By: Kat Littfin
Local Editor
As the United States Presidential election draws nearer, videos discussing the election and presidential candidates have inundated my social media feeds, but not in the way that you might think. Rather than witnessing videos discussing serious voting issues and each presidential candidate’s policy, the majority of political videos I see are videos shipping Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump with both his adversaries and his foreign political friends. I believe my time spent watching the comical ship edits lends me the credibility and knowledge to objectively rank the Trump ships in order from best to worst.
- Triden (Joe Biden and Donald Trump): Triden is the tried and true Trump ship. TikTok editors used up all of their creative capabilities creating humorous and intelligent ship videos of the two together. Often using Chappell Roan’s song Casual, as the musical background of the videos, editors use clips to weave together a romance story to rival any cheesy rom-com. Clips circulating of Trump stating that he missed debating Biden, of Biden and Trump bantering about golf, and most recently, Biden wearing a Trump hat convinced editors that the two former opponents hold deep-rooted love for one another. I do believe that in another life, Trump and Biden would be most compatible from the list of Trump ships simply because of their closeness in age and lack of a language barrier. I giggle when I see the two of them shipped together, and I thoroughly enjoy watching the speculative TikToks about their supposed romance.
- Krump (Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump): Kamala Harris’ reference in the presidential debate to Kim Jong Un and Trump exchanging “love letters” has recently popularized the ship between Kim Jong Un and Trump. The social media creatives have had a field day creating satirical drawings of the two men swapping terms of endearment. Trump and Kim Jong Un’s relationship is likely a bromance rather than a romance, but they seem somewhat compatible considering their friendship. However, their language barrier ranks them lower on the compatibility scale than Triden. Overall, the Krump ship is quite humorous, especially considering TikTok creators’ creativity in their illustrations of the ship.
- Tutin (Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump): I have only come across the Putin and Trump ship once on my social media. Trump seems to have a friendly bond with the Russian president similar to the bond he has with the North Korean leader. Though their relationship seems somewhat controversial and tumultuous due to the many contradicting comments the former US president made towards Putin, the uncertain nature of their relationship adds to the ship’s lore. The one video that I saw of the ship was entertaining; however, I find Trump’s satirical and made-up relationships with Biden and Kim Jong Un more imaginative and layered.
Categories: Humor