- Gen Z is apparently discovering Donald Trump’s lewd “Grab ’em” comments that came to light in 2016.
- This might make you feel absolutely ancient — but resist the urge to wallow.
- We should be glad young people have TikTok to help them learn about … history.
Want to feel old? Some members of Gen Z are apparently only now discovering Donald Trump’s infamous “Grab em …” comments that came during a hot mic moment.
The clip, which became an issue in the 2016 election, has resurfaced on TikTok, where some teens and 20-somethings are just now hearing it for the first time, The Washington Post reports.
Older readers, prepare to crumble to dust:
“I don’t think any of my friends had heard it,” said Kate Sullivan, a 21-year-old student in Ohio who heard the tape for the first time on her TikTok For You feed this week. “We all felt equally shocked.”
The recording, which was caught on tape in 2005, came to light in 2016. It was made when Trump was having an off-camera conversation with “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush.
Keep in mind that Gen Z’ ers now first hearing the recording would have been children in 2016. An 18-year-old voting for the first time next week would have been in fourth or fifth grade when Trump was first elected. You can imagine why they might have been shielded from the rough language of the actual clip when it first broke.
This week, I saw a tweet go viral from someone who was surprised to learn about how the results from the 2000 presidential race dragged out for so long and were so contested. This was huge news at the time, but of course, another much bigger event happened in 2001 that changed the political agenda of the next decade, sending 2000 and its hanging chads to the memory hole.
In the recent fervor around The Washington Post’s decision not to issue a presidential endorsement, I read its editorial board’s 1988 decision to endorse neither candidate. I was in second grade, and my awareness of the political landscape was mainly via Dana Carvey’s Bush Sr. impersonation. In the 1988 op-ed, I was struck by the description of these really substantive, in-the-weeds policy arguments about taxes and foreign policy that have faded from modern relevancy.
As elder millennials like myself are entering their 40s, moments like this are happening all the time: reminders that we are now the cranky old fogies now. We are no longer the youth driving the dominant culture, and the moments and events that felt so important to us are now either long-forgotten or, even worse, cringe. (Please, let’s agree to never tell Gen Z about “left shark“.)
I know that the knee-jerk instinct is to think about how this makes us feel old (we are, after all, self-obsessed millennials) and to scoff at these ignorant youngs who don’t know their very recent history.
But set that aside. We should be glad that kids these days have the technological access and tools to learn about these things. The fact that lots of young people are learning about the 2016 election is a good thing — even if they’re getting it because Billie Eilish reposted the clip on TikTok. Great! I want more! I want young people to know all about this stuff — an informed electorate is ideal, and who cares if that information is coming in the form of a TikTok?
We should feel happy that Gen Z is informed, and grateful for the insight into what news events and cultural moments actually make it into the collective national memory. Don’t let this make you feel old; let it make you wiser.
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