A Senator Just Compared Our Political Climate to the 'This Is Fine' Meme

Greetings, fellow millennials. Do you ever feel powerless in the midst of the overwhelming clusterfuck that is the current American political climate? Do you feel ignored by a Democratic party that is too busy coming up with slogans and tripping over itself to make any kind of cohesive effort to fix this mess? Does it ever feel like the aging politicians running your country are too busy getting their jowls jiggled by some lobbyist to keep your puny life in mind?

Think again! Congress loves you, and its members are here to let you know they care by speaking to you in a language you can understand: memes.

On Wednesday, GOP senator Richard Burr managed to work a reference to the classic "This Is Fine" meme into his statement during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russian interference during the election. Senators—they're just like us!

"Some feel that we as a society are sitting in a burning room calmly drinking a cup of coffee, telling ourselves, 'This is fine,'" Burr said, looking pleased to be able to bring up that infamous fedora-ed dog at work. "That’s not fine and that’s not the case."

"We should no longer be talking about 'if' the Russians attempted to interfere with American society," Burr went on. "They’ve been doing it since the days of the Soviet Union and they’re still doing it today."

The "This Is Fine" meme, originally pulled from a 2013 webcomic by KC Green, has—for better or worse—become one of the lasting memes of our time, perfectly encapsulating our collective fatigue at the overwhelming deluge of bullshit we're forced to drag ourselves out of bed and face every day. The meme was already awkwardly co-opted by the GOP's official Twitter during the 2016 Democratic Primary, and now, somehow, it has made its way into an honest-to-God congressional hearing.

Did we need another example of the way the internet has seeped into every crevice of American politics? Not really. But, whatever! Who cares? This is fine!

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