In a tweet that has since been deleted, House Republicans have compared The Legend of Zelda and Tax Reform in a what can only be perceived as a desperate grasp for millennial sympathy to their cause. Their landing page comparing the beloved Nintendo classic to their impending attempt at a tax code overhaul has also been taken down, but the comparison stems from the fact that the original Zelda game came out in 1986, and that’s also the year a major tax code change was implemented.
This analogy has not gone over well.
The GOP just tied their tax reform plan to The Legend of Zelda. We are living in the worst timeline. pic.twitter.com/CPuKX1Wq2F
— Rhéa (@ashelia) August 23, 2017
The GOP’s initial tweet showed off a .gif of Link looking stoic in the Skyward Sword iteration of the series, which, while good, will never be on a list of the best Zelda games ever made.
its the epitome of irony that in attempt to appear hip via Zelda the GOP uses a pic from an almost universally reviled iteration of the game
— Ash Parrish (@adashtra) August 23, 2017
And so, as expected, gamers of all sorts of backgrounds are raking the GOP over the coals. Especially because in their explanation of the importance of the date, they stated that Nintendo was founded in 1985, a year before the release of the NES version of Legend of Zelda. Nintendo was founded on September 23rd, 1889 as a board and card game company.
well centrist gamers the GOP just name dropped the legend of zelda so now is as good a time as ever to make the switch!
— FuLLBLeeD (@itsmefullbleed) August 23, 2017
Look House GOP. If you were just going to get embarrassed by your Zelda tweet why send it in the first place?
— Matt Kim (@LawofTD) August 23, 2017
TL;DR House GOP at it again with #FakeNews saying "The Legend of Zelda was released one year after Nintendo was founded in 1985."
— Toasty (@Toastington) August 23, 2017
We have a reality show president and the GOP is talking about Zelda
— Christian Hanson (@chrishanson1994) August 23, 2017
Zelda brings joy to players from it's graphics, to its story, to its gameplay, to its characters. The GOP has only given us nightmares.
— SJ @ Job Hunting (Send help) (@SJTrainer2) August 23, 2017
The GOP Zelda / Taxes thing in summation: pic.twitter.com/1OzAm35LT3
— Bill Smiley (@neokefka_99) August 23, 2017
There's this bizarre article on the House GOP website comparing Zelda to tax reform, and in it is this line that's driving me insane pic.twitter.com/aCIYMCiPYq
— Kinuko / 絹子 (@kinucakes) August 23, 2017
https://twitter.com/RockyMtnCyclops/status/900516867571372032
On the idiot GOP Zelda thing (see previous RT) I counted three errors in paragraph one, assuming you're addressing US players / voters.
— Ryan Thompson (@BardicKnowledge) August 24, 2017
What does PUBG and the US Senate have in common? More than you might think… pic.twitter.com/rylipV4cxL
— Nick Chester (@nickchester) August 23, 2017
Why compare tax reform to Zelda? Why not compare tax reform to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? Or the debut of The Oprah Winfrey Show? Or more appropriately, the debut of FOX News?