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I Think About This a Lotis a series dedicated to private memes: images, videos, and other random trivia we are doomed to play forever on loop in our minds.

In a discussion about job creation spanning infrastructure to coding at a July 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign rally, the then-candidate introduced an idea for an app-based video game. I dont know who created Pokmon Go, she said. Oh no. But Im trying to figure out, dont do it, how we get them to have, oh God Pokmon Go to the polls.

Hearts stopped. The ground shook. Birds fell from the sky and began commuting by foot; aquatic life emerged from the sea with only one question on their fish lips: Why? The final words were delivered in the stilted speech pattern politicians generally use to implore crowds to take action like Go to the polls but with a palpable hesitation. If there was someone out there who knew why Hillary Clinton was saying the words Pokmon Go to the polls, it did not seem to be Hillary Clinton and it certainly wasnt the fish.

Pokmon Go to the polls has lived with me ever since. Of course, the horrifying goings-on of national politics give a person ample opportunity to think about going to the polls and then, naturally, Pokmon Go-ing to them. But my mindworm unfortunately does not stop there. I should Pokmon Go to the store, Ill think to myself. Do you need to Pokmon Go for a walk? Ill ask my dog. Ill text a friend, Pokmon Go to the polls. Hell text back, Pokmon Go to the polls.

The phrase was upsetting at first. Donald Trump was running for president president! and our best defense against him was standing onstage imploring us to Pokmon Go to the polls. A non-ideal situation. And let me be clear: I wanted Hillary to win. Not begrudgingly, not holding my nose. I was excited to vote for her, and I wanted her to win. I couldnt wait to Pokmon Go to the polls. But I suppose, at that moment, we should have seen what was coming. We should have seen that we were Pokmon Go-ing to hell.

Trump soon shared a video on Facebook of a game called Crookd Hillary NO, wherein an unseen player pitched a Pok Ball at, and subsequently caught, a Hillary Pokmon, bringing up a view of her Pokdex page. (The Pokdex is sort of like an in-game Pokmon encyclopedia, not to insult you with the clarification.) Career Politician, it said. 30,000 emails deleted. Often found lying to the American people, rigging the system, and sharing TOP SECRET emails. The video has over 13 million views. Produced and circulated during his campaign, its of an oddly higher quality than the hasty, pixilated, rarely coherent memes that have come out of his administration. It is clear his team has Pokmon Go-tten a little too comfortable.

Clinton was Pok-mocked and memed by non-supporters and supporters alike. Still, a pro-Hillary defense arose: The idea that if Bernie Sanders had said something like Pokmon Go to the polls, people would have cut him slack. They would have thought it was charming, maybe they would have even thought it was funny. And while its hard enough to imagine we live in a world where one presidential candidate said Pokmon Go to the polls, let alone two, I think theres a bit of truth to this. If a man says something funny, people tend to assume the humor was intentional; women arent always afforded this assumption. Do I think Hillary Clinton understood the potential humor to be found in Hillary Clinton saying something like Pokmon Go to the polls? Well. Lets just say that whether she did or she didnt doesnt make my point any less valid.

Regardless, it was indeed Hillary who said Pokmon Go to the polls, and it was, in fact, the American public who did not heed what was implicit in her command: that we Pokmon Go to the polls and vote for her, specifically in a way that would allow her to win the Electoral College.

Donald Trump was instead elected president. Our evolution as a nation ground to a halt, Pokmonically speaking. The phrase has morphed in my life from an unpleasant memory to a prescient warning. I beg you, listen to the dreaded whisper of the past. Take heart. On Tuesday, if you haventvoted early or by mail, please Pokmon Go to the polls.

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Remember When Hillary Joked About Pokmon Go to the Polls? - The Cut