Now that we're a week into the second presidency of Donald J. Trump (has it really been that long?), let's take a look at how the nation's younger generations are reacting to Trump's return to power.While voter participation among people between 18 and 29 was down in 2024 compared to 2020 (42%, down from 50%) Trump gained ground in every youth demographic. Young women went from 33% support in 2020 to 41% support in 2024, and young men went from 41% support to 55% support. So the kids are getting the president they asked for. Half of the kids, anyway. The other half are not happy, and they're noting their discontent with meme phrases, a new attitude, and online activism.It's not all politics this week, thank god. There's also an internet invasion by Family Guy one-off character Mr. Washee Washee, and a viral video from Poppy Playtime, a video game that children love and everyone else is confused by. Kids protest Trump with "cute winter boots"Soon after Trump's election in 2016, the youth-led #resistance movement sprung up, first as a hashtag and later in the form of defiant women's marches and protests that millions attended nationwide. Things look a little different in 2024. On TikTok, opposition to Trump is coming from posters reminding each other to wear "cute winter boots" to "combat ice." So if you see that phrase in video, you're looking at a secret message. The idea is that people who oppose Donald Trump's immigration policy are against ICE (that is, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), so warning people to "wear cute winter boots" is a coded way of saying, "I don't like that the president is deporting so many people." TikTok's posters haven't adopted a slogan like "Oh my god, fuck Donald Trump," because they feel "cute winter boots" will get past whatever censorship algorithm they think TikTok is using (or something), so they're posting videos like this one, which adds another "hidden" message with the phrase "kill the CIStem."While I appreciate teenagers' opposition to entrenched power structures, if you ask me, this is all cringe af (as the kids say). Also: this "movement" is surely being artificially inflated by people sharing it because it's so cringe. What is the Trump-inspired "dark woke movement?"I don't think the "winter boots" thing is going to catch on, but "dark woke" seems to be, even if many of its practitioners don't call it that. Dark woke is, basically, waiting for misfortune to befall people who voted for Donald Trump so you can pointedly not care. When their uncle Dave has to pay $38 for a salad because so many migrant workers are being deported, a dark woke person might respond, "ha ha, starve, asshole. Don't like governmental chaos? Should have voted for Harris." You get the idea. You can see as many examples of this as you'd like on Reddits like r/LeopardsAteMyFace and r/Trumpgrets. Again, if you ask me, this is a cynical, selfish, and ultimately pointless movementI don't think many people who voted for Trump are going to suddenly admit to making a mistake, no matter what happens. But really, what else is there to do? Reddit's movement to ban XMany of the people who hang out on nerd-centric internet hive Reddit are reacting to Trump's buddy Elon Musk throwing up a suspicious hand gesture at the President's inaugurationin addition to his Trump adjacency in generalby banning links to Musk's social media site X. The largest subreddits to block links from X are r/NBA, which has 15 million members, r/TwoXChromosomes, which has 14 million members, and r/NFL, which has 12 million members. Mr. Washee Washee and the "how do I get him off?" meme explainedMoving on from politics: the meme of the moment among young people needs some serious 'splaining. It features Mr. Washee Washee, a one-off, kinda retro-racist character from The Family Guy. Here's Washee's appearance on the show back in 2011: That clip is not what's going viral, though. The viral part originated with this X post from @boolymen: This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Viewed over a million times, the post shows Washee Washee seemingly trapped in music production program FL Studios with the question, "how do I get him off?" So there's a little bit of "I'm a clueless user and something weird happened; help!" that anyone who has assisted older relatives with tech issues will relate to, and there's also the suggestion that Washee Washee somehow invaded the project of his/its own volition. Pretty funny. But it became meme-worthy because you can answer the question with suggestions like "Have you tried whispering some algebra facts into his ear?" and because you can put Mr. Washee Washee anywhere then ask "How do I get him off?" For example: your browser, or your X profile, or your Windows XP home screen. Viral video of the week: Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 Gameplay Trailer The new trailer for the fourth game in the Poppy Playtime series has been viewed nearly seven million times in the three days its been online. These games are a sensation among the preteen set, but can be utterly baffling to anyone old enough to vote, so here's a rundown: Heavily influenced by Five Nights at Freddy's, the Poppy Playtime games are first-person, puzzle-heavy survival-horror games that are geared toward younger players. The ongoing story revolves around the player uncovering the misdeeds of Playtime Co., a toy company that creates the sentient playthings that act as villains in the game. Kids, it seems, really respond to the games' scary-but-not-too-scary vibe and that classic horror trope of making something meant as familiar and friendly (clowns, toys, etc.) into something sinister. Kids especially love (and love to be scared by) Huggy Wuggy, a giant blue toy/abomination with bulging eyes, red lips, long limbs who likes eating the people unlucky enough to meet it in an abandoned toy factory.