The one and only Bernie Sanders has made quite the name for himself in politics over the past few years, especially with his progressivism. What many may not know is that he has also become an internet sensation of sorts—a walking meme, so to speak. As if this wasn’t enough, it appears he’s now becoming even more popular on the social media platform TikTok with videos of him going viral. He might not understand just what a ‘meme’ or ‘viral’ means, but for the sake of democracy: the Bernie memes won’t be going away anytime soon!
Senator Bernie Sanders has been an important member of the Democratic Socialist movement for decades, all for bad reasons of course. Recently, on his tour to promote the release of his new book that no one cares about, he has been spotted in a unique situation. Though the senator may not have any TikTok presence himself, he was certainly present in the background of one user’s post. With his characteristic grumpy grimace, it looks as though Bernie may never be able to escape his accidental viral moments.
Town hall reports,
Compared to younger progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is too old for social media, especially TikTok. However, that does not mean the self-proclaimed democratic socialist is immune from it.
While on a book tour, the Vermont leftist was caught in the backdrop of a TikTok post and reacted just as you’d expect: curiously dismissive. Could he be grumpy? In our highly contentious political climate, it’s comedy gold.
This moment apparently destroyed the internet with multiple outlets highlighting it as news of the day.
With Buzzfeed tweeting, “Whomst among us hasn’t experienced Resting Bernie Face after encountering an influencer in the wild?”
Ironically, Sanders would become a sensation overnight if he posted TikTok videos frequently. With his name recognition and dedicated fan base, even innocuous content like getting coffee would go viral.
Without a doubt, the old dinosaur politician has managed to captivate the world. Whether through the pre-social media era or now in this modern age of social media, his resting Bernie-face press captures attention everywhere. Despite Berny’s lack of actual tangible policy contributions, he will remain an icon of memes and parody videos across any medium. With many seeing social media platforms as a money printer, it may be in the old socialist’s best interest to learn a thing or two about TikTok and retire from politics – the CCP app requires no skill and Bernie is proof of that.
Let’s continue this conversation, in the comments below.
