David Covucci Tech is a weekly column that looks into the —outside the big few that everyone already covers—to tell you the . It runs on Thursdays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, , where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
It can sometimes be the . The nature of the online cliques—which can be slavish or ironic, reactive or calculated, trollish or sincere, each with their own memetic language— if anything being said is or , if any belief is ephemeral or permanent. But radicalized right-wing posters? There’s one thing that’s true.
. Two iconic performances of the —at a time when the American experiment was roiled by both and the ––helped the nihilistic dissatisfaction with society embed itself in a , a black-pilled rightward troll who sees the beauty in burning it all down. They were Jokers, and the Joker was them.
, crashing stages and laughing at institutions. So..
. then are all of them ? On sites like Gettr and former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social, . “It is disturbing and infuriating that this Cackling Kamala and Tampon Timmy duo maniacally laugh about the EVIL they’ve done and call it ‘joy’—I pray people’s eyes will be opened and they’ll realize that’s not joy—that’s the heinous JOKER coming out in them,” wrote Nacho Grannie.
“Kamala harris cackles, laughs, guffaws!!!!! The misery of the American people, is always a joke to her!!!!! . . .
. The joker, the clown, the harlequin!!!!! wrote ArchAngel5. The trend appears to have Citizen Free Press, who put Harris into the makeup and branded her Woker ( .
) That image macro includes a 2017 that’s recirculating for its . “We have to stay woke. Like everybody needs to be woke.
And you can talk about if you’re the wokest or woker, but just stay more less woke than less woke,” she said. Soon, of Harris as the Joker . Harris has been into the makeup of of recent memory, even getting a side-by-side comparison to Caesar Romero’s original portrayal.
“Look Mr President, All I’m say’n is, I’ve never seen the Joker and Kamala in the same room at the time together,” wrote one person to Trump. The edits also , which they think is demonic, evil, and sadistic. In videos, it’s been compared to both and ’s cackles.
Trump even , who in , is a billionaire fascist singularly obsessed with crime in major cities which...
. “We must be Batman and Robin,” wrote one poster in response to an image of Harris in clown makeup. Which, turned out, was not the creator’s .
“This depiction of Kamala Harris is actually not supposed to be The Joker,” the wrote. “It is making her look like Pennywise from the 2017 remake of the movie ‘It.’” .
But there seems to be the people are missing. Why debase your heroes like this? The effort rings hollow, you can’t both love and respect and hate and fear the Joker. If Harris truly wants to burn the world down, you should support her, party affiliation be damned.
But if right-wingers , she shouldn’t be photoshopped into Phoenix, Ledger, Nicholson, or Romero makeup. If Harris is so evil, so demented, so ..
. twisted, she should be . .
Podcaster Matt Bernstein , sharing of Trump’s running mate while in law school. The pictures, purportedly from Halloween, sparked joy online , as they try to tie the community to the trans grooming panic they’ve concocted. Vance fans , claiming it was a joke.
“Vance dressed this way as a joke. The whole point is that it looks absurd,” wrote one prominent commentator. But while lots of Halloween costumes are gags, others use the holiday as an excuse to dress up , as superheroes, witches, or women.
So, who is really to say. But what is true is that the , about . On BlueSky, posters referencing the meme.
“Drag name: Ashley Furniture,” wrote one. “The drag names I’ve heard so far are Sofa Loren and Ashley Furniture, and it’s by far the best part of this running joke,” added another. “Someone one said his drag name could’ve been Anita Couch,” chimed in another.
But the consensus was , a manufacturing company that, incidentally, chose the name because it would , an of the JD Vance is facing these days. David Covucci is the senior politics and technology editor at the Daily Dot, covering the nexus between Washington and Silicon Valley. His work has appeared in Vice, the Huffington Post, Jezebel, Gothamist, and other publications.
He is particularly interested in hearing any tips you have. Reach out at [email protected].
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