21 January 2021

By Göran R Buckhorn

While most of the guests at the Biden/Harris Inauguration on Wednesday were dressed in dark and not so warm coats in the freezing Washington, D.C., weather, Senator Bernie Sanders could be seen in an old bulky coat wearing mittens. In Vermont, they know how to dress warmly instead of fashionably.

At the Inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States of America yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont could be seen in the back among the dignitaries. He was sitting alone on a chair, practicing social distancing from the rest of the guests attending this historic event.

While Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as, respectively, the President and Vice President were the ‘stars of the show’ – with the limelight stolen by the 22-year-old poet Amanda Gorman – it was a photograph by Brendan Smialowski (Getty Images) of Senator Sanders sitting bemasked, cross-legged in his bulky old coat (he is seen wearing the coat in a 2019 fund-raising video) and mittens which took off into the social media sphere. Soon the image of the Vermont Senator was to be seen in variety of scenes, photographs and artwoks. Senator Sanders is now a big meme (pronounced ‘meem’) star on the internet.

It’s not the first time Bernie Sanders has been a meme, much thanks to the large online following he had during the Democrats presidential race where many of his supporters were young and social media savvy – and communicated via memes.

Just google ‘Bernie Meme’ and you will find images of him in famous paintings, movie scenes and with celebrities, for example Elizabeth II. Although, these ‘Bernie memes’ might appear to be mocking the Vermont Senator, they are done with a light-hearted spirit which even Senator Sanders understands are in good fun.

Earlier today, I came to discuss these Bernie memes with my teenage daughter – by the way, she was the one who taught me how to pronounce ‘meme’ correctly – and she informed me that ‘everyone uses a meme of Bernie’ and before I managed to say something, she suggested that she would make one for HTBS. A few minutes later, an e-mail pling told me that I could find it in my e-mail box.

HTBS mostly publishes articles on rowing, rowers and events that happened 50 years and decades older, we like to surprise our readers with 21st century events too, and not always about rowing.