Every great political moment births a thousand not-so-great political memes. Madeleine Chapman gets the ball rolling on the Ross-Bridges saga

Politics is happening! Jami-Lee Ross began his Tuesday as the National MP for Botany and Simon Bridges’ “numbers man”. He ended the day having called Bridges a “corrupt politician”, guilty of criminal activity, and not fit to be prime minister. He also ended the day unemployed after the National caucus unanimously voted to expel him from the party at roughly the same time he quit.

It was the most exciting afternoon for New Zealand politics in a long time. Ross held a surely record-breaking 50+ minute press conference. Bridges countered by staging his own press conference accompanied by what appeared to be the entire National Party. Winston Peters played a song off his phone for reporters called “Burning Bridges”. Ross said Bridges had put forth to him that four women had accused Ross of sexual harassment. Paula Bennett chimed in to say that it wasn’t sexual harassment they discussed, rather that Ross had behaved inappropriately “for a married member of parliament”.

Everyone in your office will be talking about this (read this if you have no idea what’s going on). Many will be laughing. But so much happened that everyone watching was too busy keeping up to make any memes. In the spirit of democracy and generosity, I’ve thrown a few together. Please, feel free to make your own and send them to madeleine@thespinoff.co.nz. I won’t do anything with them, I just want to see every meme ever made.

A basic meme using one of the most popular meme formats of 2018. Ross thinking he has a shot in the Botany by-election by standing as an independent is very funny and a little sad.

Ross revealed that in order to avoid the media and stay away from the news, he drove from Auckland to Wellington overnight. I’ve done that drive a few times and it’s quite nice actually. But imagine being as furious as Ross definitely was and then spending nine hours alone in a car. He probably learned his entire half-hour monologue by heart.

Ross pulled a classic power move and announced his press conference for the exact same time Bridges was supposed to have his own. When Bridges eventually emerged, he had the full squad with him. Except every squad member also wants his job so not sure why he had them stand behind him with all those knives lying around. Seriously, though, who is that guy on the right?

I hate this format but it works well in an office environment. Winston Peters has never looked happier than 15 seconds into the 30 second build-up of this joke. “And here’s the punchline” is a surefire way to know that your song bit is about to kill. He even played it again for the reporters (more on that below). This is also one of the few moments where Winston being Winston is great for Jacinda Ardern.

A reporter reached out and pressed pause on Winston’s song gag while he was playing it for the second time. “I couldn’t hear you,” was the explanation given, uttered by someone who I assume is now deceased.

This is a slightly niche meme for those in your life who have been looking forward to A Star is Born while also being very politically engaged.

For my final meme, I leave you with this true fact.

JAMI-LEE ROSS IS 32 YEARS OLD.