Trump and the Nickelback meme - both funny and depressing.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

Trump’s display sent the Internet into fits, partly because it seemed to crystallize the complete craziness of the president’s current impeachment-inspired frenzy. This Ukraine scandal is all so serious, and yet at the end of day it’s all so silly: The commander in chief’s tenure is under existential threat, and his response is to send out a dumb clip of Kroeger preparing to ask “what the hell is on Joey’s head?”...

Nickelback didn’t exactly become famous for being famous. It became famous for being famous despite being horrible. That makes Trump the Nickelback president. He was elevated to the top of society despite being utterly deplorable, and also because he was utterly deplorable...

Trump is full of the emptiness in the “Photograph” frame. He is more commodity than man, and his every absurd action makes a mockery of the culture that created him. The problem is, unlike the Web-dwellers who originated so much of the vernacular he has adopted for his own — whether they’re his friends on 4chan, or his foes on Twitter, or a mix of both on Reddit or anywhere else — he doesn’t know there’s anything funny about it.

The Nickelback meme’s appearance on a Wednesday afternoon dramatized a contortion that is a constant in today’s America. Trump is dangerous, but he’s also ridiculous — a peril and a parody at the same time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/04/nickelback-became-famous-despite-being-horrible-just-like-trump/?wpisrc=nl_ideas&wpmm=1