Democrats Need to Stop Playing Into Trumpists’ Meme War
From ‘Deplorables’ to ‘Ultra MAGA’, the Right loves to weaponize insults from their opponents
When Hillary Clinton said that half of Donald Trump supporters are “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic,” she inadvertently coined the infamous catchphrase “basket of deplorables.” Within hours, far-right media had pounced on her statement and memed it into oblivion. By the end of that week, Trump’s rally attendees were wearing red hats and t-shirts emblazoned with “deplorable” and “deplorable lives matter.” Clinton’s campaign had given Trump’s team a meme to sell to followers. It didn’t matter how many think-pieces were published with headlines like “Hillary was right” or “basket of deplorables, explained,” what mattered that the future of Trumpism was destined to leverage grievance online and in real life through memes and cheap t-shirts.
Whether strategists for the Democratic Party have an inability to learn about internet literacies or have short cultural memories, they’ve once again misunderstood that the Republican Party has shallowed out much of their policies to simply “owning the libs” and similar reactionary stances — to say little of their anti-democratic beliefs. Allegedly, after six months of research, President Biden thought it would be a good idea to label adherents to Trumpism as “Ultra MAGA.” Instantly, the phrase was associated with toxic right-wing culture war aesthetics and made available on t-shirts by opportunists hoping to cash in on Biden’s blunder.
Since the deplorables comment, the far-right has spent years refining its message, intensely focusing on how to engage with trolls dabbling with political desires. Republicans over the last six years have adopted many of the well-tested (and successful) strategies of far-right internet influencers. As I wrote back in 2017, the far-right commodifies its version of authenticity and focuses on how to convert emotions like grievance and victimhood into fundraising and followers. Aside from slogans and phrases, the populist tactics incorporate aesthetics and memes.
