I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT! Trump Sp...

On November 7, 2020, when US news channels declared Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election, Donald Trump reacted with three tweets firmly declaring the opposite. The one reading “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” gained particular visibility through over 960K replies, over 860K retweets, some 1,1M likes, and much public commentary. Befitting the antagonistic nature of political debate and campaigning surrounding the elections—and cutting through contemporary US politics more broadly—responses to the tweet were highly bipartisan, with some supporting Trump’s (unfounded) claims and many others jumping in to ridicule and mock him, often with the aid of memes. 

Focusing on users’ quote tweets (quoted replies or retweets with comments) over a 33h period, this project sets out to examine the dynamics of exchange within the flood of animated GIFs, vitriolic commentary, cartoons, Armenian curses, and many things beyond. Attending to the rhythms, patterns, and repetitions within the dataset, we investigate different qualities of intervention emerging within the spectacle of Trump deselection.