DEEP BREATH

The Election Memes and Tweets That Will (Hopefully) Get You Through the Day

At a certain point on this Election Day, one just has to laugh—especially those who’ve already voted, and are now twiddling their thumbs in the agonizing wait for the results.

by Steph Eckardt

A person voting
Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images

It’s hard to overstate the level of anxiety currently felt throughout the United States. Election Day is finally here, but with an unprecedented number of votes cast by mail, no one—not even Joe Biden or Donald Trump—has any idea when the official results of the 2020 presidential race will roll in. It doesn’t help that the hours leading up to Election Day were especially surreal—and that’s saying something, in the context of the entire Trump presidency.

At 1:02 a.m. in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trump invited the 20-year-old rapper Lil Pump onto the stage of his final campaign rally. He also introduced him as Lil Pimp. Around two hours later, at 2:57 a.m., the president then tweeted a two-minute, 12-second video compilation of him dancing to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” Keep in mind, that was all on the heels of his final campaign push: going after, of all people, “anti-fracking activist” Lady Gaga.

At a certain point, in the face of such nonsense, one just has to laugh—especially those who’ve already voted, and are now twiddling their thumbs in the agonizing wait for the final results. Generally, Twitter is the last place we’d recommend going to calm your nerves. There’s no end of takes from wannabe pundits in sight, and celebrities’ pleas for you to vote have hit a fever pitch. (Though at least they’re well meaning—Kanye West is out here tweeting “today I am voting for the first time in my life for the President of the United States, and it’s for someone I truly trust…me.”)

Still, as with this election season’s debates, a small segment of Twitter users has managed to provide solace, in the form of commentary amusing enough to distract you from your despair. Take a deep breath, and allow yourself for just one brief moment not to think about the next four years.

Related: Unpacking the Trump Administration’s Celebrity PSA Spreadsheet