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The Great Debate: TikTok reacts to first Trump v. Harris debate

Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump met for the first time in-person at their first debate on Tuesday, Sep. 10, 2024. The debate aired on CNN and was moderated by two CNN reporters. Some policies were discussed by the candidates, as were many "concepts" of policies. America's response to the debate is varied: some are laughing at certain moments that trended online, while others call attention to the seriousness of the issues the country faces.

If you are on social media in any capacity, I'm sure your feed has been flooded with memes and jokes about some of the more outrageous claims made during the debate. Some of my personal favorites were Trump claiming it is legal to "execute" babies after they are born, accusing migrants in Springfield, Ohio of stealing and eating people's pets, and stating that Kamala Harris wants to give, "transgender surgeries to illegal immigrants in prison." 

This TikToker even posits that Trump doesn't know what "seeking asylum" means, as he said in the debate that illegal immigrants are escaping from "mental institutions and insane asylums," which could help explain his infamous reference to Hannibal Lecter in a speech a few months back.  

In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there.

This quote has sparked a new trend on TikTok. Pet-owners are sharing videos of their pets looking scared or shocked, with this quote from Trump playing as the audio. Of the ones I've seen, these videos from @ivartheblindcatandfamily and @avarmon_xx are my personal favorites. 

Although the memes may be silly, they do not exist in a bubble. Buildings across Springfield, Ohio have been evacuated due to bomb threats being made against them, following Trump's baseless accusations of Haitian immigrants eating people's pets. Many of those buildings belong to the city government, while some are elementary schools, according to this NBC broadcast. The trend on TikTok may be lighthearted and humorous, but the real-world implications of Trump's racist accusation is scary to consider. 

Comments

  1. Kaylee DomonkosSeptember 21, 2024 at 3:29 PM

    Hi Emma! I really like the theme of your blog. Examining how TikTok influence American politics is such a great idea during this election as the platform has become the way many people participate in political discourse. I enjoyed how you highlighted the consequences of making viral political memes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Camren HardySeptember 24, 2024 at 10:08 PM

    Hi Emma great post! I found the first debate to be really quite interesting. I think the most shocking this of all to me was some of the comments that Donald Trump made during this debate. I was really surprised that when he made some of these statement that they were fact checking him live and calling him out on it. The fact that they were immediately able to get in contact with the city manager was quite surprising. The biggest meme I have seen come out about this was obviously the comment about eating cats and dogs, I have seen so many people making jokes about it. I do really like that you mentioned the fact that his comments had consequences that wen't past people laughing at him though, I think that's a part of this that many people forget about.

    ReplyDelete

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