*Setting: November 8th, 2016*
“Say hello to the 45th President of the United States: Jeb Bush!!!” –crowd roaring in the background
That scenario didn’t actually happen. Jeb Bush didn’t become president, but it’s funny to think about.
In 2021, the name Jeb Bush is nothing more than a political punch line. Sure, we still may laugh at Jeb Bush’s failed presidential bid in 2016. It’s easier to forget that Jeb Bush was not always a joke. In fact, he was a serious contender to become president.
So for this political meme post, we will first give some background to Jeb Bush’s political career. Then, we’ll dive into the legendary “please clap” meme.
The Man Behind the Meme
First off, Jeb Bush is a member of the Bush political dynasty. Jeb’s father—George H.W. Bush—was the 41st President of the United States (1988 to 1992). Jeb’s brother—George W. Bush—was the 43rd President of the United States (2000 to 2008).
Jeb himself was a prominent figure in Florida politics before running for President. In fact, he became the first-ever two-term Republican governor in the state of Florida. Under his watch Florida’s economy blossomed into one of the fast-growing, dynamic state economies in the country.
Fast forward to late 2014/early 15, Jeb Bush announced that he was looking to potentially run for President in 2016. Before he announce his presidential run June 2015, Jeb already appeared to be the front-runner for the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination (among prospective voters).
Looking back, it might shock a lot of people that Jeb Bush was actually a legitimate candidate for President, but it’s true.
Jeb officially announced his presidential run in June 15th, 2015. What’s even more surprising is that Jeb Bush raised over $100 million to run for President. The stars were aligning for Jeb Bush. His name recognition, significant fundraising advantage, and polling numbers showed that Jeb was front-runner for the GOP Nomination. In early-mid July 2015, Jeb was ahead of all the other Republican candidates in the all major polls—including Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio.
Don’t get me wrong, Jeb Bush was a strong frontrunner. His polling lead disappeared in late-July 2015 once Trump started gaining popular; Jeb’s popularity never recovered after that time.
With all that background information in mind, we’ll now move to the birth of a political meme: the “please clap” meme.
The Meme Itself
In early February 2016, Jeb’s campaign was completely falling apart. At the Iowa Caucus, Jeb placed a distant 6th place—behind even Dr. Ben Carson and Rand Paul. His polling were cratered to boot. Clearly, the man had absolutely no momentum going his way.
The New Hampshire primary was a week after the Iowa Caucus, and Jeb Bush needed a huge comeback performance to save his campaign.
On February 2nd, Jeb’s campaign held an event in New Hampshire—a week before the state’s primary. Unbeknownst to the crowd of Jeb supporters, It was at this event that this meme was born.
Jeb’s lack of charisma and social awkwardness is what led to this meme. During this New Hampshire event, Jeb uttered the iconic phrase “Please clap” after waiting for the audience to clap during an extended pause in Jeb’s speech.
Please watch this video in order to understand how cringy Jeb Bush’s social skills truly are:
If you could guess, Jeb Bush fared poorly in the New Hampshire primary. This moment sure didn’t help him. So many people made fun of Jeb Bush for this gaffe—from Fox News to CNN. This meme became the final nail in the coffin for Jeb Bush’s presidential aspirations.
On February 20th, 2016, Jeb Bush suspended his presidential campaign. What a shame (just kidding).
Although “Jeb!” never became president, his political aspirations still live on by means of the Internet. Jeb Bush memes are somehow still relevant in 2021, please don’t ask me how. In fact, someone sent me a Jeb Bush meme about a week ago.
Also, people on the Internet started to make jokes about Jeb Bush being a secret communist—hence the “Comrade Jeb” memes below. I’m pretty sure that’s because Jeb Bush one time said that he’d “kill Baby Hitler” while doing an interview with the Huffington Post
Anyways, enjoy some of these low-energy Jeb Bush memes. It’s what Jeb would want you to do.
I hope you enjoyed this post. My last several posts haven’t been super positive, so I wanted to make this one so much more lighthearted.
