'Cold Bernie' Memes Are The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Bernie Sanders was a cozy icon at Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony — and the internet wasted no time in memeing the heck out of it

Joe Biden has been inaugurated. He has been sworn in as the next President, and Kamala Harris has been sworn in as the next (and first female, Black, and South Asian) Vice President. What a historic, emotional day Jan. 20 was. But in between all our tears, we were able to find one hilarious, ridiculous moment that brought all Americans together, regardless of which side of the aisle they tend to be on. It was Bernie Sanders, and his highly relatable Inauguration Day fashion.

While most of the politicians and celebrities who attended the inauguration came dressed in their power-pant-suit-best, Bernie took a different route. Look, it was cold out. So he did what any practical Vermont dad would do and bundled up. Photos of the Senator in his seat at the inauguration, cozy in a giant puffer coat and striped mittens, pretty much immediately went viral, and for good reason.

And then came the memes. Like, amazing memes.

The people of the internet speculated about what Cozy Bernie was thinking about in that moment.

Then they started noticing that Bernie’s look was a little bit familiar.

There were memes about how you could steal Bernie’s style (predicting it now: Cold Bernie is going to be a throwback hit next Halloween).

And pretty soon, people started imagining cold-but-cozy Bernie Sanders in all sorts of settings.

There’s my personal favorite, Bernie the May Queen.

Look, no one should be giving him this much grief. He was just obviously out running some errands and had just enough time to swing by the inauguration in between the bank and picking up dinner.

Oh, and those adorable and practical as heck mittens? BuzzFeed reports that they were gifted to Bernie by a teacher who made them herself. They’re “made from repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles,” according to BuzzFeed’s Ruby Cramer. This only makes us love his look even more.

All-in-all, it was a truly historic day. We celebrated all the incredible things that happened, as well as the end of the terrible four years of the Trump Administration. But at the end of the day, it was Bernie Sanders who lets us know what was really up on inauguration day.

And we love him for that.