In a particularly unchill and straight-up-outrageous election cycle, Twitter has taken a greater role than ever in furthering the political discussion around candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. At this point in our nation’s history the two have grown to represent the two polarized spectrums of our great nation. Issues such as immigration, foreign affairs and the economy have generated splits that go beyond a simple difference of opinion.
Of course, the starkness between their two positions has led to a lot of extreme rhetoric, including the way Clinton characterized Donald Trump’s supporters at a fundraiser last night:
“To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.”
She’s not really wrong in that sense (as his continued behavior of the course of months and even years has shown to be true), but gross generalizations strike many people as gross, and being the responsible candidate she is, Clinton has already walked the statement back.
But the real story here involves another (failed) presidential candidate, one former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who attempted to weigh in on the matter. Here’s his, uh, rhyming tweet on the subject:
Hillary shows contempt for people in her "basket". I think she blew a gasket. Her campaign headed for a casket.
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) September 10, 2016
Now, I personally think Twitter has become a toxic haven that enables and supports the kind of bullying behavior that is in general bad for humankind and the opposite of the gentleness we should cultivate toward one another. But… in some cases the way that Twitter claps back against those who seek to circulate ignorant and downright embarrassing rhetoric is, well, right and noble and good. So the way that Twitter has banded together — particularly to compare Huckabee’s sad attempts at rhyme to the world of hip-hop — is something that made my day today.
Here’s a smattering of the hilarious responses and jokes that noble Twitter users have assembled to help assuage the pain that this man is an actual political figure in our nation.
white rappers are a scourge https://t.co/hGjfB91dui
— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) September 10, 2016
this should be enough to get #bars trending, right? https://t.co/OaxShDmbz6
— bomani (@bomani_jones) September 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/JensenClan88/status/774688610910081024
"Wellllllll my name's Mikey Huck and I'm here to say…" https://t.co/KYs0ym6wK8
— Brian Grubb (@briancgrubb) September 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/AlGiordano/status/774681789277282304
You're a racist in a box. You're a racist with a fox. You're a racism in a house. You're a racist with a mouse. https://t.co/5edgbHsSZq
— Chris (@ChrisCubas) September 10, 2016
I absolutely do NOT support this pitch for a remake of 8 Mile. https://t.co/G5L7f0Ce9k
— Joseph Scrimshaw (@JosephScrimshaw) September 10, 2016
https://twitter.com/NirajC/status/774651585330868224
https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/774686095565094916
https://twitter.com/lurie_john/status/774713015375695872
get this rap shit off my feed https://t.co/tWe6dBd4p3
— capitalism liker (@HumanPog) September 10, 2016
preacher. governer. now, soundcloud struggle rapper https://t.co/E7NL5xMWGU
— boo (@boocanan) September 11, 2016
https://twitter.com/bombsfall/status/774705631131467777
We’ll always have Twitter. Join in if you want… maybe I’ll update the post with more if some good ones come through.