Elite male bodies: The circulation of alt-Right memes and the framing of politicians on Social Media

In 2016, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. The right-wing support online was particularly of influence in this event. Indeed, some argued that the biggest winner of the 2016 US presidential election was the ‘“alt-right’, an extreme right-wing community that communicates through online image boards like 4chan and social news sites like Reddit. By close-reading images and memes from the Facebook pages and Instagram, we traced the circulation and impact of these memes, as well as their visual connections and themes. We argue that the communities that share these memes adhere to a masculine iconography. By drawing inspiration from different texts, such as games and historical portraits, Trump is glorified by his supporters as the ultimate saviour, aided by other politicians such as Putin. In its framing of patriarchy, sexism, racism, and even racial purity as a heroic and cartoonish narrative, the alt-right renders its memes as part of a powerful male story. We argue that the use of parody to discredit an opponent is what allows memes to be read as an incredibly powerful, persuasive medium, which has led to them being adopted by the alt-right to justify a racist and sexist discourse.