There was a time when exhausted politicos could turn to certain social media accounts for a tiny bit of relief from the daily partisan grind, in the form of pictures of sweet puppies.
In the era of Trump, everything is terrible and that time has passed.
The Twitter account, Emergency Puppy was, once just that: a respite from the angry invective of Twitter and full of adorable puppy photos, sweet piles of tiny pigs, and truly “SuperbOwls.” But now, freshly relaunched with the same half million followers, Emergency Puppy is on the front lines of the anti-Trump movement, still Tweeting out sweet puppy faces, but this time accompanied by Che Guevara quotes.
The account, founded by a Twitter employee, Brian Truebe, took a brief hiatus in 2016 because Truebe said maintaining the superstar page was “too stressful.” But when Trump was sworn in, he felt he could now use his puppy powers for good—or, at least, for “resistance.”
“After the election I was in a pit of emotion, along with what felt like most of my friends and colleagues. People kept asking for more puppies to cheer them up,” Truebe told New York Magazine. “And I was thinking, puppies aren’t going to solve this alone. What good is a puppy in the face of such fresh horrors?”
So now, Emergency Puppy is a “government watch dog,” because Donald Trump ruins everything good in the world. This sweet dog with fake glasses is now getting an education to guard against tyranny. This one is calling for Trump’s resignation. These kittens are opposing Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration. These tiny snow-Corgis are fomenting a revolution.
Thursday, the account began actively engaging users who disagreed with its political stance, sending them incendiary comments and posting photos of dogs with their tongues sticking out.
Oh, the cruelty.