When Axios’ Jonathan Swan wasn’t lobbing questions at President Donald Trump or rattling off worldwide coronavirus case figures during Monday night’s interview for Axios on HBO, he was busy spawning D.C.’s new favorite meme.
On Monday, President Donald Trump sat for an interview with Swan on the outlet’s news show. The political reporter questioned the president on his Juneteenth rally in Tulsa, the legacy of the late Rep. John Lewis (who Trump repeatedly points out did not attend his inauguration), and the coronavirus pandemic before gifting us with the most relatable facial expression of our time.
In one widely shared clip, Trump presents Swan with a sheet of paper bearing a graph claiming that COVID-19 deaths in the United States were “lower than the world.” Swan reacted with an expression that ought to appear next to the dictionary definition for “confusion.”
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1290512424429289473
Just over the din of everyone on Twitter screaming, “It’s just like Veep!!” the self-described “memes & news” account Washingtonian Probs on Tuesday had a prompt for locals:
https://twitter.com/WashProbs/status/1290733505580797952
And you’d better believe folks took them up on it. Watch Swan react to the city’s much-maligned streetcar!
https://twitter.com/adamnpeck/status/1290824360023007233
Whatever we’re calling all these neighborhoods these days!
https://twitter.com/koryjcampbell/status/1290982563050389504
Your friends who, despite all your whining, still live in Arlington!
https://twitter.com/EvanLambertTV/status/1290769522123825164
One of D.C.’s most often ridiculed (yet still popular) restaurants:
https://twitter.com/WhatAdam/status/1290820313996038147
Our fair city’s muggy summer weather (apropos of nothing, it’s in the upper 80s today):
https://twitter.com/natsfert/status/1290863013810110464
The District’s rent prices, which are reportedly dropping … but not that much:
https://twitter.com/chbooksdc/status/1291014248307597312
All those people who like to say D.C. is a “city of transplants”:
https://twitter.com/BoyScumbag/status/1290821159932633088
And of course, D.C.’s own Mayor Muriel Bowser, who responded Wednesday to remind followers that the District still lacks representation in Congress.
https://twitter.com/MayorBowser/status/1291096728503025670
There are plenty more. Meanwhile, the whole interview is streaming now for free on HBO’s website.
Lori McCue