TikTokTrends Week: 14
October 26th - November 1st
Hi!
I’m back with the TikTokTrends of the week!
As election day is right around the corner, I wanted to add that I will be monitoring TikTok as much as I can and will try to post any interesting videos I find on my Twitter.
Please vote!
This week I will be focusing on #TrumpParades, #AmongUs, #TrumpDance, and #Borat.
For a couple of weeks now, I have noticed a decline in the engagement numbers in political content. I have especially noticed that the Republican content creators I follow have been getting less and less engagement every week. This might be because the content is being flagged more, hence lowering them in the algorithm, but I am not sure if that is the reason.
I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.
Let’s start!
#TrumpParades
We have been seeing more and more Trump parades around the country. Supporters are seen with Trump flags riding in huge car parades. Videos showing these car rallies have always been a popular trend on TikTok, usually seen with the “Red Kingdom” song by Tech N9ne playing in the background.
The video above shows Trump supporters surrounding the Biden/Harris bus in Texas. This post has gotten around 700 thousand views; however, there are countless videos of the same incident. The videos are being shared with #Texas4Trump and #TrumpTrain. Trump supporters on TikTok can be seen calling this a peaceful protest, saying that it is just trolling and standing by their actions, even though one of the Trump Trucks rammed into a car that was seemingly in support of the Biden campaign.
News outlets and Biden supporters were seen calling this an intimidation and an ambush. The Biden campaign has since canceled two events in Austin, Texas, and of course, Trump has tweeted the video of the Biden bus being surrounded by Trump supporters saying, “I love Texas.” It has also been reported that an FBI investigation has been started.
The Trump Parade videos don’t end there. With the election being days away, Trump supporters have become more and more active on the streets. TikTok content creators can be seen sharing clips from Pennsylvania to New York and even in Jerusalem, waving Trump 2020 flags. This video was recorded on October 25th in Brooklyn, just a couple of blocks from where I live.
I went to see the rally. The event was small, mainly attended by the Jewish community Trump supporters. There was a small group of protesters with BLM signs, who tried blocking the motorcade, which is what is being shown in the video. The protests did not get out of hand, and the police did not take any action other than letting the Trump car parade continue on their way. Trump supporters were angry; they were yelling slurs at protesters and getting into arguments with them.
Biden supporters can also be seen on TikTok, forming car parades with Biden/Harris flags in states like Florida. This clip of Biden supporters forming a car parade is being shared with the sound of sports fans chanting, “I Believe that we will win.” I especially found this video of Florida Biden supporters in a retirement community forming a car parade with golf carts, great.
#AmongUs
Among Us is a video game that has recently gained popularity. The game's goal is to find the randomly assigned imposters amongst the crewmates and vote them out of the spaceship. Many YouTubers and Twitch streamers got on board and started playing this game. The fun part for viewers is the voting part. While voting, players can explain who they think is an imposter, which then is argued on, before a vote happens. The mission of the imposter is to kill all crewmates aboard the spaceship. Last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez created an Among Us session, together with Rep. Ilhan Omar.
The video above is a screen capture of the first game AOC played on Twitch on the 20th of October together with Rep. Ilhan Omar and eight other streamers. AOC was randomly selected to be an Imposter during her first live stream ever, and her gasps of surprise were one of the funniest moments of the stream. She had to finesse her way through a game she was not very knowledgeable in and was tasked with killing the crewmates on the spaceship. What followed was minutes of deliberating over murdering a crewmate, which followed with attempts on lying her way out of the situation, which she managed pretty well for a first-timer.
The stream was created to encourage young people to vote. Throughout the 3-hour stream, many puns on early voting and voter registration were thrown in. It was reported that 430 thousand viewers watched the stream, putting it in the list of Twitch's biggest streams.
It all started on October 19th when AOC sent out a tweet asking if anyone would be interested in playing Among Us with her on Twitch. Quickly Omar responded with a waving hand emoji, and Hasan Piker, political commentator, and streamer responded saying “hi”. With the help of Piker, the game was set up, and it was ready to go!
Videos of AOC playing with the eight streamers were posted on TikTok, many with positive comments about AOC and showcasing the highlights of the 3-hour long stream.
#TrumpDance
Trump’s now-infamous dance has gotten a lot of attention on TikTok, with many people trying to imitate his moves. Trump can be seen dancing to YMCA, usually before or after rallies, where he dances to songs while pointing and engaging with his audience. The dance is nothing special, it’s almost like Elaine dancing on Seinfeld, but it has gone viral over the past week.
The video above was re-posted by a content creator on TikTok, with an edited version of the Trump Dance. This clip has gotten over 12 million views and is one of the more popular Trump dancing videos on TikTok, but there are many others.
A compilation of the original dance moves that Trump is doing can be found here with the YMCA song by the Village People at some of his rallies. However, content creators have changed the song before uploading it to TikTok. Trump’s moves were copied by many content creators and not only republican leaning creators. People were able to enjoy the president’s dance move for a change. Here is a duet that a TikTok’er did copying Trump’s moves. She instantly became viral and has since gotten praise from republican viewers, which she found to be very funny, being a Biden voter.
#Borat
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm was released this past week, and it was really something. In my opinion, it was not like the first movie; it did not feel raw and uncut as the first one did. The movie featured Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, and two QAnon supporters, which Borat spends a couple of days with. #Borat has been viewed over 377 million times, with many people making parodies and imitating the accent and lines Borat has been known for.
The video above was posted by Borat as a promotion for his movie. It was watched over 1.5 million times. The video is a tutorial, in Borat fashion, on how to put on a mask. Since posting his first video on October 9th, he has gained one million followers, five million likes, and more than 40 million in total views. The most popular of his videos is his collaboration with David Dobrik, a top YouTube vlogger who has recently stopped his daily vlogs and can now be seen active on TikTok.
Honorable Mentions:
Peggy Pence. No, it’s not Mike Pence’s estranged daughter. It’s a parody account created by Alyssa Sabo. Sabo is a comedian and has been doing parody content on TikTok. This time, the parody became a reality for some people. After Kellyanne Conway’s daughter, Claudia Conway, becoming a mainstream political TikTok’er who is against the Trump administration and her mother. Peggy Pence can seem to be a somewhat believable story. However, it is not true. Sabo can be found here explaining the new character she will be playing on TikTok. Sabo grew in popularity on TikTok as Peggy when she posted a video apologizing to her father, Mike Pence, and casting her ballot.
“Abe and Trump” is a new TikTok account that started posting last week. The account has quickly gained over 2.5 million likes and over 10 million views. The account is also promoting voting on November 3rd. The eight videos show a conversation between Abraham Lincoln and Donald Trump. The videos make fun of Trump, throwing jabs at some of his comments he has made over the years. In the videos, Trump can be seen drinking Clorox, saying “stand back and standby,” and finally commenting on Lincoln’s achievements.
That is all for this week! Please share this newsletter if you enjoyed reading it. And don’t be shy to send me an email about what you think I should cover, or if I have missed anything. - Here is my Twitter!
Thank you for reading, hope to see you next week!