How Minneapolis Is Making Social Media More Political
This is by no means new. Since the 2024 elections, I’ve noticed the social media accounts that I follow across Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms that aren’t explicitly political—furniture repair, baking, dog rescue, hiking—wade more into politics. Some of these posts started only tepidly political, as when the DIY accounts I follow posted about how the rescission of the Inflation Reduction Act early in Trump’s second term would impact homeowners and renovators who care about green energy. A friend and I joked they were soft-launching their liberalism.
In the past month, as the federal assault has worsened, the posts have gotten angrier, more persistent, and more widespread. There’s even an easily adaptable meme to explain the jump into political content: “Reminder that this is a bourbon account but I can’t drink bourbon if ICE shoots me in the face,” is the common example, often set to the swelling, angry chorus of Mumford & Sons’ “White Blank Page,” but sometimes set to a song that makes fun of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, by another creator named Chelsea Gods. Many are angry. “If you support ICE, my content is not for you. I don’t want my recipes bringing joy to fascists,” said one baking account.
It’s not just ICE, either; people have been weighing in on the Epstein files and other recent events too. An influencer in Maine posted an angry rant she taped in her car with the caption, in all caps: “I’d rather be sharing my banana bread recipe too babe.” Instead, she said she’s had to use her history degree, with a focus on World War II studies, to explain how everything that’s been happening is worthy of alarm. “So, yes, I desperately wish that I could go back to making silly goofy videos of my favorite fucking casserole,” she said, her voice rising, “but unfortunately I have to use my degree to teach a 40-year-old person that apparently this contentious issue of whether or not an adult should have sex with children, is somehow up for debate???”
