Welcome to the 2019 Memeys! These are the awards for the best and worst memes of the year. 2019 saw all sorts of memeable events, from the Covington and Jussie Smollett debacles, to the beginning of the 2020 presidential race, to Jeffrey Epstein’s “suicide” and of course the ever present focus on Trump. Here are the categories, the winners will be announced on the Facebook Page between now and the end of the year, then updated here.

Worst Government Meme

This award goes to the “Meth. We’re on it.” campaign! The state of South Dakota laid out this initiative last month, posting countless pictures of various residents with the caption “Meth. I’m on it.” Social media gave the expected reception to this meme, mocking it mercilessly and turning it into a joke.

The governor tried to play it off by saying the attention it was getting was what they were going after to highlight the meth problem, but no one really bought that. If anything, it probably made more people think about doing meth. The state government spent $1.4M on a marketing firm to come up with this slogan, apparently not realizing you could get the equivalent quality from a 4 Chan troll for free. And just a month after the rollout, everyone has already forgotten it. While it was a complete waste of money, South Dakota residents can at least be thankful they still have no state income tax.

Best Andrew Yang Meme

A year ago, almost no one knew who Andrew Yang was. This year he gained prominence in part because he was one of the few Democratic presidential candidates who wasn’t a complete lunatic. And, of course, his central platform of giving every American a $1000/month universal basic income.

He still remains in the race, outlasting and continuing to beat many other high profile candidates. This is largely due to his enthusiastic following of young supporters, dubbed “The Yang Gang” who churn out memes and social media backing on his behalf. He’s been referred to as “the most meme-able candidate” and it’s hard to beat this one.

Best Kamala Harris Meme

Kamala Harris was among the worst of the Democratic presidential contenders this year, a ruthless prosecutor attempting to market herself as a female Obama. She was initially highly touted in the media, but ran into a brick wall when Tulsi Gabbard confronted her in a debate about her prosecutorial record. Gabbard pointed out she jailed thousands for marijuana violations, kept prisoners beyond their sentences and even withheld evidence that would free an inmate on death row. This exchange was so brutal it became a memeable moment itself (“officer down!”).

Harris never had a comeback for this attack, but tried to arrogantly wave it away in a post-debate interview with CNN saying she was a “top tier candidate” and Tulsi was attacking her because she was at 0-1%. Just months later, that’s where Harris herself would be, even ranking below Tulsi in some polls. Her campaign imploded and she dropped out, to the dismay of almost no one.

Best Foreign Politician Meme

In September, Time magazine published a photo of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in “brown face” from an Arabian Nights party he attended at age 29. Or, as some media outlets sanitized it, “face darkening makeup.” Shortly after, other pictures of Trudeau in black face surfaced. He was forced to admit that he didn’t know how many times he had worn blackface in his life. His explanation for this amnesia was that his privilege gave him a blind spot on the issue.

Even though it happened in the heat of election season, Canadian voters gave him a pass and re-elected him. In the US, Virginia governor Ralph Northam successfully parried a similar scandal. Fortunately, the memes weren’t so generous.

Worst Fact Check

And now, presenting the Memey for Worst Fact Check! This year, Snopes repeatedly “fact checked” the satirical site Babylon Bee, including this funny, but clearly absurd AOC meme. In fact, Snopes has now fact checked more than 30 Bee articles! As I pointed out earlier in the year, Snopes’s justification for this was bogus. They claimed that many people thought these stories were actually true, which necessitated their fact checks. But their evidence for this was citing a few random social media accounts with almost zero following or traction. Almost everyone gets these jokes, and for the few that don’t, well the joke’s on them. It’s not the role for fact checkers to police satire.

The Bee responded in epic fashion by publishing the headline, “Snopes Rates Babylon Bee World’s Most Accurate News Source.”

The lame fact checks weren’t just limited to Snopes this year. Major news outlets continually emphasized that obvious fake pictures (usually tweeted by a Trump) were “doctored.” The Washington Post even fact checked Trump’s claim that the burgers he gave to the visiting Clemson football team were piled a mile high, complete with mathematical calculations! These absurd fact checks failed to realize that taking satire seriously ended up making them the joke.

Best Trump Tweet

In early October, Trump tweeted this meme variation of Nickelback’s terrible “Photograph” music video. It showed Joe Biden and his son Hunter golfing with a Ukrainian oil executive. As with most Trump tweets, it was met with enthusiastic approval from supporters and derision from his detractors.

What made this tweet special was that Nickelback jumped in the fray and requested it be deleted for copyright infringement shortly after it became viral. Twitter complied and it was deleted 12 hours after it was posted, deviating from their own policy of specifically putting the President above the law in these copyright cases. Many in the media then found themselves in the awkward position of defending and applauding Nickelback.

Most Hysterical Meme

In August, mass hysteria ensued over news reports of fires in the Amazon. For a couple of weeks, we were inundated with catastrophic reports of fires, while memes and certain presidents of French nations told us the “lungs of the planet are burning.”

The reality was most of the fires were man made, a normal event during the dry season in Brazil from July-October when farmers clear land for crops and grazing. While there were significantly more fires in August than the year prior, by September there were actually fewer than the year before. The story completely fell off the radar and disaster appears to be averted. As for the “lungs of the planet,” this narrative originated from the 1960s and was debunked by scientists in the 70s. The Amazon produces about 9% of the earth’s oxygen, but consumes essentially the same amount, meaning it’s a net zero contributor of oxygen for the planet. This doesn’t mean it’s not important, but it’s not the lungs of the planet and globally forest fires are down significantly in the last couple decades as agricultural technology has progressed.

Best Smackdown

Comedian Ricky Gervais got into an epic Twitter battle this year with Jessica Yaniv, a trans woman activist in Canada. Yaniv filed complaints in court against multiple female beauticians who refused to wax her male genitalia. Most of these women were immigrants and worked out of their homes. Yaniv sought as much as $15,000 in damages from each one, and one was forced out of business due to the case.

Gervais, an outspoken atheist and leftist, began mocking Yaniv mercilessly on Twitter for the ridiculous lawsuit. Because this was 2019, this brought out accusations he was transphobic and a bigot. To his credit, Gervais stuck to his guns and continued his assault while clarifying he wasn’t against trans people, just this crazy complaint. He also pointed out the rather poignant, if crude, observation that supporting women’s rights means they have the right not to touch and wax a man’s balls if that makes them uncomfortable. All non-insane people agreed.

The Canadian courts eventually ruled against Yaniv, and she was even forced to pay some of the women $2,000. Afterwards, she started a new complaint that she was denied service from a gynecologist, and Gervais was there to mock her again.

Most Creative Meme

At the beginning of the year, in the midst of the “government shutdown” Trump gave his first televised address from the Oval Office in regards to immigration and border security funding. In response, Pelosi and a Schumer gave a speech immediately after which was widely mocked. Many likened it to parents scolding their children, Bond villains or pointing out the absurd amount of American flags behind them. This meme took a different path, adapting the American Gothic painting, and captured the moment perfectly.

The Left CAN Meme

The right often badgers the left on their, shall we say, below average ability to meme. But they do create good memes on occasion, and this is one of them. During Trump’s State of the Union Address this year, Pelosi had the infamous “F-you clap”. The left memed this to great effect and it foreshadowed the primary political battle of the year, Trump vs. Pelosi. Both had their moments, and the war isn’t over.

The Left CAN’T Meme

This was shared by the big pages, but it’s just not a good meme. America was never “Greta” nor does the slogan make any sense, even in a satirical or comical way. Good memes are edgy and memorable. No one is saying “Make American Greta Again” and worse, if you type that into Google you get “did you mean make America great again?” Ironically, it emboldens the original MAGA meme because of its impotence.

Dumbest Meme

And now, presenting the Memey for Dumbest Meme! Several states passed anti-abortion laws this year, primarily in attempt to trigger another Supreme Court hearing on the matter. While most of these laws were later struck down by Federal courts, it released a flurry of abortion memes, ranging from the good, the bad and the…dumb. This one was so dumb it didn’t even deserve a bust, just straight to the Memeys.

Most Annoying Meme

And now, presenting the Memey for Most Annoying Meme! Last summer, the Women’s World Cup morphed into a referendum on Trump, as a few of the players took outspoken stands against the president during the tournament. Thus, 2019 became the year where EVERYTHING had to be political. Award shows, stand-up comedy, movies, heck even the 4th of July. It’s no longer possible to enjoy almost any form of entertainment or national achievement without it being about Trump in some way, which is exhausting and annoying. As the 2020 Olympics approaches, it’s depressing to think how the athletic contests will likely be ruined by various protests and political distractions at the games.

Best Greta Meme

Greta Thunberg came on the scene in a major way, becoming a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize and eventually winning Time’s Person of the Year. Greta’s popularity came because she tapped into the morality behind the climate change issue. With youthful idealism, she pointed out the hypocrisy of most adults and governments, who talked about the dangers of climate change but took no real action against it. “How dare you!” was her moral condemnation of this hypocritical society, and for those who took climate change seriously, they had no choice but to declare Greta a hero for the cause. After all, she was just taking the catastrophic narrative she had been fed by this society her whole life sincerely.

Of course, for those who didn’t view climate change as an urgent catastrophic threat, her reception was a bit different. And her scolding look and privileged sailboat crusade was ripe for meme makers to exploit.

Most Embarrassing Meme

While the Covington debacle was still fresh in everyone’s mind, the social media (and actual media) mob learned nothing and leapt enthusiastically into the Jussie Smollett hoax.

From the outset this incident was fishy, at the time I published a post saying these memes were jumping the gun (but couldn’t yet debunk it). For instance, it was a frigid night and the attack occurred at 2 am. The idea that some violent racists would be prowling around at that hour with ropes and bleach in uber leftist Chicago seemed quite dubious. Add to that the fact that he was still wearing the “noose” when the police showed up long after the attack, there were no witnesses and the story kept changing (the “This is MAGA Country” claim didn’t even come until a later interview) meant anyone trying to be objective needed to be skeptical and wait for more information to come out.

But this was 2019, so instead legions of media outlets, celebrities, politicians and meme makers fell for the biggest hoax of 2019 in their rush to push their narrative, and it blew up in their faces. Further examples of this epic rush to judgement will be posted in the comments, it really is astounding how bad the takes are in hindsight.

Best Reoccurring Meme

The real winner of this category is the Epstein didn’t kill himself memes, but that was such an obvious winner and huge meme that it deserves its own category this year. So this is the de facto champion.

This meme was a completely random combo. The yelling woman was from a Real Housewives of Beverly Hills episode back in 2011, and the cat dubbed “Smudge” didn’t appear online until 2018. In 2019, someone on Reddit combined the two pictures and it became one of the most popular memes of the year, providing a platform for endless content. Trump and Pelosi even personified this meme in real life during their White House board meeting.

Best Epstein Meme

After Jeffrey Epstein’s suspicious death in prison, the whole nation became “conspiracy theorists” as the conspiracy seemed more plausible than the official narrative. Even an ABC news anchor was caught off air saying she didn’t think Epstein killed himself.

The “Epstein didn’t kill himself” memes were relentless, making sure the story stayed in the zeitgeist for months, an unusual occurrence with today’s rapid fire news cycle. It became the year’s most popular meme, even reaching into mainstream culture, another unusual feat for a meme.

Best Biden Meme

Ever since Joe Biden entered the presidential race this year he has been the Democratic front runner, which means lots of meme attention. Most Biden memes centered around his creepy touching of girls, but in September during a televised Democratic town hall, his eye suddenly filled with blood. The medical term for this was a subconjuctival hemorrhage, but in the meme world it was pure gold.

Best Trump Meme

When Trump tweeted out a picture of his head on Rocky’s body last month, it epitomized the ridiculousness of the media in 2019. Major outlets immediately began running scolding stories, like the Washington Post’s headline, “Trump tweets doctored photo of his head on Sylvester Stallone’s body, unclear why.”

Well, for those who understand him, we know exactly why. To get the media reaction he got! Getting the press to continually refer to these memes disparagingly as “doctored photos” was revealing. “Doctored” means to alter the appearance of something in order to deceive. There was no deception here, everyone knew it wasn’t his body! Thus, the press showed they were unable to objectively cover even this silly story. The Trump campaign capitalized on this by further taunting the media with a tweet saying, “Washington Post claims – without evidence – that @realDonaldTrump shared a “doctored” photo.”

The only way to combat Trump is either to ignore his antics or meme back. Putting Stallone’s head on Trump’s body was a good effort.

Funniest Meme

If you don’t get it, look at the most embarrassing meme again.

Worst Meme of the Year

2019 began with the Covington Catholic kids debacle, one of the worst rushes to judgement in modern media history. This story hit fast and furious, as the video of Nick Sandmann apparently smirking and mocking Nathan Phillips, an elder Native American, went viral. The media quickly piled on, and the story caused a massive outrage, with celebrities, politicians and blue checkmarks galore crucifying these students. CNN’s Reza Aslan even tweeted “have you ever seen a more punchable face than this kid’s?”

There were many attempts to doxx them, like this meme which was shared by both Occupy Democrats and The Other 98%, likely seen by millions (and still up on their pages). The school and families were inundated with death threats, which forced the school to close temporarily. As the facts finally came in, it became apparent it was the kids who were the victims. A group of Black Israelites had harassed them and hurled racial slurs prior to the viral videos and it was Nathan Phillips (a notorious activist) who initiated the conflict. In context, the “smirk” was just a face of bewilderment in a bizarre situation, which the kids found themselves in while waiting for their bus to pick them up. If one watched the entire video, the behavior of the students was quite admirable given the provocation they received.

This incident was a red pill moment for many Americans. Notions of an objective media going out and diligently reporting stories, verifying their sources before publication, vanished. Almost the entire media establishment jumped on this story without independent verification, and it was obvious why. Millions saw that the press wouldn’t hesitate to vilify school children, potentially their own children, if the narrative fit. And more, it was right wing blogs and YouTubers who discovered the truth, publicized the full videos and exposed the travesty, not mainstream reporters. Predictably, no one has been held responsible for this media failure yet, but a lawsuit is currently going forward suing major media outlets for this conduct.

Best Meme of the Year

It’s always tough picking this category, but best meme should be simple, effective and capture a major theme of the year without being offensive or negative. The “Medal of Pawner” excelled in all of these, and its back story perfectly encapsulates the nonsense of 2019.

Conan the dog became a national hero as he and other military canines assisted US special forces in cornering ISIS leader al-Baghdadi in October, causing him to detonate a suicide vest and, unlike Epstein, kill himself. In the wake of this positive story, the media team at the Daily Wire created this meme of Conan getting a medal from Trump. There was a paw print on the medal and a Daily Wire stamp at the bottom. It was an obvious and good natured joke and meme.

Then, Trump tweeted the picture with the caption AMERICAN HERO! In a sane world, everyone would just chuckle and move on, but this was 2019 so the press had to jump in and cover it as a real news story, bordering on a scandal. For example, the Washington Post ran the headline, “Trump tweeted a photo of a Medal of Honor recipient — who was edited out and replaced by Conan the dog.”

The post article continued unbelievably with this: “In a somber White House ceremony in July 2017, President Trump draped the Medal of Honor around the neck of James McCloughan. He was credited with saving the lives of 10 men in a brutal, days-long battle in Vietnam, and Trump told the former Army medic that “we are in all of your actions and your bravery.”
On Wednesday, Trump posted a photo of that moment with McCloughan’s image replaced by that of a dog.
The distinctive star of metal was replaced with a paw print.”

The Post continued, apparently unaware of how memes work, “A watermark of the site appears in Trump’s tweet, but it is a cropped version that removed the attribution of the source photo, which is the Associated Press. That would have indicated it began as a legitimate news photo, raising the question of whether Trump or a staffer knew McCloughan had been edited out.”

Since Trump would have likely remembered putting a medal of pawner on a dog it’s safe to say he knew it was edited! The medal had a freaking paw print on it, how is this a serious news story?!

The press even sent reporters to interview McCloughan, which backfired as he was not offended in the slightest, and laughed when he saw the meme, giving his respect to Conan. He was probably bewildered reporters were interviewing him about a silly meme.

The Post went on to say that the Daily Wire “dismissed emailed questions about whether the altered photo originated from his publication.” Which was a polite, if misleading way of describing what happened. Here was the actual email exchange.

Post reporter: “Hello, I’m with The Washington Post, and I wanted to get confirmation this photo originated with you, and if it did, that you digitally removed Medal of Honor recipient James McCloughan and replaced him with a dog.”

Jeremy Boering (Daily Wire COO): “Alex, on the record, you’ve got to be f***ing joking. Please quote me on that. Thanks, Jeremy.”

Of course, the whole spectacle ended up making the meme even more popular, with countless variations appearing. One had the dog awarding Trump a medal, another one had Conan as every member in the cabinet room. Once again, memes had triumphed over the press in 2019.