Within the past week, major political change has occurred in the United States Climates. Power has shifted from former President, Donald Trump, to the now 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden. Inaugurated almost a week ago, Biden’s inauguration held many historic moments. Kamala Harris was inaugurated as the first female, south Asian, black, and mixed-race Vice President ever, and took a huge step forward in the legacy of the United States. The Nation’s first-ever youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, delivered

a thought-provoking poem to ask Americans to “leave behind a country better than the one we were left” and unify. In only his first few days as President, Biden has already begun to make significant changes in the country, headlining news sources constantly. However, something else has also continually made news since Biden’s inauguration. Bernie Sanders.

The United States Senator was seen at the inauguration ceremony. Due to his cozy attire, contrasting the glammed up outfits of people like Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, Bernie Sanders was on the track to become a meme. Sitting alone in a beige parka, arms and legs crossed, the real star of the outfit that grabbed people’s attention was Sander’s mittens. The mittens were gifted to him by a second-grade teacher, Jen Ellis, who currently resides in Essex Junction, Vermont. Ellis has long grown fond of Sanders, saying, “As a public school teacher, I can see how what he says about school debt forgiveness and free education and a lot of things he talks about in his policies make sense for people” (Washington Post). The mittens are made almost entirely out of reused material. The outside is snips of old wool sweaters that were no longer being worn. Sewing together cut-up fragments of the sweater, Ellis then lined the mittens with fleece made out of recycled plastic. After receiving the handmade gift, Bernie Sanders has been seen numerous times using the garment to keep him warm. He even wore them at the tail end of his campaign trail in 2019.

On the brisk, 42-degree day, photos of Sanders wearing the now-famous accessory began to spread across the internet like wildfire. Soon anybody and everybody were editing the image of Bernie Sanders into famous movie posters, personal photos, and really any image that seems to have enough space for Bernie and his mittens. Companies have even begun to use the image of Bernie in their marketing campaigns. The image of Bernie Sanders really has no limits when it comes to entering people. Bernie Sanders actually joined in on the joke and is now selling the image of him as merch on his website. All the proceeds from this particular series of merchandise are donated to charity. When asked by Gayle King on CBS, Sanders stayed true to himself with his response saying how “In Vermont, we know something about the cold, and we’re not so concerned about good fashion.” Adding that “We want to keep warm, and that’s what I did today.”

Regardless of political belief, it seems that truly everyone is joining in on making and sharing their own ‘Mitten Meme’. Which poses the question: Is Amanda Gorman’s plea for unity slowly taking play, starting with a simple internet trend?