#ThatMexicanThing still big a day after vice presidential debate
The internet was quick to christen new hashtags during the Vice Presidential debate Tuesday night, but one quoting Republican VP candidate Mike Pence took on a life of its own.
- Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
The first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton produced a basket full of mostly deplorable adorable hashtags and memes highlighted by sniffling, berries and quarterbacks. Tuesday night's vice presidential debate between Trump's running mate Mike Pence and Clinton's veep pick Tim Kaine wasn't quite as explosive as the first top-of-the-ticket match last month, but that didn't stop the internet from digging deep into the details to feed the Twitter mill.
It's a thing
When Kaine continued to prod Pence about Donald Trump calling Mexican immigrants "rapists" who "are bringing drugs" to the United States, the Republican nominee dismissed "that Mexican thing" and the viral hashtag of the evening was born. #ThatMexicanThing continued to trend well into Wednesday with a number of tweeters adding their two cents, in both serious and silly messages, on what exactly the phrase means.
Vice Mansplainer
Viewers were quick to note that moderator Elaine Quijano's unfortunate spot at the table put her right in the crossfire of a whole lot of mansplaining from both sides.
Norwood or Hogwarts?
Poor Mike Pence was apparently debating at a different university than his opponent. The internet was quick to catch Pence's flub when he thanked nonexistent Norwood University for hosting the debate (it was actually at Longwood University).
Farmville IRL
Seemingly bored by the lack of shouting in the debate, many watchers were bemused by the fact that the event was being held in Farmville, Virginia, and began to reminisce about entire months wasted back in 2010 playing a certain addictive video game.
Pardon the interruption (or not)
We weren't really sure what the candidates were saying during the first segment of the debate, but both men seemed enthusiastically supportive of overtalking.
Brow-beating
As the debate kicked off and the two men greeted each other and shook hands on stage, Americans were quick to read each man's face -- or at least one feature in particular.
Walk this way
More than an hour before the debate was set to begin at 6 p.m. PT, the hashtag #CandidatesDebateWalkOutMusic was trending on Twitter:
Tweetaholic Donald Trump live tweeted the whole debate, but didn't do much to steal the spotlight from his running mate. He mostly spent the night retweeting his supporters.
If you made it through the entire commercial-free debate, you probably need a breather. Fortunately, Twitter provided that too, in the form of this squealing tapir:
Join us again for the next Presidential debate, set for October 9.
Originally published 5:46 p.m. PT.
Update, 6:22 p.m. PT, 6:55 p.m. PT, 7:14 p.m. PT, 7:55 p.m. PT, October 5 at 1:37 p.m. PT: To add more online reactions.