--- title: Donald Trump Jr Democracy Dies in Dankness Typo Goes Viral description: Donald Trump Jr. tweeted democracy dies in "dankness" instead of "darkness" and the internet may never recover from the impact. canonical: https://time.com/5130384/donald-trump-jr-dankness-tweet/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-02T15:57:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:20.540Z og:title: Donald Trump Jr. Just Became a Dank Meme, Literally og:description: "Democracy dies in dankness" og:url: https://time.com/5130384/donald-trump-jr-dankness-tweet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Jr. Just Became a Dank Meme, Literally twitter:description: "Democracy dies in dankness" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Donald Trump Jr. Just Became a Dank Meme, Literally > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=668d0bb7-b06d-445f-b0d2-9f94b0000d3e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump on Nunes Memo: 'A Lot of People Should Be Ashamed' [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump on Nunes Memo: 'A Lot of People Should Be Ashamed'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fd5MuYYZ.m3u8) (0:37)  _Published 2018-02-02. House Republicans released the full, un-redacted “Nunes memo” on Friday following months of speculation_ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Feb 2, 2018 3:57 PM UTC by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Feb 2, 2018 3:57 PM UTC [Donald Trump Jr.](http://time.com/4975821/trump-jr-kimmel-weinstein/) tweeted out a typo Friday that could not have been better designed to go viral online. Criticizing the media for its coverage of the [GOP memo](http://time.com/5128772/trump-nunes-memo-release/) on the FBI written by Rep. Devin Nunes, the younger Trump attempted to refer to the Washington Post slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” mangling it in two ways. First, he called it a byline — actually, the word for the author’s name on a piece — and then he mistyped darkness. > [](https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/959090384814133248) Dankness, which used to refer to cold and damp places, was later adopted by pot smokers to describe high-quality marijuana and then became an ironic term for viral jokes online that are past their prime. In 2016, [“dank memes”](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-dank-memes-that-are-disrupting-politics) about the presidential candidates became something of a cottage industry, adding another layer to the weirdness of Trump Jr.’s tweet. “Ha just noticed the spelling. Honestly, if you’re going to make a typo that’s a good one. #dankness,” he tweeted later. By then, the internet had already taken off: > [](https://twitter.com/TheBrianPark/status/959094426512506880) > [](https://twitter.com/Ike%5FSaul/status/959093595725860864) > [](https://twitter.com/sara%5Fbee/status/959093588880748545) > [](https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/959092252093112320) > [](https://twitter.com/ashleyruuu/status/959113418652479488) > [](https://twitter.com/morningmoneyben/status/959095235199500290) > [](https://twitter.com/JDahmanIII/status/959094701629599744) > [](https://twitter.com/SelimSeesYou/status/959118683233759233) > [](https://twitter.com/alysonrmartin/status/959174518303436800) > [](https://twitter.com/mdooley/status/959174647425232896) > [](https://twitter.com/hereforthewords/status/959107165645615105) > [](https://twitter.com/benjitheblender/status/959099923022172160) > [](https://twitter.com/NicoleGoodkind/status/959096322795155456) > [](https://twitter.com/UGITGUD/status/959162158293581824) > [](https://twitter.com/GenePark/status/959095874163847169) > [](https://twitter.com/BobAlGreene/status/959095473184428032) > [](https://twitter.com/TheJewishDream/status/959091393628135424) > [](https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/959097746681683968) > [](https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/959100690995077122) Donald Trump Jr. social media posts have made headlines before, notably with his [Halloween candy math lesson](http://time.com/5005219/donald-trump-jr-halloween-socialism-lesson-reactions/) and [cookie cake trolling](http://time.com/5068912/donald-trump-jr-obama-cookie-cake/). ## Transcript [00:00] I think it's terrible, you want to know the truth? I think [00:02] it's a disgrace what's going on in this country. I think [00:05] it's a disgrace. The memo was sent to Congress, it was [00:09] declassified. Congress will do whatever they're going to [00:12] do. But I think it's a disgrace what's happening in our [00:15] country. And when you. look at that, and you see that [00:18] and so many other things, what's going on, A lot of [00:22] people should be ashamed of themselves and much [00:25] worse than that. So I sent it over to Congress. And they [00:28] will do what they are going to do. Whatever they do is [00:31] fine. It was declassified. And let's see what happens. [00:35] But a lot of people should be ashamed. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5130384/donald-trump-jr-dankness-tweet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5130384/donald-trump-jr-dankness-tweet/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Jr. Just Became a Dank Meme, Literally","datePublished":"2018-02-02T15:57:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:20.540Z","description":"Donald Trump Jr. tweeted democracy dies in \"dankness\" instead of \"darkness\" and the internet may never recover from the impact.","url":"https://time.com/5130384/donald-trump-jr-dankness-tweet/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","viral","trump","Donald Trump Jr."],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5130384/donald-trump-jr-dankness-tweet/","name":"Donald Trump Jr. Just Became a Dank Meme, Literally"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump on Nunes Memo: 'A Lot of People Should Be Ashamed'","description":"House Republicans released the full, un-redacted “Nunes memo” on Friday following months of speculation","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Fd5MuYYZ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-02-02T19:45:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fd5MuYYZ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5130384/donald-trump-jr-dankness-tweet/","duration":"PT37S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5130384/donald-trump-jr-dankness-tweet/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```