We’ve already lost this meme war
In the hours after many people learned of the extrajudicial assassination of Iran’s General Suleimani, a bleak anxiety over the outcome of such an event expressed itself online. In the early morning of January 3rd, my feed was filled with the first meme of 2020: the WWIII meme. The first meme in this decade wasn’t made by a savvy very-online gen-Zer or millennial, but by the president himself.
At 9:32pm (ET), Trump acknowledged the assassination with no words, but simply a low-resolution US flag posted to his official account. The low-res American flag image was not a mistake. Not to say the choice was to use a low-res image, but rather post as soon as possible with whatever American flag jpg appeared first in a search. Like the blurry American flag, the international action was questionable and over the top. Later, information was reported that Pentagon officials only put the action on a list as an example of the most extreme action the US could possibly take in retaliation for the December attacks on the Iraq embassy; allegedly the officials were shocked Trump took the most extreme choice.
Trump is an memetic thought leader who commands via visual rhetoric. The goal is to please his audience…
