It’s a tough day for the majority of American voters who did not select Donald J. Trump as their president. But out of that pain comes humor, and today’s jokey coping mechanism is the “Here’s the livestream of Trump’s inauguration” meme.
The trope is simple: Promise a link to live video of the swearing-in ceremony but deliver an image of the apocalypse you see in your imagination.
https://twitter.com/MazMHussain/status/822289464735203328
Watch the live stream of Trump’s inauguration. pic.twitter.com/ByTFFtpyui
— Steven Hyden (@Steven_Hyden) January 20, 2017
inauguration livestreamhttps://t.co/dUSatB9VGa
— Naomi Zeichner (@nomizeichner) January 20, 2017
This livestream of the inauguration is unsettlinghttps://t.co/G4w3ECu2g6
— Dan Olson (@FoldableHuman) January 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/deoniw_/status/822488344206647298
https://twitter.com/MazMHussain/status/822479888334671872
This is closely related to another species of inauguration jokes: “leaked” speeches and schedules for the inauguration. Probably the best one arrived via Gizmodo blogger Hudson Hongo, whose timetable of Trump’s inauguration was just a copypaste of the Biblical book of Revelation.
There’s also this tweet, suggesting Trump’s speech would open with lyrics from Pink Floyd’s “In The Flesh,” from their album The Wall. Hmmm.
Leaked opening statements of Trump’s Inauguration speech pic.twitter.com/NCCatfUn0i
— Bruno Alves (@thebrunoalves) January 20, 2017
The joke, in all of these cases, is that it’s easier for many people to confront fictional depictions of the apocalypse than the reality of Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
For them, there’s another livestream going on right now: BuzzFeed’s countdown to the end of Trump’s term in office.
[Placeholder for https://www.facebook.com/BuzzFeed/videos/10155300775200329/ video embed.]
It’s more popular than NBC’s stream of the actual inauguration.
More people are streaming the @BuzzFeed countdown to the next inauguration than are streaming the @NBC livestream of this one.
— v. paul (@vpaulv) January 20, 2017
What a time to be alive.
