size of his hands, leading to photos of the candidate photoshopped with actual baby doll hands. This is reminiscent of the Saturday Night LIVE Character, Baby Hands, and adds to the insanity and comedy of the election. This meme, once again, trended on twitter and was even acknowledged by Trump himself, although the tweet was quickly deleted.
