On March 4, 2025, a group of around 30 congress members belonging to the Democratic Party entered President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress, all wearing various shades of pink. During Trump’s address, they silently held up signs with phrases like “this isn’t normal,” “that’s a lie!” and “no king.” The stunt, intended to be an inspirational act of resistance and convey the grievances felt by many who disagree with the current administration, was not only shrugged off as a lackluster gesture — it actually had a reverse effect, quickly becoming a point of debate within the party itself, with many wondering if it was effective at all. And, as most things that exist online, it wasn’t safe from the swift criticism of Gen Z.
“Yeah we all wore pink… got em!” joked Rafael L., who graduated from Ithaca College in 2021, in a viral TikTok video mocking the Democrats. The comment section of his post is full of young people also sharing their frustrations with the party: “‘hey! don’t do that!’ they whispered,” one commenter wrote about the stunt. “LIKE CAN YALL HELP US, WHERES THE URGENCY,” another user said.
“I made [the TikTok] because I was feeling frustrated and don’t feel like I have much to say in the political process, so I decided to make fun of them,” Rafael tells Her Campus in an exclusive interview. “The comments are really interesting … there’s a definite feeling of hopelessness and search for a way to cope.”
Since the State of the Union, there have been more and more viral moments of Democrats resisting the Trump administration’s executive orders (or just throwing shade at the Republican party altogether) popping up on social media. From Florida Congressman Jared Moskowitz mocking Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s leaked group chat emojis, to U.S. Representative Robert Garcia bringing Sesame Street characters to a hearing on public media bias, it’s clear that Democrats in government are getting more bold in their public dissent of the current administration. But are the meme-able moves being made by the Democrats doing enough for Gen Z, or are they just cause for an eye roll?
Rebecca Brubaker, who graduated from Emerson College in 2018, has had this question in mind for much of her career. Brubaker has worked as an online director for former President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign in Pennsylvania, a digital analyst for the White House during the Biden administration, and the associate director of partnerships for public policy research and advocacy organization the Center for American Progress. She most recently served as the battleground digital director in North Carolina for former Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, during which time she ran the Kamala for NC Instagram page. Harris’s campaign — which was launched just three months before the election due to Biden dropping out of the race — made a big splash with Gen Z by using memes and trends such as “Brat summer” and leaning into internet culture. Brubaker notes, however, that not all political memes are created (and thus received) equally.
“As a digital strategist, I’ve always viewed memes as being a vessel of communication. When someone’s scrolling through their feed and they see a meme that’s familiar to them, they stop scrolling and they look,” Brubaker says. However, she says she’s noticed a shift in what messaging memes and viral posts from current democrats are conveying — or rather, not conveying. “I think that we’ve moved into this space where it’s like, ‘Let’s meme to be relatable or to do things that are funny and break through online,’ but if there’s not a message attached to that … then it gets lost in the sauce.”
Brubaker says that the Democrats’ Capitol pink-out can be used as a perfect example of what resonates with Gen Z and what doesn’t. She compares it to Texas Rep. Al Green’s interruptions to Trump’s address and refusal to sit down, which resulted in his removal from the room. “Al Green, who was genuinely protesting this event and calling out Trump in a way that really reflected, I think, the anger, frustration, and fear that so many young people are feeling right now — I think people resonated a lot more with his public display than holding up a sign,” Brubaker says. “It is a very scary time, and I think people just want to know that their elected officials are feeling that and fighting that. And sometimes when we’ve got Sesame Street characters or whatever, there’s a dissonance there that people are, in my opinion, rightfully feeling.”
In the era of sponsored content and staged videos, Gen Zers know how to spot a phony — making authenticity all the more important. Katelyn Sheets, a senior at Duke University majoring in public policy who also worked with the Harris campaign’s content creator program, is one of many Gen Zers who think that Democrats should ditch the civil route when calling for change, to better reflect the frustration so many of their constituents feel. “I think that is where people like AOC and Jasmine Crockett have been successful. Jasmine Crockett telling Elon to f*ck off on the Capitol steps — that got a lot of traction. I think we need to make an effort to showcase politicians being normal people and having … these same thoughts that we have, like ‘What the f*ck are they doing?’”
That said, some Gen Zers are frustrated with the Democrats’ frequent reactions to the current administration — emphasizing that what they really want to see is action. “The constant reactions and focus on media is frustrating to watch,” says Harryson Nascimento, a senior at Temple University. “Democrats should work toward bipartisan progress instead of always responding to headlines. Many young voters expect their vote to be earned. From my perspective, Gen Z is not drawn to traditional politicians — we want advocates who genuinely represent us and bring forward clear proposals, not just reactions.”
An act of resistance that did resonate with many Gen Zers was Senator Cory Booker’s 25-hour speech in Congress on March 1 (and into April 1). Not only did Booker spend 25 hours speaking about critical issues such as Medicaid cuts to immigration policy to the environment — but also, he smashed the record for longest Senate speech, which was previously set by South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond in 1957 (especially significant because Thurmond was filibustering in opposition to a civil rights bill, and Booker is Black). Booker’s speech covered the bases of what many Gen Zers are looking for in a viral Dem moment: it was sensational yet purposeful, it called out the current administration but also proposed tangible actions, and he seemed wholeheartedly and authentically invested in his cause.
“Even if it’s not directly opposing a bill or something, we do need to be doing things that show people that we’re doing something,” Sheets says. “Young people especially are like, ‘Why aren’t Democrats doing something about this?’ And I think there’s work being done, it’s just behind the scenes. And so what we have to do is get better at showcasing it online.”