You have to hand it to Rudy Giuliani. In a year where Donald Trump absolutely dominated the news, Rudy managed to steal the limelight from Trump on several occasions (Four Seasons Perfect Landscaping and the dripping hair dye press conference to name two. Now that Trump is gone, who will be able to pull focus from the new administration. Hmmm, I wonder who that could be?
Well it didn't take too long to get the answer! Leave it to Bernie Sanders to steal the spotlight one one of the biggest days in our country's history...and he did it just by being himself! In a perfect world, Bernie Sanders will be the alternative to Rudy Giuliani in the coming four years.
For the uninitiated, photographer Brendan Smialowski took several photos of Bernie sitting by himself waiting for the Presidential inauguration to begin. It wasn't even a great shot. In the reporter's own words:
"The picture itself is not that nice. It’s not a great composition. I’m not going to be putting this in a portfolio."
Given the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic, it wasn't unusual for Bernie to be sitting alone given the strict adherence to Covid protocols. But something about the photo obviously resonated with the world. We sure could all use some much needed stress relief from an intense election which directly resulted in the assault on the Capitol.
It wasn't long before Twitter did it's thing and helped spread the wide variety of talents in the twitter-verse; from Chandra Steele's spot on observation, Franklin Leonard's perfect reaction to the Bernice picnic chair GIF and even Demi Moore herself sharing the brilliant video meme using the classic clay making scene from "Ghost".
I even got into the act with my own Bernie Meme. I had to be quick because they've been coming out fast and furious and my idea (the Lincoln Memorial below) was an obvious choice. I was surprised no-one had done that yet and I think it came out great... I even used a photo with Donald and Melania for a double meme!
I also made a slide show of just some of the best memes from the first day (which is at the top of this post.) I struggled for a while with finding the perfect song to really make the point and then it hit me, a beautiful song by The Hudson Brothers called "Bernie Was A Friend Of Ours". It had the the perfect title and the music and lyrics matched the mood I was going for perfectly;
"Bernie Was A Friend Of Ours"
The Hudson Brothers
Bernie was a friend of ours Bernie was a friend of ours And I can still remember all the things we did together And I can still remember all the things we did together
Bernie was a friend of ours Bernie was a friend of ours And everywhere that Bernie went And everywhere that Bernie went We'd go too
It's from their album Ba Fa which was produced by Bernie Taupin who was the Bernie in question. I contacted Mark Hudson he wrote me back right away. He was happy to hear I used the song and when I told him my hope would be that their song would get a new life like Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" from the Ocean Speak/Fleetwood Mac video on TikTok, he said in classic Hudson fashion;
"Maybe it will go viral and my brothers and I can buy wigs, stuff our pants and go back on the road." [Mark Hudson]
So, to celebrate this wonderful meme that won't go away, here's a one stop shopping for all things "Bernie Mittens". Watch Bernie's reaction to the memes in his interview with Seth Meyers. Read all about how the photographer Brendan Smialowski got the shot that started it all and scroll through the growing photo gallery of memes that have been cropping up every day since.
Enjoy and keep checking back for updates!
Seth Meyer Interviews Bernie
Mittens Meme Makes The News
Click each box to read all about Bernie Mittens Mania!
The Bernie Mittens Meme Gallery