Donald Trump's first day as President was met with massive resistance in Washington. But there was one particular moment during the day that got worldwide attention. It brought smiles to peoples' faces, warmed hearts, and had journalists scampering to figure out how to spell "schadenfraude." We're speaking, of course, of white nationalist leader Richard Spencer getting punched in the face.
Spencer is the president of the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist think tank "dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world." He is also one of the popularizers of the term "alt-right." He got into some trouble in November for leading his supporters in Nazi salutes during a speech in praise of Trump.
On Friday at around 2:30 in the afternoon, Spencer was walking the streets of the nation's capitol when he stopped to answer a few questions from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In the middle of their exchange, members of the crowd started accusing Spencer of being a "neo-Nazi." Spencer denied it: neo-Nazis don't like him, he claimed—leaving out that if they don't, it's mostly because he's anattentionhog. Moments later, an anonymous hero swooped in and gave Spencer the punch he so deeply deserves. You can see the full exchange below.
While Spencer reacted by recording a ten-minute speech where he called the punch "a truly terrible thing" (as opposed to white supremacists?), Twitter users, of course, responded by turning the punch into delightful GIFs, jokes, and memes.
One favorite added Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" as theme music.
Others were reminded of precedents:
There were song title puns.
And (pun intended) punchlines:
The internet being what it is, someone had to meme-ify the moment as well.
We can look forward to more new interpretations of this great moment in history over the coming days. After all, there's nothing more American than punching Nazis.
