Podcast Summary: The Opinions – "Trump Is America’s First Meme President"

Host: Meher Ahmad (NYT Opinion)
Guests: Adam Alexik (Linguist, author of “Algo: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language”), Tressie McMillan Cottom (Opinion columnist, sociologist)
Date: September 23, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode explores how former President Donald Trump has transformed not just American politics, but the culture and language of the nation, becoming what the panelists dub “America’s first meme president.” The discussion delves into Trump's distinctive linguistic style, his internet-savvy communication, and how these have reshaped public discourse, the way people communicate, and even how Americans think about reality. The conversation also contrasts Trump’s impact with other politicians and explores the future of political speech in the age of memes and algorithms.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump's Communication Style: Efficacy vs. Convention

• Breaking with the Presidential Mould

  • Trump is often dismissed for breaking rules of public speaking—wandering, incomplete sentences—yet his style is seen as deeply effective and relatable.
  • Tressie: “He does sound like people who talk about politics at the bus stop... I always thought that he was quite effective. That is not the same thing as being good. It is not necessarily the same thing as being presidential for sure.” [01:52]

• Effectiveness in Different Mediums

  • Trump capitalized on TV and later, algorithmic social media, to maximize his presence through attention-grabbing tactics.
  • Adam: “He was very good at using TV as a medium… he would show up way more on the news than any other candidate in the 2016 primary.” [02:37]

2. Trump’s Linguistic Legacy: The Rise of Trumpisms

• Popularized Phrases and “Phrasal Templates”

  • Common Trumpisms: “many people are saying...”, “fake news,” “sad,” “believe me,” and structures like “Make X great again,” “Thank you, X. Very cool.”
  • Adam: “His phrasal templates… are all sort of placeholders for you to put in your own memes or words... which let them live on a life beyond Trump.” [04:10]

• Memetic Adaptability

  • These catchphrases spread because they're adaptable—the key property of internet memes.
  • Adam: “If it’s just one context, it goes viral that one time and then it doesn’t spread. So it needs to be moldable to new situations.” [04:45]

• Humor and Irony as Tools

  • Trump’s humor (often ironic, transgressive) is a potent force in his memetic appeal, crossing ideological lines.
  • Tressie: “He embodies what makes the internet so powerful... The use of irony there... has made Donald Trump very popular, not just with conservatives, but with liberals.” [06:01]
  • Adam: “Things that people engage with include memes, jokes. They don’t engage with boring, monotone elite discourse.” [07:45]

3. Virality, Cruel Humor, and Political Power

• The Structure and Ethics of Trump’s Humor

  • Trump is seen as funniest when not trying to be funny, using unscripted, sometimes cruel, humor to create transgressive moments.
  • Tressie: “His actual attempts at jokes are... quite sad... He generates this sort of organic call and response with an audience... cruel humor also feels a little transgressive... and so there’s a certain amount of transgression that his humor gives the audience permission to dabble in.” [09:22]

• Attention-Driven Algorithms

  • Algorithms favor emotionally charged, controversial, or transgressive content—Trump’s style supercharges this.
  • Adam: “Social media algorithms don’t show you what’s good. They show you what can keep you hooked in as a viewer.” [12:01]

4. Language, Memes, and Reality Construction

• Algorithmic Shaping of Perception

  • The language loops and meme templates shape not just conversations, but people’s perceptions of political reality and possibility.
  • Adam: “What we see is not reality. We are kind of trained to assume this is reality... There’s a growing perception gap in the United States, for example, that we consistently are over and overestimating how extreme we think other people’s political beliefs are.” [12:58]

• Widening the Overton Window

  • Trump’s linguistic normalization of extreme ideas expands what’s considered discussable.
  • Adam: “Everything you say shifts the Overton window... And because social media algorithms are amplifying extreme things, I think the Overton window is widening.” [17:02]
  • Tressie: “I think that'll be Donald Trump's lasting legacy, by the way. I think... he was able to do that.” [17:33]

5. Platform Dynamics: Decrees and Instant Discourse

• Trump’s Use of Social Media as Policy

  • Uses Truth Social and other platforms to announce decrees, shaping discourse even when no real power backs the pronouncements.
  • Tressie: “He will issue a decree like a great king... It resets the bounds of the discourse of the conversation... He can use the pronouncement to shape people’s understanding of what is possible and therefore probable.” [15:02]

• Ephemerality and Lasting Impact

  • Trump’s meme-driven discourse is highly viral and ephemeral, but its effect on language and culture may be lasting.
  • Adam: “These memes are ephemeral. They come and they go. And you have to tap into the current culture moment… there is no cultural record.” [17:43]

6. Comparisons: Can Others Imitate Trump?

• Generational vs. True Medium Iteration

  • Zoran Mamdani, a young NYC mayoral candidate, cuts through with meme literacy, but lacks Trump’s full embodiment of internet mode.
  • Tressie: “I do not think that that is the same thing as what Donald Trump does, which is he iterates the medium itself... He is changing the internet and becoming and channeling the Internet.” [19:57]

• Gavin Newsom as a Foil

  • Newsom is closer in style, seen as able to use trolling and memetic language—possibly the only major politician to “get it.”
  • Adam: “If you want the closest example to Donald Trump on the left, it would be Gavin Newsom, who’s directly imitating Donald Trump.” [21:29]
  • Tressie: “Gavin Newsom so far is the only one who gets it.” [22:34]

• Authenticity and “Voice”

  • Trump’s unique, inimitable voice distinguishes him from all other political communicators.
  • Meher: “We can always tell it’s a Trump tweet. The combination of words, his syntax is so unique.” [24:59]
  • Tressie: “Love him or hate him, he’s got voice. And as it turns out, voice is really, really important.” [25:22]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "He sounds like the way we talk about politics when we're still just learning... I always thought that he was quite effective. That is not the same thing as being good." - Tressie Macmillan Cotton [01:52]
• "Meme in that sense is just a funny Internet kind of haha moment. And it's funny when Donald Trump speaks strangely, and we know he speaks more strangely than other presidents." - Adam Alexik [04:45]
• "He is the Internet. He embodies what makes the Internet so powerful." - Tressie Macmillan Cotton [06:01]
• "Cruel humor also feels a little transgressive to people... there's a certain amount of transgression that his humor gives the audience permission to dabble in." - Tressie Macmillan Cotton [09:22]
• "Social media algorithms don't show you what's good. They show you what can keep you hooked in as a viewer." - Adam Alexik [12:01]
• "The Overton window is widening. I think there are more acceptable crazy things to be said than there were in like 2008." - Adam Alexik [17:02]
• "In many ways, Donald Trump, I think, will end up being bigger than the American presidency... seeing how much language opens up both modes of possibility and then forecloses on other modes of possibility, seeing that willed it with the executive office of powerful country on Earth is beyond anything I could have imagined possible just 10 short years ago." - Tressie Macmillan Cotton [25:22]

Important Timestamps

• [01:52] — Tressie on Trump's effectiveness as a communicator
• [02:37] — Adam on Trump’s media mastery
• [04:10] — Adam on meme templates and linguistic legacy
• [06:01] — Tressie on humor and irony as political tools
• [09:22] — Tressie critiques Trump’s humor and its impact
• [12:01] — Adam: Social media algorithms reward engagement, not quality
• [15:02] — Tressie: Trump’s use of social media decrees as political acts
• [17:02] — Adam: Shifting the Overton window through language
• [19:57] — Tressie contrasts Mamdani’s meme strategy with Trump’s
• [21:29] — Adam on Gavin Newsom as Trump’s "foil" on the left
• [25:22] — Tressie and Meher on Trump's unique, enduring "voice"

Conclusion

This episode presents a nuanced, vivid exploration of how Trump’s presence, language, and meme-savvy communication have fundamentally altered not just political discourse but American culture and cognition itself. Through the lens of linguistics, sociology, and media studies, the panelists agree that Trump’s voice—however polarizing—has expanded and redefined the boundaries of political conversation and set a new template for political communication in the algorithmic age. His lasting legacy may not be a policy or law, but a transformed linguistic and digital landscape, one that politicians and citizens alike are only beginning to comprehend.