WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.180 Imagine for just a second that you are standing 00:00:02.180 --> 00:00:07.009 in front of a crowd. preparing for this specific 00:00:07.009 --> 00:00:10.390 moment for months, maybe even years. You are 00:00:10.390 --> 00:00:13.369 at the absolute climax of your speech, delivering 00:00:13.369 --> 00:00:16.649 what you honestly believe is a profoundly unifying 00:00:16.649 --> 00:00:19.750 statesman -like message. To the big finish. Exactly. 00:00:19.989 --> 00:00:22.489 You hit that final, powerful note, you pause, 00:00:22.570 --> 00:00:24.469 you wait for the resounding applause to just 00:00:24.469 --> 00:00:28.890 wash over you, and instead, dead, awkward, agonizing 00:00:28.890 --> 00:00:31.829 silence. We're talking about the exact same energy 00:00:31.829 --> 00:00:35.679 as a waiting room at the DMV. Oh, wow. It is 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:37.859 the kind of quiet that actually physically hurts 00:00:37.859 --> 00:00:40.840 to experience. Welcome to today's Deep Dive. 00:00:40.899 --> 00:00:43.179 Glad to be here. Our mission today is to dissect 00:00:43.179 --> 00:00:46.740 the anatomy of an infamous viral political phrase. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:49.439 Just two little words. And we are using a comprehensive 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:52.899 Wikipedia article as our sole source material. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:55.359 Just two words. Yep. We are going to explore 00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:58.259 how the phrase, please clap, came to completely 00:00:58.259 --> 00:01:00.939 encapsulate an entire presidential campaign and 00:01:00.939 --> 00:01:03.659 how it signified a massive permanent shift in 00:01:03.659 --> 00:01:05.879 modern political communication. And just to be 00:01:05.879 --> 00:01:08.640 clear for everyone listening, as we look at the 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:12.420 this viral moment today, we are acting purely 00:01:12.420 --> 00:01:15.500 as historians of the internet and political culture. 00:01:15.579 --> 00:01:17.840 Right. Very important point. Because the source 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.219 material we are examining contains politically 00:01:20.219 --> 00:01:22.379 charged content involving both left -wing and 00:01:22.379 --> 00:01:24.780 right -wing figures, we are looking strictly 00:01:24.780 --> 00:01:27.159 at the text. We are not taking any political 00:01:27.159 --> 00:01:29.219 sides. None at all. And we are certainly not 00:01:29.219 --> 00:01:31.780 endorsing any viewpoint strategies or candidates. 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:34.560 We are just unpacking the facts, the context, 00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:37.700 and the anatomy of a meme. exactly as they are 00:01:37.700 --> 00:01:39.760 laid out in the original source material. OK, 00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:42.500 let's unpack this. We have to set the stage to 00:01:42.500 --> 00:01:44.859 understand how a highly seasoned, incredibly 00:01:44.859 --> 00:01:48.379 well -funded politician finds himself basically 00:01:48.379 --> 00:01:51.439 begging a room for validation. Is quite the journey. 00:01:51.540 --> 00:01:54.000 Let's go back to early 2016. The political landscape 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:55.939 is heating up and we're focusing on Republican 00:01:55.939 --> 00:01:59.909 candidate Jeb Bush. Right. So. On paper, this 00:01:59.909 --> 00:02:02.310 guy had the ultimate political resume, right? 00:02:02.370 --> 00:02:04.569 I mean, he was the 43rd governor of Florida. 00:02:04.750 --> 00:02:06.870 He is the brother of a former president, the 00:02:06.870 --> 00:02:09.370 son of another former president. He formally 00:02:09.370 --> 00:02:13.409 launched his campaign on June 14th, 2015. The 00:02:13.409 --> 00:02:16.789 pedigree was definitely there. Right. So how 00:02:16.789 --> 00:02:19.870 does a candidate with that kind of resume end 00:02:19.870 --> 00:02:23.110 up pulling at a dismal 3 % by the end of 2015? 00:02:23.629 --> 00:02:26.009 It really comes down to a massive disconnect. 00:02:26.409 --> 00:02:29.169 between the candidate's brand and the mood of 00:02:29.169 --> 00:02:32.169 the electorate. The source outlines a really 00:02:32.169 --> 00:02:34.349 grim struggle from the very beginning. Yeah, 00:02:34.530 --> 00:02:37.050 grim is a good word for it. Despite his extensive 00:02:37.050 --> 00:02:39.169 record as a governor, which, by the way, he was 00:02:39.169 --> 00:02:40.969 constantly trying to emphasize on the Trail Bush, 00:02:41.849 --> 00:02:44.629 was widely seen as the ultimate embodiment of 00:02:44.629 --> 00:02:46.789 the Republican establishment. And that wasn't 00:02:46.789 --> 00:02:48.889 playing well at the time. Not at all. You have 00:02:48.889 --> 00:02:50.669 to remember the historical weight of the Bush 00:02:50.669 --> 00:02:54.110 dynasty. In previous decades, that name was a 00:02:54.110 --> 00:02:57.139 golden ticket. But in the specific political 00:02:57.139 --> 00:03:00.840 climate of 2015 and 2016, that legacy became 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:03.500 very heavy baggage. It was almost a liability. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:06.599 Exactly. He was the safe, traditional pick in 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:08.759 a year when the base was actively rebelling against 00:03:08.759 --> 00:03:10.900 safe and traditional. He struggled immensely 00:03:10.900 --> 00:03:13.620 to find a distinct message that separated him 00:03:13.620 --> 00:03:15.919 from the rest of a very crowded pack. And it 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:17.979 wasn't just an internal messaging problem, was 00:03:17.979 --> 00:03:20.219 it? No, not at all. Because the source mentions 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:22.599 he was actively being defined by his opponents. 00:03:23.370 --> 00:03:26.050 specifically Donald Trump, who tagged him with 00:03:26.050 --> 00:03:29.729 the nickname low energy. Yes. That label felt 00:03:29.729 --> 00:03:31.949 like it just immediately cemented itself into 00:03:31.949 --> 00:03:35.229 the culture. It did. And it was incredibly damaging. 00:03:35.729 --> 00:03:38.889 Trump's low energy attack worked because it provided 00:03:38.889 --> 00:03:41.810 a very simple mocking lens through which voters 00:03:41.810 --> 00:03:44.870 began to view Bush's every move. So confirmation 00:03:44.870 --> 00:03:48.449 bias, basically. Precisely. If Bush gave a thoughtful, 00:03:48.729 --> 00:03:51.319 measured answer on policy, It wasn't seen as 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:53.840 intellectual. It was framed as low energy. It 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:55.840 put his campaign completely on the defensive. 00:03:55.860 --> 00:03:58.080 It's so hard to shake a label like that. And 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:00.639 the contrast between his vast resources and his 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:03.590 actual popularity was glaring. Keep in mind, 00:04:03.590 --> 00:04:05.849 this was a campaign with massive financial backing. 00:04:06.189 --> 00:04:08.189 Oh, right, the money. One of the references in 00:04:08.189 --> 00:04:10.349 our source text points to an article literally 00:04:10.349 --> 00:04:14.389 titled, Inside Jeb Bush's $150 million failure. 00:04:14.469 --> 00:04:17.269 Wow, $150 million. So you have this towering 00:04:17.269 --> 00:04:19.370 pile of donor money, all of the establishment 00:04:19.370 --> 00:04:21.629 backing in the world, and yet total freefall 00:04:21.629 --> 00:04:25.029 on the polls. $150 million, and you are polling 00:04:25.029 --> 00:04:29.569 at 3%. That is a staggering contrast, which really 00:04:29.569 --> 00:04:31.610 brings us to the breaking point. The timeline 00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:34.899 here. crucial. Right. The timeline is really 00:04:34.899 --> 00:04:36.740 important for setting up the psychology of the 00:04:36.740 --> 00:04:39.800 famous incident. Tell us about February 1st, 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:43.379 2016. What's fascinating here is the immediate 00:04:43.379 --> 00:04:46.199 pressure cooker context right before the moment 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:49.600 we are going to dissect. On February 1st, 2016, 00:04:50.259 --> 00:04:53.139 literally just one day before the famous quote 00:04:53.139 --> 00:04:55.959 the Iowa caucuses took place. And for anyone 00:04:55.959 --> 00:04:58.699 who doesn't obsess over campaign cycles, the 00:04:58.699 --> 00:05:00.819 Iowa caucuses are that critical first temperature 00:05:00.819 --> 00:05:03.300 check for a presidential run. It is where you 00:05:03.300 --> 00:05:05.600 prove you actually have boots on the ground and 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:08.199 voters who care. Precisely. And in that critical 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:12.079 first test, Jeb Bush placed sixth. Ouch. Sixth? 00:05:12.180 --> 00:05:14.379 He captured a mere 2 .8 percent of the vote. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:16.800 Coming in sixth in Iowa isn't just a bad night. 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:19.759 It is a donor panicking disaster. I can imagine 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:21.540 the phone calls the next morning. So when we 00:05:21.540 --> 00:05:23.519 look at the events of the very next day, you 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:25.439 have to realize that Bush wasn't just out there 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:27.959 giving another routine stump speech. He was fighting 00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:30.319 for his political life. He had everything to 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:32.860 lose at that point. He was desperate to prove 00:05:32.860 --> 00:05:35.939 to the voters, to the media, and perhaps to his 00:05:35.939 --> 00:05:39.420 own panicked campaign staff that his softer spoken 00:05:39.420 --> 00:05:42.399 traditional style of politics could still resonate. 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:44.529 Yeah, he was trying to hold the line. Exactly. 00:05:44.589 --> 00:05:46.529 He was walking into a political arena that was 00:05:46.529 --> 00:05:48.930 becoming increasingly loud and aggressive, and 00:05:48.930 --> 00:05:51.329 he was trying to maintain that traditional decorum. 00:05:51.410 --> 00:05:55.560 Which takes us to February 2, 2016. The setting 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:58.480 is a town hall event at the Hanover Inn Hotel 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:01.019 in Hanover, New Hampshire. Okay, picture the 00:06:01.019 --> 00:06:03.439 room. Right, picture it. It is a hotel conference 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:07.420 space. Bush is up there, fresh off a humiliating 00:06:07.420 --> 00:06:10.439 defeat in Iowa just hours prior, and he is making 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:13.800 a concerted effort to draw a very sharp, deliberate 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:17.079 contrast between himself and the brash candidates 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:19.420 in the race. Specifically Donald Trump. Yes, 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:21.720 specifically Trump. He wants to show that his 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:24.139 low energy is actually a quiet presidential strength. 00:06:24.490 --> 00:06:26.589 He is building up to this defining statement. 00:06:26.689 --> 00:06:28.870 I'm going to read his exact quote from the source 00:06:28.870 --> 00:06:30.949 because the wording is so intentional. Let's 00:06:30.949 --> 00:06:33.670 hear it. Bush says to the crowd, I will not trash 00:06:33.670 --> 00:06:36.509 talk. I will not be a divider in chief or an 00:06:36.509 --> 00:06:39.449 agitator in chief. I won't be out there blowharding, 00:06:39.490 --> 00:06:42.149 talking a big game without backing it up. Notice 00:06:42.149 --> 00:06:45.689 the language there. Blowharding, agitator in 00:06:45.689 --> 00:06:49.009 chief. Yeah, very specific choices. He is directly 00:06:49.009 --> 00:06:52.350 subtweeting the louder populism that is taking 00:06:52.350 --> 00:06:54.990 over the primary. without actually using any 00:06:54.990 --> 00:06:58.389 names. He is pitching a return to normalcy. Right, 00:06:58.509 --> 00:07:00.269 and then he brings it home with the big vision. 00:07:00.629 --> 00:07:02.870 He continues, I think the next president needs 00:07:02.870 --> 00:07:05.589 to be a lot quieter, but send a signal that we're 00:07:05.589 --> 00:07:07.829 prepared to act in the national security interests 00:07:07.829 --> 00:07:10.089 of this country to get back in the business of 00:07:10.089 --> 00:07:12.589 creating a more peaceful world. A very classic 00:07:12.589 --> 00:07:15.610 line. Now stop right there. Historically, hasn't 00:07:15.610 --> 00:07:17.449 that kind of measured rhetoric actually worked? 00:07:17.829 --> 00:07:20.209 Think about past presidents who campaigned on 00:07:20.209 --> 00:07:23.069 being the steady hand at the wheel. Why did it 00:07:23.069 --> 00:07:25.610 bomb so spectacularly in this specific room? 00:07:25.730 --> 00:07:28.069 Because the implicit contract between the politician 00:07:28.069 --> 00:07:30.129 and the audience had fundamentally changed, and 00:07:30.129 --> 00:07:32.509 Bush hadn't realized it yet. He missed the shift. 00:07:32.829 --> 00:07:35.110 He delivered what in 1996 or 2000 would have 00:07:35.110 --> 00:07:37.610 been a classic, traditional political applause 00:07:37.610 --> 00:07:40.829 line. He hits the crescendo. He delivers his 00:07:40.829 --> 00:07:43.959 sweeping vision for a peaceful world. He pauses 00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:46.620 for the inevitable wave of adulation. And he 00:07:46.620 --> 00:07:49.420 gets absolutely nothing. Just a wall of silence. 00:07:49.579 --> 00:07:52.060 The source explicitly notes the silence from 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:54.920 the crowd. He was expecting applause and instead 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:58.339 the room just stares back at him. Painful. Imagine 00:07:58.339 --> 00:08:00.779 his PR team watching this from the back of the 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:03.519 room. He delivers this dramatic vision for world 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:06.740 peace and the room gives him absolutely nothing. 00:08:06.980 --> 00:08:10.160 And into that agonizing void, Bush utters two 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:13.040 words that would instantly become immortal. Please 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.980 clap. The contrast between the gravity of his 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:18.019 speech talking about global national security 00:08:18.019 --> 00:08:21.180 and the quiet, almost tragic desperation of please 00:08:21.180 --> 00:08:23.519 clap is stark. Tragic is exactly what it felt 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:25.800 like. It is arguably one of the most painfully 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:28.139 human moments ever captured on a modern campaign 00:08:28.139 --> 00:08:30.420 trail. And what happens next is a perfect case 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:32.580 study in the futility of political damage control. 00:08:32.740 --> 00:08:34.620 Oh, the spin on this was incredible. You cannot 00:08:34.620 --> 00:08:37.200 spin this, but they tried. They absolutely tried. 00:08:37.389 --> 00:08:40.570 The immediate aftermath involved a massive effort 00:08:40.570 --> 00:08:43.450 by the campaign to completely change the narrative. 00:08:43.570 --> 00:08:46.529 I can't wait for this. Bush's spokeswoman, Christy 00:08:46.529 --> 00:08:49.330 Campbell, spoke to BuzzFeed News and claimed 00:08:49.330 --> 00:08:51.610 that the media had entirely mischaracterized 00:08:51.610 --> 00:08:54.269 the event. Of course they did. Her argument was 00:08:54.269 --> 00:08:57.409 that Please Clap wasn't a desperate plea at all, 00:08:57.690 --> 00:09:00.289 but rather a charming moment between the candidate 00:09:00.289 --> 00:09:03.230 and the voters. Wait, a charming moment? Have 00:09:03.230 --> 00:09:05.629 you ever seen a desperate plea for validation 00:09:05.629 --> 00:09:10.590 look charming? Not once. The gap between a campaign's 00:09:10.590 --> 00:09:13.230 internal PR spin and actual public perception 00:09:13.230 --> 00:09:15.730 is always funny, but this is on another level. 00:09:15.809 --> 00:09:18.690 It really is. When a moment goes incredibly viral, 00:09:19.110 --> 00:09:21.889 specifically because it feels deeply uncomfortable 00:09:21.889 --> 00:09:24.250 and pathetic, telling the public that it was 00:09:24.250 --> 00:09:26.409 actual endearing is never going to work. It is 00:09:26.409 --> 00:09:28.509 the political equivalent of telling someone not 00:09:28.509 --> 00:09:31.340 to look down. The media, of course, did not find 00:09:31.340 --> 00:09:33.799 it charming. They had an absolute field day with 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:38.039 it. Please clap. Was instantly and widely ridiculed 00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:41.000 across the political spectrum. It didn't just 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:43.519 make the evening news. It became the defining 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:46.120 emblem of a floundering campaign. Blood in the 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:49.960 water. The source gives us some brutal post -mortem 00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:52.600 assessments from major outlets that really capture 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:55.200 the mood. What do they say? MSNBC wrote that 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:57.539 the moment will be remembered as an unfortunate 00:09:57.539 --> 00:10:00.679 and yet quintessential phrase around the Bush 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:03.700 campaign. Quintessential. Wow. Right. Think about 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:05.960 that word quintessential. They weren't saying 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:08.419 this was a weird fluke. They were saying this 00:10:08.419 --> 00:10:12.039 awkward, unreciprocated plea was the pure essence 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:14.600 of his entire run. And the New Republic didn't 00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:18.220 hold back either. They called it a succinct encapsulation 00:10:18.220 --> 00:10:21.480 of a flailing presidential campaign. Succinct 00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:24.259 encapsulation. When esteemed publications are 00:10:24.259 --> 00:10:26.820 using words like that, the narrative is entirely 00:10:26.820 --> 00:10:29.620 out of the candidate's hands. It became the universal 00:10:29.620 --> 00:10:31.799 shorthand for the end of the road. And the road 00:10:31.799 --> 00:10:33.879 ended very shortly after that, didn't it? It 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:36.720 did. Bush officially suspended his campaign on 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:39.139 February 20, just a little over two weeks after 00:10:39.139 --> 00:10:41.980 the incident at the Hanover Inn. The impact of 00:10:41.980 --> 00:10:44.960 that moment lingered heavily over all the postmortems 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:48.080 of his campaign. Vox published a piece detailing 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:51.600 the 17 saddest moments from Jeb Bush's campaign. 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:54.399 And naturally, Please Clap was a centerpiece 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:57.440 of that list. Naturally. It was the definitive 00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:00.299 punctuation mark on a campaign that simply could 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:02.700 not connect with the modern electorate. Here's 00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:05.629 where it gets really interesting, though. A failed 00:11:05.629 --> 00:11:08.090 campaign usually just fades into the history 00:11:08.090 --> 00:11:10.450 books. True. People forget the gaffes. They forget 00:11:10.450 --> 00:11:13.649 the town halls. But Please Clap didn't fade. 00:11:13.750 --> 00:11:16.750 It achieved total internet immortality. It became 00:11:16.750 --> 00:11:18.950 bigger than the campaign. Our source details 00:11:18.950 --> 00:11:21.370 how the phrase took on a life of its own long 00:11:21.370 --> 00:11:24.789 after February 2016. By December of that year, 00:11:24.889 --> 00:11:26.990 the publication inverse actually named Please 00:11:26.990 --> 00:11:30.090 Clap as one of the best political memes of 2016. 00:11:30.250 --> 00:11:32.610 Best meme of the year. Yeah. It morphed into 00:11:32.610 --> 00:11:35.799 this deeply ironic pro -Bush internet meme. The 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:38.059 visual component of that meme culture is fascinating, 00:11:38.379 --> 00:11:40.419 too. People began pairing the phrase, please 00:11:40.419 --> 00:11:43.779 clap with Jeb. Oh, right, the logo. And for context, 00:11:43.940 --> 00:11:47.519 Jeb, with a very enthusiastic exclamation point, 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:50.580 was the official branding of his ill -fated campaign. 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:53.480 The irony is almost too perfect. You have this 00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:57.039 logo screaming Jeb, with an exclamation point, 00:11:57.399 --> 00:11:59.480 representing a candidate who is fundamentally 00:11:59.480 --> 00:12:02.480 opposed to exclamation points in his actual demeanor, 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:05.379 having to verbally ask a room to please clap 00:12:05.379 --> 00:12:08.240 for him. Exactly. The exclamation point promised 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:10.740 high energy and the reality delivered a plea 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:13.740 for basic acknowledgement. What a contrast. And 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:16.740 the phrase's longevity is remarkable. It didn't 00:12:16.740 --> 00:12:21.409 stop in 2016. Years later, in March 2019, Vanity 00:12:21.409 --> 00:12:23.850 Fair published an article about Bush encouraging 00:12:23.850 --> 00:12:25.769 a Republican to challenge Donald Trump in the 00:12:25.769 --> 00:12:28.110 2020 primary. And the headline? The headline 00:12:28.110 --> 00:12:30.389 they chose was a direct reference to the please 00:12:30.389 --> 00:12:32.679 clap moment. It became permanently attached to 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.120 his name, much like Howard Dean's scream in 2004, 00:12:35.500 --> 00:12:37.500 but with a totally different emotional resonance. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:40.960 It's wild to think about. A single awkward silence 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:43.960 in a small hotel conference room fundamentally 00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:46.139 changed the blueprint for how we remember this 00:12:46.139 --> 00:12:48.759 massive political figure. It did. But it's more 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:51.059 than just a funny internet joke, isn't it? There 00:12:51.059 --> 00:12:53.379 is a real sociological shift happening here. 00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:56.279 If we connect this to the bigger picture, it 00:12:56.279 --> 00:12:58.879 becomes clear that this meme was carrying a massive 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.519 amount of cultural weight. Right. The source 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:04.399 references a brilliant analysis by Brian Contreras 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:06.360 from the Los Angeles Times. What did he find? 00:13:06.679 --> 00:13:09.220 Contreras wrote that the enduring internet memes 00:13:09.220 --> 00:13:12.220 of the Jeb Bush campaign weren't just about poking 00:13:12.220 --> 00:13:15.019 fun at a single awkward moment of a politician 00:13:15.019 --> 00:13:18.019 failing. They reflected a much broader mocking 00:13:18.019 --> 00:13:21.399 of a softer spoken, more cautious conservatism. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:24.440 That is the core of it right there. It is. That 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:27.799 specific brand of traditional policy -heavy politics, 00:13:28.500 --> 00:13:30.559 the kind that relies on white papers and quiet 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:34.299 dignity, suddenly had, as Contreras put it, less 00:13:34.299 --> 00:13:36.940 and less to offer voters in an increasingly polarized 00:13:36.940 --> 00:13:39.220 America. The audience had moved on. The meme 00:13:39.220 --> 00:13:41.919 survived because it symbolized the exact fracture 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:44.559 point where the old rules of political decorum 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:46.970 simply stopped working. Internet culture and 00:13:46.970 --> 00:13:49.269 the 24 -hour news cycle had effectively shortened 00:13:49.269 --> 00:13:52.090 voter attention spans, turning town halls into 00:13:52.090 --> 00:13:53.929 reality television. They wanted entertainment. 00:13:54.289 --> 00:13:56.889 The electorate wanted a show. They wanted gladiators. 00:13:57.529 --> 00:14:00.230 And Bush was standing in the arena politely asking 00:14:00.230 --> 00:14:02.789 for a round of applause. Which perfectly illustrates 00:14:02.789 --> 00:14:06.389 why a meme from 2016 still matters today. You 00:14:06.389 --> 00:14:08.990 have this traditional expectation of how a town 00:14:08.990 --> 00:14:11.590 hall should go. Right. The old way? The candidate 00:14:11.590 --> 00:14:14.149 speaks, the audience respectfully claps, and 00:14:14.149 --> 00:14:16.669 that collided head on with a new era of high 00:14:16.669 --> 00:14:19.529 octane performative politics where the audience 00:14:19.529 --> 00:14:22.690 demands to be entertained, not just spoken to. 00:14:22.929 --> 00:14:25.570 It was a paradigm shift. And because that shift 00:14:25.570 --> 00:14:28.210 in voter expectation was permanent, the please 00:14:28.210 --> 00:14:30.730 clap phenomenon didn't just stay with Jeb Bush. 00:14:30.950 --> 00:14:34.090 It became a contagion. It became a universal 00:14:34.090 --> 00:14:36.149 syndrome across the entire political spectrum. 00:14:36.269 --> 00:14:38.830 Yeah, nobody was safe. Please clap. has officially 00:14:38.830 --> 00:14:41.309 entered the political lexicon as the shorthand 00:14:41.309 --> 00:14:43.889 for any candidate, regardless of their party 00:14:43.889 --> 00:14:47.090 affiliation, who fails to garner enthusiasm from 00:14:47.090 --> 00:14:49.870 a crowd. It's the ultimate burn. When a politician 00:14:49.870 --> 00:14:52.629 expends a cheer and gets silence, the ghost of 00:14:52.629 --> 00:14:54.929 the Hanover Inn is instantly invoked by the media 00:14:54.929 --> 00:14:57.909 and the Internet. And the Wikipedia article gives 00:14:57.909 --> 00:15:00.970 us two very specific, very uncomfortable examples 00:15:00.970 --> 00:15:03.009 of this happening on the Democratic side of the 00:15:03.009 --> 00:15:05.090 aisle in the very next election cycle. Let's 00:15:05.090 --> 00:15:08.779 hear them. Let's look at April 22, 2019. Democratic 00:15:08.779 --> 00:15:12.000 candidate Amy Klobuchar is at a CNN televised 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:15.330 town hall. She is up there touting her electoral 00:15:15.330 --> 00:15:17.669 record, which is objectively impressive. Very 00:15:17.669 --> 00:15:19.610 impressive record. Right. She is pointing out 00:15:19.610 --> 00:15:22.370 how she had won every single congressional district 00:15:22.370 --> 00:15:24.350 in Minnesota in each of her Senate elections. 00:15:24.509 --> 00:15:27.590 That is a solid traditional resume point. Absolutely. 00:15:27.730 --> 00:15:30.110 She finishes the point, expecting that wave of 00:15:30.110 --> 00:15:32.870 validation, and the room gives her absolutely 00:15:32.870 --> 00:15:35.590 nothing, just crickets. Oh no. So she has to 00:15:35.590 --> 00:15:37.570 actually encourage a reaction, telling the crowd, 00:15:37.929 --> 00:15:40.070 it's when you guys are supposed to cheer, OK? 00:15:40.490 --> 00:15:42.129 Which is just a slightly more conversational 00:15:42.129 --> 00:15:44.220 version. version of Please Clap. Exactly. It's 00:15:44.220 --> 00:15:46.620 the exact same energy. And then fast forward 00:15:46.620 --> 00:15:50.139 to January 25th, 2020. Another one. Pete Buttigieg 00:15:50.139 --> 00:15:53.159 is speaking at a campaign event in Iowa. He finishes 00:15:53.159 --> 00:15:56.240 a thought, the audience is entirely unenthusiastic, 00:15:56.340 --> 00:15:59.220 and he is left urging them to cheer or clap with 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:02.940 a very awkward, come on. Just come on. It is 00:16:02.940 --> 00:16:05.460 the exact same dynamic. This raises an important 00:16:05.460 --> 00:16:07.940 question about the modern political arena. When 00:16:07.940 --> 00:16:10.879 you look at Klobuchar in 2019 and Buttigieg in 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:13.879 2020, You see the same mechanic at play that 00:16:13.879 --> 00:16:17.059 ruined Bush in 2016. The rules apply to everyone 00:16:17.059 --> 00:16:20.799 now. There is now a relentless demand for constant, 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:24.320 immediate audience validation. The moment there 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:27.279 is a lapse in that validation, the internet instantly 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:30.059 brands it as a please clap moment. And that changes 00:16:30.059 --> 00:16:32.200 everything. It changes the way politicians are 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:34.649 forced to spook and behave. They can no longer 00:16:34.649 --> 00:16:37.549 afford to be quiet or subtle. They cannot just 00:16:37.549 --> 00:16:39.669 deliver a policy point and let it sit in the 00:16:39.669 --> 00:16:41.769 room. Because the penalty for a silent room is 00:16:41.769 --> 00:16:44.809 being turned into a meme of total failure. Precisely. 00:16:44.870 --> 00:16:46.830 They have to constantly engineer their speeches 00:16:46.830 --> 00:16:49.789 not just for policy transmission, but for guaranteed 00:16:49.789 --> 00:16:52.470 audible theatrical reactions. Every sentence 00:16:52.470 --> 00:16:55.289 needs a punchline or a cheer. The architecture 00:16:55.289 --> 00:16:57.429 of a political speech today is entirely built 00:16:57.429 --> 00:17:00.750 around avoiding dead air. So what does this all 00:17:00.750 --> 00:17:03.809 mean? When we look at all the pieces we've just 00:17:03.809 --> 00:17:06.990 unpacked from this Wikipedia article, we see 00:17:06.990 --> 00:17:10.430 the complete life cycle of a modern political 00:17:10.430 --> 00:17:13.450 disaster. We really do. We see a moment of genuine 00:17:13.450 --> 00:17:16.809 vulnerability or perhaps just profound awkwardness 00:17:16.809 --> 00:17:19.490 from a struggling establishment candidate in 00:17:19.490 --> 00:17:22.660 a small room in New Hampshire. He was armed with 00:17:22.660 --> 00:17:26.440 a $150 million war chest and the legacy of two 00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:29.359 presidents, but he was fundamentally unprepared 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:31.680 for an audience that had stopped playing by the 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:34.720 old rules. He brought a policy paper to a reality 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:37.019 show. Right, and instead of just being a fleeting 00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:39.559 mistake, it became a permanent fixture of internet 00:17:39.559 --> 00:17:42.960 culture. police clap became a massive warning 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:45.099 sign for cautious conservatism and really for 00:17:45.099 --> 00:17:48.140 any cautious politician in a deeply polarized 00:17:48.140 --> 00:17:50.700 age. It's a cautionary tale. It is a stark reminder 00:17:50.700 --> 00:17:52.859 that in politics today the silence of a crowd 00:17:52.859 --> 00:17:55.660 can speak much louder and cause much more damage 00:17:55.660 --> 00:17:57.720 than the actual words of the candidate. And that 00:17:57.720 --> 00:17:59.380 leaves us with something critical to consider 00:17:59.380 --> 00:18:01.559 as we close out our analysis. We've seen how 00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:04.339 a single quiet room was weaponized into a permanent 00:18:04.339 --> 00:18:07.569 career meme. If our political landscape now instantly 00:18:07.569 --> 00:18:10.150 punishes a lack of theatrical crowd response, 00:18:10.890 --> 00:18:13.630 how might the fear the please clap moment be 00:18:13.630 --> 00:18:16.069 secretly dictating the policies and the rhetoric 00:18:16.069 --> 00:18:18.190 that today's leaders are willing to propose? 00:18:18.490 --> 00:18:21.049 That's a scary thought. Are we losing nuanced, 00:18:21.549 --> 00:18:24.769 quieter policy discussions simply because politicians 00:18:24.769 --> 00:18:26.990 are absolutely terrified of the silence that 00:18:26.990 --> 00:18:28.970 might follow? Wow, that is a thought to hold 00:18:28.970 --> 00:18:30.630 onto the next time you watch a political speech 00:18:30.630 --> 00:18:32.970 and notice how aggressively they're fishing for 00:18:32.970 --> 00:18:35.849 cheers. Thank you so much for joining us on this 00:18:35.849 --> 00:18:38.609 deep dive. You know, your curiosity is what makes 00:18:38.609 --> 00:18:41.390 digging into these viral histories so incredibly 00:18:41.390 --> 00:18:44.130 rewarding. Keep questioning the media you consume, 00:18:44.369 --> 00:18:46.410 keep looking for the bigger sociological picture 00:18:46.410 --> 00:18:48.609 behind the memes, and we will catch you on the 00:18:48.609 --> 00:18:49.289 next deep dive.