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Trump interviewer's viral reactions are now 2020's most useful meme format

Truly, a meme for our times.

Caitlin Welsh

on August 5, 2020

On Monday night, an exhausted and baffled nation got yet another reminder that it is being governed by a narcissistic toddler-fascist, but at least it also got a new meme format to express how constantly exhausting and baffling that is.

HBO aired a long sit-down interview between President Trump and Axios reporter Jonathan Swan, in which Trump doubled down on several of his latest gaffes, insulted the memory and legacy of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis at length, including saying he himself had done more for Black Americans than Lewis or in fact "any president since Lincoln." Most memorably, he threw a small tantrum ("You can't do that!") when Swan pressed him to discuss the reality of his coronavirus response beyond one specific graph his staff had printed out for him, handing the journalist the paper when he found himself unable to parse the statistics he clearly doesn't actually understand.

Throughout the interview, but especially during that exchange, Swan gave him multiple iterations of a look which, as a fellow Australian, I can authoritatively translate as: "Mate, what the fuck are you on about?"

The quick-draw screencappers of Twitter immediately observed that Swan's expressions were not just the only correct response to the interview itself, but also ripe to become a full-blown meme on their own.

There are two main strands to the meme: a simple two-part reaction shot of Swan's WTF face, and a four-image format that reveals what was really on that piece of paper Trump is handing him, plus a three-image iteration that focuses on the paper reveal.

(What was actually on it IRL? A very simple four-bar graph of coronavirus deaths per confirmed case, blown up almost to the edges of the A4-sized sheet, presumably so that Trump didn't get confused by whole sentences or mistake the colourful bars for unwrapped Jolly Ranchers and try to eat them.)

The two-image format is a 2020 instant classic, with Swan's own wife, herself a journalist for Politico, going in for the roast early on.

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THE CHAIR PILE IS ITS OWN THING, JONATHAN. GOD.

But Swan's perfectly nonplussed expression works for all moods, both the 2020-specific and eternal kind.

Oh hey, Sean Spicer, you got jokes now? Cool.

To quote a ticker joke from Desus & Mero last week, 8.0 is a perfectly respectable Pitchfork score.

The Trump version is a little less all-purpose, but a gift to everyone with a deeply cursed phone camera roll.

Donny Fiveaces. Is that anything?

If you need more evidence, others have also pointed out that reacting to a piece of paper is a proven meme format.

Of course, everything comes full circle On Line eventually.

If you just can't get enough of the 2020 update to Blinking White Guy, one kind user put together a handy reference for all Swan's deeply relatable expressions. Tag your 2020 mood (I'm a 12 with 7 rising).

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