
WASHINGTON, DC, 2018—Everybody remembers the spring of 2017: Wonder Woman lighting up the multiplex, the Twin Peaks reboot confusing everyone who came near it, and high anxiety about climate change and global terrorism around every corner. Then came #covfefe, the lovable one-word meme that began life as a presumed typo on then-president Donald Trump’s Twitter feed and soon became a slogan that gave confidence to self-described liberals of all shapes and sizes, spreading across the internet like an infestation, eventually showing up on T-shirts, coffee mugs, hand-knit soccer scarves, and more than a few tattoos.
