"I'd wager that the inhumane detention of immigrants, the dismantling of arts funding throughout the United States, a government shutdown, SNAP benefits dangling by a thread, and the trickling release of Epstein file batcheswere at least partially responsible for harshing the vibes, but I still have to hold JD Vance and Elon Musk accountable for taking turns in bludgeoning the concept of humor with a spiked baseball bat in the thick of it all."
"It took until March of this year for new material to take shape, and that shape was round. After a tense Oval Office meeting between President Trump, JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went totally south once Vance asked if Zelensky "ever said thank you once" for US aid throughout the deadly Russian invasion, the display of unseriousness swelled the internet with memes that fashioned Vance's headshot into a bloated, bald (or sometimes mullet-ed)."
2025 featured prominent meme moments that responded to political turmoil, social policy failures, and celebrity culture. Severe events such as immigrant detention, reductions in arts funding, a government shutdown, threatened SNAP benefits, and partial releases of Epstein records shaped public mood. Derisive humor functioned as a weapon against incompetence, ignorance, and injustice. Memes transformed public figures into exaggerated caricatures, with JD Vance becoming a recurrent target after an Oval Office exchange with Volodymyr Zelensky. Other viral phenomena included the Coldplay couple, the "hero with a hero," and a Somali diaspora movement that reframed racist narratives.
Read at Hyperallergic
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