capitol

Rumors of Antifa being behind the January 6th storming of the capitol began almost as quickly as the Pro-Trump rally turned into an insurrection. Many far right conservatives and MAGA gangs seemed to immediately pass the blame to the anti-fascist group - much as they claimed Antifa was behind the BLM protests. Even though the FBI was quick to debunk the rumors, it seems that many followers of right-leaning mainstream media are still eager to deflect blame and weave more conspiratorial drama. 

While some of these believers will continue to swim in their seas of confirmation bias, others are apparently grapping with family members who won't stand for the BS. This viral video, in which a kid puts their mom on blast for her insistence that MAGA did no wrong, is a pretty great example of the latter. While it doesn't seem like they've changed their mom's mind, it's pretty entertaining to see mom struggle to explain something that's completely false. The reactions ain't bad either. 

Many Americans are lamenting the fact that we're barely into 2021 and this year has already proven to be as batshit crazy as 2020, if not more so. There's a silver lining, though—the storming of the Capitol last week produced some top tier, hilarious content. Twitter may have banned the President of the United States, but the rest of us are still tweeting gold content and funny takes about all the chaos. We've collected some killer recent tweets ranging from topical to totally random.

"Give me your tired, your humor-deprived, your huddled meme-hungry masses yearning to laugh free, the wretched refuse of your teeming political hellscape. Send these, the disenchanted and quarantined, I lift my lamp beside the golden door." If these words sound familiar, that's because we've edited Emma Lazarus' famous 1883 sonnet to reflect the way the world is feeling right now. We might not be as noble as the Statue of Liberty (upon which the poem is emblazoned) but we're definitely here to welcome anyone who needs memes with open arms. 

What a week. Between the absolute sh*tshow at the Capitol and, um, ::gestures at everything:: we're feeling more than a little overwhelmed. But it's Friday, so hopefully for some of you that means you get some time to process our hellscape of a reality. That said, we're betting that some of you would prefer to disconnect from said reality. And for that, we prescribe some quality time with these here memes.

TGIF, meme-lovers. We're back at it with the best dank memes Reddit had to offer this week. And what a week it was. As is to be expected, there's a smattering of politics in this installment. But don't fear. You're not about to be inundated with memes about MAGA storming the Capitol. There's plenty of spicy, relatable memes that have nothing to do with the madness. We're very, very thankful for that. 

It's only day eight of 2021 and we've already seen maybe one of the dumbest news weeks in US history...and it's still unfolding! As you've probably heard, the Capitol Building in Washington DC was breached on Wednesday by a mob of Trump supporters, one of whom was caught in a photo running off with a US House lectern. Journalist @RyanLizza tweeted the image and cited Getty Images as the source, which caused a lot of unexpected confusion. Many people retweeted the image and called for the arrest of 'Via Getty.' @RyanLizza eventually had to clarify that the man's name is not, in fact, Via Getty, but by then it was too late. The mistake had already gone viral and jokes about Via Getty are still flooding Twitter. We've collected some hilarious reactions to the priceless Twitter gaff that will surely be remembered for a long, long time.

The absolute mayhem at the Capitol yesterday has been on everyone's mind for the last 24 hours. It was scary. It was volatile. People died. Politicians are comparing the attack on democracy to memorable events like Pearl Harbor. Pundits are scrutinizing the actions of both sides, and everyone's realizing that 2021 ain't looking so sweet. While it's all very overwhelming, we do take solace in the fact that Twitter is able to take even situations like yesterday's insurrection and turn it into something funny. And that's exactly what @itsmeRachie did by asking the site to name a place with tighter security than the Capitol. Given the laughable lack of security (or perhaps competent security), the thread prompted scads of amusing jokes, with punchlines that not only cover places (Walmart, CVS) but objects that are famously tough to get into, like plastic cake boxes and clamshell packaging. The thread quickly went viral, and is still growing both in strength and hilarity. We put together some of our favorite responses, but by the time you read this we're sure there'll be more gold where these tweets came from.

Okay, so 2021 isn't quite the fresh start Americans had hoped for, but right-wing insurrection and a literal siege of the US Capitol in the first week of January is a bit extra. Most impressive was the rate at which memes, tweets, Instagram stories, and TikToks were flooding the internet as the storming of the Capitol was still unfolding. Perhaps this says something about society, but we won't go there. Let's just stick to what we know best—memes. And if you're appalled because it seems like we're making light of a dire situation, you can kindly look the other way. Some of us are so jaded that all we can do right now is laugh and cry at the same time.