mueller report memes

Fox News/YouTube CodyPom13/Twitter Kris Seavers

The internet is mocking Robert Mueller’s report deadline

Mueller has submitted his report. Hopefully he attached the file.

Photo of Alyse Stanley 

Alyse Stanley

Internet Culture

Posted on Mar 22, 2019   Updated on May 20, 2021, 4:28 pm CDT

For politicians and media outlets across the country, Thursday’s anticipation runs high. Finally, after two years of investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller is set to release his findings on any connections between President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russians whose election hacking might have led to his victory. Republicans—including Trump himself—have called the efforts a hoax and a witch hunt. To Democrats, it’s an essential step to secure democracy. But to the internet, it’s all just more fodder for Mueller report memes.

For many Twitter users, Mueller’s decision to release the report on a Friday afternoon conjured flashbacks of frantic late-night typing and college papers submitted minutes before being due. When news of the report’s contents seemed to stall as the evening dragged on, some users chided that the special counsel had probably used some of their age-old tricks to secretly extend an assignment’s deadline.

https://twitter.com/pattymo/status/1109094348367556608

https://twitter.com/lindseyadler/status/1109206442005938176

Other users speculated what the Mueller report might look like if it was released through means the public is more familiar with, like a Twitter thread or an email attachment. But it was writer Tony Posnanski who came up with the irrefutably worst method: “They should have dropped the Mueller Report like U2 dropped on every iPhone,” he tweeted Thursday.

https://twitter.com/stephemcneal/status/1109201248169922561

The internet’s quickness to generate memes about the Mueller report findings feels particularly appropriate given the investigation’s close relationship with social media during its run. When court documents from the probe became public in December, references to a certain “Individual-1” who was obviously the command-in-chief ignited a series of Twitter memes based on the label.

Then there were Roger Stone’s Instagram snafus after being charged as part of the case. The president’s former political advisor earned himself a gag order for posting a Photoshopped image of the case’s judge next to crosshairs. He reportedly posted another image on Instagram this month that included the text “who framed Roger Stone?“

Given the fervor with which the Mueller case has captured national attention, it’s not likely these memes will stop anytime soon. Nor should they, with a format so ubiquitous it can serve clapbacks to J.K. Rowling, the Brett Kavanoaugh case, and Wuthering Heights in a single tweet.

If and when it’s made public, who knows what memes will come out of the report’s contents.

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*First Published: Mar 22, 2019, 7:53 pm CDT

Alyse Stanley

Alyse Stanley is a video game and culture reporter based in Virginia with words at Polygon and USGamer. When she’s not writing about memes, she edits Unwinnable’s monthly magazine. You can follow her on Twitter @pithyalyse.

Alyse Stanley