In the wake of his divisive executive order, Trump himself could face jail time for making Bernie memes.
“I’m not sure if I’m happy or infuriated,” said former Senator, First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “Like, it’s definitely a violation of freedom of speech, but also it validates my personal feelings of pain and injustice.”
Clinton responded to the news that President Donald Trump signed an executive order last Wednesday forbidding the “creation, reproduction or transmission of any meme adhering to or referencing the ‘here’s how Bernie can still win’ archetype.”
These memes, popular after the 2016 election, detailed crazy, often satirical situations in which Bernie Sanders could take the presidency away from Donald Trump.
Many experts thought these memes died months ago; however, it appears Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian meddling in the 2016 election has sparked a second wave.
“This is probably the biggest blow to meme culture in history,” said Dr. Greg Goodman, a professor of communications at TU who specializes in memes.
Goodman continued, “The strength of memes has always been directly related to their lack of censorship. Whereas normal media like television or radio has regulatory rules and editing staffs, memes are not subjected to any sort of regulation, be it of content or quality.”
This executive order, despite many decrying its oppressive nature, is possibly Trump’s most popular.
“Those memes are so annoying,” said TU political science student Marcy Mae. “They promote a culture of imagining an alternate reality to avoid making any meaningful action to better our reality.”
The “Bernie Ban,” as many have taken to calling it, lays out a mandatory minimum punishment of life in prison without parole along with a personalized Trump tweet mocking the offender.
The executive order also creates a special task force, named Meme Team 6, whose primary job is to hunt down Bernie meme producers and distributors and bring them to justice.
It appears the first person to be prosecuted under the new law might be one of the President’s own staff members or even Trump himself. Sources claim that Meme Team 6 has recently discovered that Internet activity from the creator and operator of the popular website www.howberniecanwin.gov is attributed to an IP address connected to the White House.
Speculation has run wild since this news broke. Many claim the perpetrator is Melania Trump, whereas others say it must be John Kelly. A small yet vocal minority are claiming Donald Trump is the culprit.
This last theory is especially popular on the site in question. Members of the site are pouring out even more Bernie memes — this time involving Trump being jailed for making Bernie memes — than ever before, without any fear of repercussions.
“We can’t hide as those in power try to destroy our passion, that which we hold dearest. Bernie wouldn’t have given in and neither will we. We’ll take this all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to,” said user Voted4Stein69.
