All the President’s Memes

Memes via Twitter suit a man who first, probably IS dyslexic, and second, compulsively seeks publicity and attention. And who probably never said anything that was deeply felt - well, except for his rages. Memes allow the sender to merely suggest, and the receiver to infer what they want from the image and message, which also suits Trump, who doesn't like to be held to any obligations that may be suggested in sentences with clear meanings. This is the man with many lawyers, and no audit trails. From what we have been told, it appears that he avoided recording instructions to them as well. We have moved from being inspired by some of our founders and Presidents, to a character for whom his giving one's "word" is a joke. Was the wall a metaphor for him? No, not because he'd have no clue what that meant, but because of his history. This isn't someone steeped in history or philosophy, but an unreflective actor who has marked the world with physical evidence of his presence. Big buildings. Golf Courses. It is how he measures himself, and this is no different. He not only craves the adoration of supporters, he wants a huge physical thing to show he pulled off another "deal." But this meme - this obsession - is going to be contained.

"... the president's brain..." Wait. What? He has a brain????

Remember people, the House and Senate and President are getting their Paychecks. Wake up,call Mitch McConnell and his "cronies" tell them to stop this nonsense. Get our Republic back on track. Does Mitch McConnell's Wife still get her Government pay check? Our Republic needs help now.

All this hangs on one thing and the enormous cost of it: "The Wall" It has become the dead Albatross hung around Trump's neck like in the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. He's stuck with it! Unfortunately, it is the biggest impediment to reopening the government.

I am still increduous that a college-educated white female BFF of my wife voted for the pox. I still can't accept it. I can't.

The President that didn’t expect to be President and used the campaign purely for name recognition for future business dealings, when actually confronted with a real job he, had no choice but to create chaos and call it policy.

So very dangerous and his supporters don't care that they are throwing away liberty and justice for all. "in November he shared one of the Clintons, Barack Obama, Huma Abedin, Robert Mueller, his own deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein and others, all locked up in a prison cell together" If you support this, you are part of the problem.

Brilliant article. I almost passed it by and I'm glad that I clicked

With genes, what works best for survival, survives and becomes stronger. All else is pruned. Random selection ultimately self-organizes life in a good way. But memes are different and deadly because there's no teleological good intent that naturally arises via an organic development of the whole system. Memes can be selfishly organized into an ideology by a localized interest group (or a Hitler) and set upon the world. Like viruses they can be designed to catch on and propagate while doing damage. Or vectored into position to await further development. With our 150 or so identified subconscious psychological biases we are continually susceptible to infection and are carriers for numerous memes that cause our emotions and thoughts and actions. Our world is filled with dangerous memes competing for mental space. Many are unconscious but we attach to others consciously, such as a military or a corporation or a country or a religion or an Apple product. They give us an illusion of identity which programs us to proselyte our favored institutions at the expense of other people's memes and lives. One psychological trick is the altruistic rationalization that coercing others into our belief system will help them. We've invaded countries for that reason. Ideologies and memes are energized and embedded icons of control and coercion that entirely rule our robotic lives. Free will is an insidious delusion. Our only hope is some small awareness of our programming.

I routinely share New York Times articles on Facebook. They seem to get very little traction among most of my friends. Perhaps the New York Times should start a Meme-edition, in which each article is distilled into a meme...

I just wish that Mr. Trump would stop Tweeting and get to work!! Read those briefs, attend those meetings! We’re paying him and he’s doing next to nothing. Too bad we can’t fire him.

Mimes underscore a voracious need for our emotions to be publicly validated, tricked by manipulation. Like fish to water, ego prevails.

Trump likes memes because he thinks it's pronounced ME ME, and as we all know, everything is about him.

Great column, especially this: If they did, you would find yourself in a terrifyingly fecund primordial soup in which all sorts of ideas could develop, mutate, cross-pollinate, do battle, die off and be reborn. You would find yourself, well, online. (cue dramatic chipmunk)

Insightful, well-written article - but I'm long past the point when I can think of anything concerning Trump's wall as "a little bit funny."

Note that in recent months our access to comment is much curtailed and avoids allowing comments to most controversial stories of serious moment. Instead, we get this.

Well done! Now we somehow must melt the bacon grease! (laughing cat here!) Let's not forget that the image of Big Brother slowly consuming the image of Emanuel Goldstein (Trump's Hillary) was an early meme of fiction. Now it's become reality.

Trump works his evil magic in a netherworld where memes are particularly effective for penetrating the unreasoning subconscious and disorienting his targets with fear, loathing, jealousy and avarice. He practiced his dark arts on The Apprentice, which gave him the ratings feedback he needed to perfect them. And he persuades his targets that those who try to correct his lies are actually the skilled manipulators and corrupters of the good and innocent, aka "enemies of the people". Of course, not everyone who votes for him falls for his act. Many are more interested in the financtial aspects of their Trump transaction. But In a time of rapid social and economic change, there are plenty of plenty of disoriented people wandering around, wondering what to believe in. And Trump's chaotic policies might just create more. They may need something other than reason and logic to believe in.

Before the internet there were newspapers that people really read and popular music which inspired people in many ways. While running for president Abraham Lincoln was asked about the plight of African Americans. He said they would have to "Root, Hog or Die", referencing a recent song. What makes the internet different is that it is totally corporate controlled, ubiquitous and soon to be manditory.

I’m waiting for the meme that announces his intent to build a bridge over the Bering Strait to Russia. And Russia will pay for it. It’s coming soon. I can feel it in my bones or is it the approaching winter storm? In either case it’s unsettling.

"For the most part, this is harmless. After all, what could possibly go wrong in a culture where all anyone wants is to be perpetually amused?" Are you kidding? Back in the late 80s, way before the internet wasn't a medium of the masses, a dear friend of mine remarked the future of America was going to be"trivia"--when most things would have already been invented, workdays would be shorter, and Americans could spend all their time in passive amusement. Well, look at us today. Between Facebook and instagram, online shopping, ticket booking, gaming, texting, and bullying, we've gone soft in the head. And now a cartoon president communicates via meme, usually a surly blend of infantile art and adult hate. I think memes are his shorthand for feelings he lacks the literacy (and insight) to express. My friend was so right. Trivia has overtaken what used to be called pop culture, but it's one of the reasons we find ourselves in the mess we're in. I don't doubt for a second Trump's rise could have occurred at any other time. Which begs the question: how can we progress if our minds are stuck in childhood?

Donald Trump the most powerful man in the world? He can barely oversee the executive branch. Xi Jinping is the near-absolute ruler of over a billion people in a rapidly-modernizing country. THAT is power, a power Trump's supporters and haters are entirely unprepared for as they spend their time fighting each other.

The President that didn’t expect to be President when confronted with a real job he has no idea about has no choice but to create chaos and call it policy. It’s all about name recognition.

Excellent article. I’ve been hoping to read this kind of elegant analysis of the current trend of social contagions. Thank you.

In all the discussions of what fueled trump's election, I have never forgotten one astute commenter's description of the motivation for many of the people who swayed the election. That is independent voters, the never Hillary voters, and the ones who thought it would be fun to shake things up and see what happened. This commenter, among other descriptions called this kind of voting "A breathtaking act of civic vandalism." That was such a perfect description I wish I could credit his words.

"There are so many unusual aspects of Donald Trump’s presidency..." "Unusual" doesn't say it. And what Trump is doing can't be called a "presidency." It's a huge accident/mistake, locked in by the American user's manual (Constitution) that says, "Do not reboot system until four years have passed."

In other words, what's meme is yours.

Super article! I love it!! Among other virtues, it explains the original concept of "meme" very well. As Dawkins and Staley explain, both memes and genes are unconscious of their effects on their hosts. Evolution by selection, over time, eliminates most genes that are harmful to their hosts (living things) by rendering their hosts less likely to reproduce all their genes. This can take a long, long time! The same force, selection, can be expected to work similarly on memes, even in the internet age where, as Staley incitefully notes, there are almost infinite resources to support a huge number of them. If the "border wall" meme contributes to the death of Trumpism, as it seems to be doing, Darwin and Dawkins will deserve to sit back with contented grins on their faces.