Bernie Sanders' Dank Meme Stash

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About

Bernie Sanders' Dank Meme Stash is a Facebook group page devoted to creating and distributing memes, generally image macros and exploitables in support of Bernie Sanders during his campaign for the nomination during the 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary. The group is well-known for producing memes about Sanders at a high rate of mutation.

History

The Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash (BSDM) was created in early October 2015 by college students Will Dowd and Sean Walsh.^[1] It is unknown whether or not the pair was influenced by the Facebook group Barnie Sandlers, who had associated Bernie Sanders with dankness in a late July. Will's first post was on October 1st, 2015; it was a photograph of Bernie Sanders putting a man in a headlock during a wrestling event; the photograph had notably been featured in a popular /r/psbattle thread a few days earlier, where it earned 3,722 points (89% upvoted).^[3] When Dowd posted it in the Facebook group, however, it received only 11 likes.

Notable Developments

As interest in Sanders as a candidate grew, so did the group. On January 13th, Walsh posted that the group had grown to 5,000 members.^[2] On January 28th, a post in the /r/terriblefacebookmemes subreddit claimed that it had been taken from the BSDM group; the post received 605 points (86% upvoted).^[4] Also on January 28th, the reddit post that started the Bernie or Hillary? meme was created; it quickly became popular within BSDM, in turn leading to massive growth; on February 9th, in an article about Bernie or Hillary, the online news publication Slate noted that the group had 160,000 members and counting.^[5]

A selection of recent posted images.

Also on February 9th, the post which initiated the I'm Not Kidding, Maddi meme was posted in BSDM; the popularity of that meme, and its attribution to the group in press sources like the Telegraph,^[6] caused more growth. As of February 16th, the group has more than 250,000 members. Facebook does not release data on frequency or numbers of posts within a group, but it is overwhelming enough to make it difficult to find a post twice.

Online Presence

In addition to the Facebook group, BSDM also maintains a significantly less popular presence on Instagram, where they have 353 followers.^[7] However, one aspect of the group's popularity have included its Facebook group spinoffs, which include the Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Museum (1,334 members), the Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Singles (2,573 members), and the Bernie Sanders Uncensored Dank Meme Stash (54 members).

I'm Not Kidding, Maddi

I’m Not Kidding, Maddi is a personalized subject line from a fundraising email sent to Hillary Clinton supporters after her loss to Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire during the 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary.

Bernie or Hillary?

Bernie or Hillary? refers to a series of fake campaign posters supporting Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary against Hillary Clinton in which Sanders is depicted as being more knowledgable than Clinton on a series of popular but apolitical topics.