Presenting the Best Memes of the Third Presidential Debate

Wednesday night’s debate---the third and final of the general election---started out like the others: with gentle opening statements from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and careful viewer remarks about how calm each candidate appeared. It ended like the others, too: in complete chaos.

Chaos, it turns out, makes for excellent meme material---and much of it was supplied by Donald Trump, who as the debate wore on, thrashed violently as he became entangled in the net of his own character, his hot air no longer providing the buoyancy to keep him afloat.

On the subject of immigration, in which Fox News moderator Chris Wallace asked him about his plan to build a wall to keep out Mexican immigrants, Trump described the need to secure the southern border from the “bad hombres” crossing into the US. And while the debate moved swiftly onward, the Internet took a moment to reflect on what Trump had just said.

From that point on, it became clear we were in the realm of meme-hood, and within 10 minutes #badhombres started trending on Twitter.

Much has been said about Hillary Clinton’s disappearance from the spotlight in the days leading up to the debate, presumably to prepare. In fact, her preparedness has been a talking point since the first debate, in which Trump appeared largely bereft of rehearsed answers. That distinction between the two candidates came out again during the third debate, and manifested itself in the form of another hashtag: #TrumpBookReport. The meme’s origin can be traced to a tweet from St. Louis mayoral candidate Antonio French, who noted that Trump’s foreign policy answers sounded like a teenager delivering a book report for which he was grossly unprepared.

The tweet, combined with Trump having gone on the record in July saying he has no time to read, created the perfect conditions for another viral hit. By the morning, thousands of tweets had accumulated on Twitter as people gave their own interpretations of how Trump would deliver a book report.

That last tweet---the puppet one---includes language Trump actually used during the debate, and is the source material of another meme. That’s right, this dude combined two memes in one! Extra points!

After Clinton accused Trump of cozying up to Vladimir Putin---whom intelligence agencies confirm was behind hacks into the DNC, and whom Trump has encouraged---Trump responded not by condemning the Russian president, but by rebuking Clinton and Obama for not courting his affection more diligently. “[Putin] has no respect for her. He has no respect for our president…Look, Putin, from everything I see, has no respect for this person,” Trump said. Clinton responded by saying that’s because Putin would rather see Trump in office as a “puppet” president.

Trump snapped back at Clinton saying “you’re the puppet! You’re the puppet!” It was a moment devoid of any poise, perfect for the Internet.

But perhaps the night’s biggest meme came after an offhanded remark Trump said while Clinton was speaking about raising taxes on the wealthy to help fund Social Security, which experts expect to run out of money by the year 2020.

Trump’s “nasty woman” comment, of course, comes on the heels of a leaked 2005 tape a few weeks ago in which he describes assaulting women, and more recently several accusations by women who say he harassed or abused them before his candidacy.

Many women took the insult and reclaimed it as a badge to wear proudly. It even spurred websites (which now redirect to hillaryclinton.com).

Donald Trump tried to make #DrainTheSwamp a thing in the day leading up to the debate, the “swamp” being dishonest politics in Washington, DC. Mentions of the hashtag peaked as the debate started, but declined ever since.

Let this be a lesson: don’t try to start a viral movement the same day you unwittingly start dozens.