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President Donald Trump‘s tweets on November 16 caused the hashtag “White House Karen” to go viral on Twitter as he continued to falsely claim that he won the 2020 presidential election, despite projections that Democratic candidate Joe Biden has won.
On Monday, Trump’s first tweet of the day read, “I won the election,” which is untrue. Twitter immediately flagged the president’s tweet with a note reading, “Official sources called this election differently.” Biden won the popular vote by 5,571,329 votes, according to Decision Desk HQ’s most recent tally on November 16, and he earned 306 electoral college votes, way over the 270 required to win.
Trump also took credit for the latest news on Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine. He tweeted, “Another Vaccine just announced. This time by Moderna, 95% effective. For those great ‘historians’ please remember that these great discoveries, which will end the China Plague, all took place on my watch!”
In response, users online started to call the president a “White House Karen” and post memes featuring the president’s head with the “Karen haircut.” Within an hour, #WhiteHouseKaren was trending nationally on Twitter.
The text of one viral meme reads, “I want to speak to the Poles manager,” a reminder of when Trump mistakenly tweeted the word “Poles” instead of the correct term “polls” when trying to make unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud during the election.
Trump had said in the since-deleted tweet, “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed!” Trump wrote the post just before 1 a.m. on November 4.
Many of the “White House Karen” memes referred to him demanding to speak to the manager. One tweet read, “President Karen isn’t leaving until he speaks to the manager of the Internet!” while another said Trump wanted to “speak to the Election’s manager.” Even the Democratic Coalition’s official Twitter account tweeted using the hashtag on Monday.
People on Twitter Expressed Anger at Trump for Taking Credit for Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine
While there were plenty of “White House Karen” jokes, many Twitter users also said Trump’s response to coronavirus has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths in America and that they believe he doesn’t deserve credit for Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine.
One man tweeted, “Just want to remind everyone while #WhiteHouseKaren and his idiot Ivanka are trying to take credit for the Moderna vaccine, HE LIED ABOUT COVID-19. He lied, and people DIED. No credit, ALL the blame.” Another person switched up the moniker and called Trump, “White House UN-Carin’.”
Trump Seemed Close to Saying He Lost the Election During His Rose Garden Press Conference on Friday
On Friday, November 13, Trump held his first press conference since Biden was officially projected winner of the 2020 presidential election
During his speech, Trump hinted that the next administration may have a different approach to ridding the nation of the coronavirus. “Ideally, we won’t go to a lockdown,” Trump said. “I will not go- this administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the, the- whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell, but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown. … Lockdowns cost lives.”
Twitter quickly reacted to Trump’s comments, as this was the first time the president publicly acknowledged the idea that his time as commander in chief may be coming to an end. While listening to Trump’s speech, one person tweeted, “So basically Trump is trying to set himself or a designated successor up for 2024 by claiming credit for vaccine success while blaming Biden for an anticipated shutdown under the next administration’s watch.”
PBS NewsHour reporter Yamiche Alcindor tweeted, “Pres Trump came super close to acknowledging that the Biden administration may be in power by the time the COVID vaccine is being distributed but didn’t quite get there. Now, he is standing hands clasped smiling as an official explains the process for distributing the vaccine.”
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