Where’s Bernie? Winnipeg, of course U.S. senator waiting in cold takes meme world by storm
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/01/2021 (1689 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
U.S. President Joe Biden took the oath of office Wednesday, but Sen. Bernard Sanders — looking disheveled as ever, wearing a blue surgical mask and a pair of wool mittens — stole the show.
Feeling the Bern?
If you want to place Bernie into your own picture using image-editing software, Twitter user J Dot M Dot created green-screen JPG and transparent PNG versions of the image of Bernie sitting.
If you don’t know what to do with those, you can place Bernie in a location of your choosing with the Bernie Sits meme generator.
In the bitter Washington, D.C., cold, other politicians and celebrities looked concerned with how they appeared. The 79-year-old Sanders, captured in a photo by Getty photographer Brendan Smialowski, appeared mostly concerned with how comfy he was.
The popular Vermont politician’s outfit and overall demeanour — sitting with his hands crossed, one leg over the other — captured the internet’s attention in the most wholesome meme to emerge from American political realm… ever?
A Photoshopped Sanders was soon popping up like an avuncular “Where’s Waldo?” in historical photos, movie scenes, and peculiar locations.
By Wednesday night, digital Sanders had arrived in the Manitoba capital. It was appropriate, because he’s never looked more like a Winnipegger: impatiently but stubbornly waiting in the teeth-chattering cold for the show to finally get on the road.
First, he was waiting for the bus at a Winnipeg Transit stop.
Soon, he was sitting between Premier Brian Pallister and Dr. Brent Roussin at another COVID-19 briefing.
Then, he was waiting for his friend to finally meet him at The Forks, pondering whether he’d have time to wolf down a bag of mini doughnuts.
After that, Sanders was looking utterly unimpressed by a polar bear swimming above him at the Assiniboine Park Zoo. (“We can house these bears, but what about the people?” he shouts.)
Taking a break, he decided to order a glass of beer at the Nonsuch Brewing Company’s “Umbrella Room,” wondering if the parasols could handle a Vermont downpour.
Later, he was sitting amongst indie music fans at Real Love Summer Fest, enjoying the chill vibes.
He arrived VERY early to an upcoming concert at the Burt…
In a surprising move, he was announced as the newest member of band Red Moon Road, bringing his decades of experience to the local group.
Sanders closed out the day perched atop the Manitoba Legislative Building, replacing the Golden Boy and looking out across downtown Winnipeg, keeping watch for social injustice and income inequity.
In a little over one day, Sanders saw some of the city’s best sites and met some incredible people. But now he can go home.
What a trip it was.
ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca

Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University’s (now Toronto Metropolitan University’s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben.
Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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