GQ Reports: Soon after Donald Trump was sworn in for the second time, the internet started to fill up with clips of leftist vengeance, like the video of an anonymous body sprinting up to a Cybertruck and defacing its silver sheen with spray paint and a woman saying she used her daughter’s inheritance to buy a Corvette in reprisal for her having voted for Trump.

This is “dark woke.” It’s the newest evolution of what was once labeled, in Trump’s first term, the dirtbag left—a name for young progressives who weren’t afraid to viciously mock their political opponents. It’s things that you wouldn’t normally say or do, made acceptable because they’re directed at Republicans. The idea is to subvert the qualities that people think made wokeness cringe—the virtue policing, the polite “when they go low, we go high” posturing—and go Joker Mode to Make Democrats Cool Again.

What qualifies for dark woke, per social media: A kid calling Trump “GAY,” A$AP Rocky calling homophobia in hip-hop “retarded” in 2012, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez telling the woman behind the Libs of TikTok account to “cry more” and asking if she’s triggered. One viral tweet described a dismal Travis Kelce stat from the Super Bowl—0 RECEPTIONS IN POSTSEASON FIRST HALF FOR FIRST TIME IN CAREER—as dark woke.

The flurry of these memes comes in direct opposition to the flood of new executive orders every week, as Trump and Elon Musk attempt to dismantle the government in real time. Over the next four years, liberals will test a slew of stances and slogans to see what sticks—and this is just the first spark of a wider reaction to Trump 2.0. There are already some hints of elected Democrats adopting it: see California Rep. Robert Garcia saying he’s imitating Marjorie Taylor Greene’s playbook by bringing a “dick pic”—a photo of Musk—to a DOGE subcommittee meeting.

The culture war has splintered into a million digital skirmishes, where viral tweets can have butterfly effects, creating the illusion that one side is more dominant (depending on what your algorithm surfaces). Surfing sites like X now can make it feel like you’re trapped in a digital Times Square, where every screen is blasting some new atrocity or slur-filled post or far-right harassment campaign.

It’s frustrating, and “dark woke” offers something like an alternative. It could serve as a cathartic release for the many jaded progressives fed up with the tame grandstanding and insipid inertia of their party’s leaders. And maybe at best, dark woke memes infesting the content streams will prime centrist Democrats for hardcore leftist awakenings. But right now, it mostly feels like an algorithmic fad built on quick thrills, destined to become cringe just like “Dark Brandon” did. It’s a meme, not a movement, and many people are already dismissive of it.