The gauntlet for the 2020 presidential election is already overcrowded with 18 Democratic candidates, at latest count, and a couple handful of others still toying with the idea from former Vice President Joe Biden to the Starbucks guy. It’s completely already exhausting, and we’re not even halfway through 2019 yet, and many believe that the lack of cohesion will almost certainly hand President Donald Trump another win.
This is especially concerning when it comes to polarizing candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who both arrive with significant political baggage.
Enter former FBI Director James Comey, who probably gave at least a few people a heart attack with a tweet ambiguously announcing his candidacy on Monday, before realizing that it was an April Fool’s Day joke. “I’m in. We need someone in the middle,” he captioned a photo of himself standing in the middle of a long stretch of road, adding the hashtag “#2020.”
I’m in. We need someone in the middle. #2020 pic.twitter.com/IGt69bEQz1
— James Comey (@Comey) April 1, 2019
Comey later admitted that it was just a joke. “But could you imagine a president who used this website to make dad jokes rather than to hurl insults? Happy #AprilFools. #VoteDem2020.”
Given Comey’s involvement in the outcome of the 2016 election, and subsequent battles with the Trump administration, he’s not a universally well-liked figure on either side of the political spectrum, and the “joke” went over about a well as one might expect.
https://twitter.com/Overlapping/status/1112798317174390785
Delete your account.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) April 1, 2019
Maybe Hillary could write a letter two weeks before the election…
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) April 1, 2019
Can it, you sanctimonious tree
— andi zeisler (@andizeisler) April 1, 2019
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1112818379784687616
But then the tweet took on a new light as people began spoofing the phrase “We need someone in the middle” and it became a full-blown meme — referencing everything from The Brady Bunch and Malcolm in the Middle.
I’m in. We need someone in the middle. #2020 pic.twitter.com/pYnXi6t0UO
— Jamie (@JamieMcCarty) April 1, 2019
https://twitter.com/bejohnce/status/1112800951113404416
https://twitter.com/margarita/status/1112802631976595457
https://twitter.com/bellvedere/status/1112802543724224512
https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1112800621642608642
https://twitter.com/NoahHurowitz/status/1112799696068775944
While the meme may have turned out alright, let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture here, which is that April Fool’s Day is bad and should be permanently canceled.