“Owning the libs” has already become a joke among conservatives on Twitter — the phrase “to own the libs” is very often used ironically to slam some of President Trump’s policies — so it’s amusing that the concept has gotten so much attention this week.
Blame Ambassador Nikki Haley and Sen. Orrin Hatch if you will, both of whom warned against the hollow victory of owning the libs at Turning Point USA’s High School Leadership Summit this week. It sure lit a fire under Bill Kristol:
Haley 2020. Making Conservatism Sane Again.https://t.co/JkvVMbSZpK
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) July 24, 2018
Nikki Haley's "don't own the libs" speech is a passive aggressive way of owning the libs, because now even libs are talking about owning the libs
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) July 24, 2018
Yep. And then there was Rolling Stone’s hot and utterly humorless take about the “haunting emptiness” of owning the libs.
Now Haley seems to have inspired yet another think piece on owning the libs, and this time, it’s Business Insider up to bat:
What does "owning the libs" mean and why is it increasingly looking like the new ethos of the American right? I take a look at the whole thing, including interviews with @benshapiro and @JacobAWohl about it all https://t.co/NtOr9Ww0pD
— Joe Perticone (@JoePerticone) July 28, 2018
“The new ethos of the American right” — where do they get this stuff?
The expression to “own the libs” is often used as a tongue-in-cheek criticism of obscure but increasingly common right-wing tactics ranging from upending GOP orthodoxy on policy, to throwing your own expensive coffee machine out the window in protest of an ad boycott, to wearing diapers during a campus demonstration.
It simply means that Republicans enjoy to a great degree, sometimes even more than actual policy achievements, opportunities to make Democrats and liberals feel bad or face plant. The conservatives who like to own the libs do it because it feels good and it’s funny.
Let’s bust that first assertion right away, the one about Republicans valuing owning the libs to actual policy achievements; if owning the libs in real life means cutting taxes, reducing unemployment, or confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, we’ll take those over Twitter jokes, thanks very much.
Seriously, why are Rolling Stone and Business insider so concerned about conservatives owning the libs online unless conservatives really are owning the libs online?
isn't this like the third article about this in a week https://t.co/YMew1dfj1s
— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) July 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1022884324729860096
We don't need to stop owning the libs. We need a new term for it to keep things fresh and fun.
— prop op (@ProperOpinion) July 28, 2018
The term "owning the libs" is just the dumbed down version of saying the leftists/Socialists lose Everytime in the battle of ideas. Nothing new but the terminology.
— Mephibosheth (@Az61Ronin) July 28, 2018
It's another meme the left doesn't understand. I'm surprised SPLC hasn't labeled it as racist.
— Phillip Paulson (@PaulsonPhillip) July 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/NEOCONCANCER/status/1023284041703931904
I don't know why you'd limit yourself to just owning the libs when you can own everybody. Like I do.
— Mo Mo (@molratty) July 27, 2018
You want irony? Here’s Ben Shapiro cautioning against the perils of owning the libs over at National Review …
My latest at National Review https://t.co/cvHOU91ugh
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 25, 2018
… while at Shapiro’s own site, The Daily Wire, Michael J. Knowles writes in defense of owning the libs:
Sorry, @nikkihaley. I'm gonna have to side with @michaeljknowles on this one, by a mile.
In Defense Of ‘Owning The Libs’https://t.co/1j4NNutgVa
— Amanda Prestigiacomo (@AmandaPresto) July 25, 2018
Let’s do a quick check of who’s been owning the libs recently and why articles about it are so very, very critical right now:
@ComfortablySmug Smuggling in plastic straws aboard a yacht in SF to own the libs pic.twitter.com/b4Qn4Tqa24
— Richard Lucido (@RichLucido) July 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/DaveWiltse/status/1023210366946496517
Being happy to own the libs https://t.co/EU0EMqx1tA pic.twitter.com/Ag9zfEE9yD
— Elizabeth Harrington (@LizWFB) July 26, 2018
Owning the libs by wandering into a Muslim "no-go" zone in Sweden wearing an American flag shirt, not getting the reaction I was expecting, meeting a nice young woman, converting, and raising our three beautiful children according to the tenets of the faith
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) July 26, 2018
Owning the libs by explaining owning the libs.
— Darth Django (@Dark_Stark88) July 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/thecivilcomment/status/1023077638636818432
Wilting kale in bacon fat to own the libs
— Kurt (@KurtOMG) July 28, 2018
staying up late working to own the libs
— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair (@senatorshoshana) July 19, 2018
My grandpa has increased the severity and frequency of his “owning the libs” Facebook posts. Well thanksgiving will be fun. ?
— Briana (@Briana_Nicole_S) July 25, 2018
Sorry, I’m a millennial so I can’t own the libs I can only rent them.
— Dan ? (@Daniiilindsay) July 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/FOXHOUNDER1014/status/1022149603536195584
I can’t own the libs I bought too much avocado toast
— Jodi Beggs (@jodiecongirl) July 27, 2018
Related:
SAD! Eve Peyser writes for Rolling Stone about the "haunting emptiness" of owning the libs https://t.co/9PRTU5XaCE
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 27, 2018
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