There was, naturally, lots of fashion talk at Wednesday’s U.S. inauguration: the “jewel tones”, “rainbow colours” and “regal ... monochromatic looks” worn by everyone from Michelle Obama and Lady Gaga to Amanda Gorman; first daughter Ashley Biden’s Ralph Lauren tux; and the Air Jordan Dior 1s worn by the husband of Kamala Harris’s niece.
The 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden, in case you missed it, wore a navy Ralph Lauren suit, while Vice-President Harris opted for purple, the colour of loyalty and purpose according to one fashion website, along with her signature pearls.
Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, donned the full Vermont — the kind of parka and outsized woolen, knitted mittens that might be glimpsed in the parking lot at Buck’s Home Building Centre in Bridgewater.
Just like that, the internet was broken.
Suddenly, thanks to the wonders of the virtual world, there was Bernie — mask worn responsibly high, legs crossed, cradling a manila envelope, as if just making a stop on his “honey do” list — seated far left at The Last Supper, posing at a bowling alley next to Jeff “the Dude” Lebowski, beside Winston Churchill at the Yalta Conference, watching, from a distance, the Beatles cross Abbey Road.
As the Bernie memes spread, he could be glimpsed riding ET-style past a full moon, getting ready to hit warp speed with Han Solo and Chewbacca, seated with the other members of the Justice League of America, under a shady tree in George Seurat's painting Study for A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, even in the dark corner of the Hobbit's Shire.
My favourite Bernie meme. My Canadian friends will get this! pic.twitter.com/6NBny0H1Ye
— Deanna Burgart P.Eng (@Indigeneer) January 22, 2021
Zelig-like, he sat inside the ring with Ali and Liston, and on the stage at Woodstock with Richie Havens.
As the Righteous Brothers crooned in the background, Sanders’ mittened hands caressed Demi Moore’s in the pottery scene from Ghost.
He’s Waiting for Godot in one meme, and for a cup of coffee at the counter with the rest of Edward Hopper’s Night Owls.
Best fried chicken in Cape Breton....have a lick Bernie!#LickaChick pic.twitter.com/m0WO9Qnvql
— MtNestersabroad (@mtnestersabroad) January 22, 2021
Everybody, as the week closed, seemed to want to “feel the bern,” whether it was Jennifer Aniston positioning Bernie on the famous couch from Friends or Jamie Lee Curtis putting him in the corner of a dark hotel room while she performed a dance in True Lies.
Canadians, of course, got in on the fun. So, one moment, the 79-year-old senator from Vermont crashed a photo shoot for the Rose family of Schitt’s Creek fame, while in the next, a miniature Sanders seems about to look “waaay up” from the set of The Friendly Giant, and in a third still, he sits in a chair, surf frothing around their feet, next to the environmentalist David Suzuki.
Since humour is not unknown in Atlantic Canada, it was inevitable that we would soon join the fray. And so, Sanders’ image appeared in the aisle of a Halifax Transit bus, in the waiting area at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, even on a beach, presumably in Prince Edward Island, in a photo titled Bernie of Green Gables.
Just sitting outside my office thinking about the need for permanent rent control, a $15 minimum wage, and a room for every long-term care resident in Nova Scotia.#FeelTheBern #nspoli pic.twitter.com/zRnAnK7rbf
— Gary Burrill (@GaryBurrill) January 22, 2021
If you looked around a little online, you could find Bernie lurking on stage during a production of Peter Pan at Neptune Theatre.
With a little imagination, you might think that was actually Sanders on a campaign shot for Liberal leadership aspirant Labi Kousoulis, even if the American’s political views might not square with those of the man who hopes to be Nova Scotia's next premier.
It is possible, I suppose, that Sanders dined at Little Bras d’Or’s A & K Lick-a-Chick restaurant as a Twitter poster who calls himself Mtnestersabroad would have us believe.
He could, at one point, have even visited the Bide Awhile animal shelter of Dartmouth, where “even the cats are jealous of Bernie’s mittens.” Who knows, perhaps he did really have a portrait done at Applehead Studio, as a meme shared by the Halifax photographic outfit implies?
Even the cats are jealous of Bernie's mittens! #Berniememes
— Bide Awhile (@bideawhile) January 22, 2021
(Please note this is an old photo and these cats all have forever homes) pic.twitter.com/Ol9X5mljAI
Friday, naturally, there sat Sanders between Stephen McNeil and Bob Strang at Nova Scotia’s COVID-19 update.
McNeil’s political opponent, NDP Leader Gary Burrill, on the other hand, took a page right out of the American progressive’s playbook. Masked up and mittened, he put a chair outside his riding office, where he sat, striking
Sanders’ Inauguration Day pose.
“Just sitting outside my office thinking about the need for permanent rent control, a $15 minimum wage, and a room for every long-term care resident in Nova Scotia,” Burrill wrote.
No one was bellowing the internet is won after that one, but hey, it was still funny.
when memes collide
— ⓢⓗⓐⓡⓓⓒⓞⓡⓔ ⧖ (@erocdrahs) January 21, 2021
[sound on]
(blame @christt for giving me the idea) pic.twitter.com/OK0MrF0ZZT
