The Politically Subversive Power of Puppies
On the eve of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, Brian Truebe, better known by his Twitter handle @EmergencyPuppy, tweeted a photo of a fluffy beagle clutching a leash in its mouth. For years, Truebe had posted heart-melting photos of bright-eyed dachshunds and soft-fur labs, garnering more than 500,000 followers. But after Trump was elected, the concept took a sharp turn.
The image of the soft-eyed beagle pup came with a classic anarchist refrain: “No Gods, No Masters.”
It’s difficult to scroll through Facebook without coming across at least one video of a cat, and Twitter is rife with accounts dedicated to images of “doggos” and “puppers.” But in addition to light-hearted entertainment, many and along with their concerns towards the opposition and the hashtags #CatsAgainstBrexits or #Mutts4Remain. Supporters of the alt-right have with Matt Furie’s bug-eyed cartoon character “Pepe the Frog”—who’s more comical than cute, but still a disarming face alongside white-supremacist sentiments.
