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"Owning the libs" (also said in various ways) is arhetorical device that transgressespolitical correctness and emphasizesculture war issues to provoke a reaction in others, similar to trolling.[1] It has become a common trope amongconservatives in the United States to mockAmerican liberals and mobilize its base.[2]
The phrase "own the libs" comes from a slang usage of the word "own", meaning "to dominate," "to defeat," or, "to humiliate."[3] Variant phrases such as "triggering the libs"[4] and "meltingsnowflakes"[1] are also used to refer to the strategy. The phrase was coined and popularized by critics of the strategy, including politicianNikki Haley, who increased the prominence of the phrase in a 2018 speech in which she criticized the strategy as unpersuasive.[5] It is also used by some who practice the strategy, such asDan Bongino.[6] The phrase dates back to at least 2015.[4]
The "trigger" variants of the phrase come from the concept oftrauma triggers and "trigger warnings" intended to avoid them.[7] In his 2019 bookTriggered, Donald Trump Jr. says that the purpose of triggering liberals is to opposepolitical correctness.[8] The strategy is associated with confrontational political slogans such as "fuck your feelings"[9] and "make liberals cry again."[10]
Beginning in the 1980s, conservative talk radio hosts such asRush Limbaugh eschewed the intellectualism of earlier conservatives likeWilliam F. Buckley, instead using a more aggressive and confrontational rhetorical style that frequently employedad hominems, taunting and hyperbole to attack liberal ideas.[11]
Conservative student activist groups likeTurning Point USA and remixes of campus speakers likeBen Shapiro played a key role in developing the strategy during the 2000s and 2010s.[5] The 2008 vice presidential campaign ofSarah Palin was a precursor to the owning the libs method, according to former Republican strategist andLincoln Project co-founderRick Wilson.[12] Palin marked a merger between politics and entertainment, causing an anxiety among educated elites that her voters found thrilling.[13] Wilson says owning the libs assuages insecurities of people on the Americanpolitical right, and has become central to theRepublican Party because of its success at this.[4] More recently, the strategy is associated with PresidentDonald Trump and his sonDonald Trump Jr.[4][5][14] The method was adopted by thealt-right andalt-lite as a form oftrolling and antagonism in the mid/late 2010s.[15]
Far-right conspiracy theoristJacob Wohl has stated that the goal in owning the libs is to evoke in people "the type of unhinged emotional response that you would expect out of somebody who is suffering a serious mental episode."[5] The strategy usestrolling to portray political opponents as weak, biased, or overtly emotional, and to portray oneself as superior because of a lack of emotion.[16] Users of the strategy sometimes seek to bedeplatformed in order to gain notoriety.[1]
Rutgers University media scholar Khadijah White says the strategy serves to excuse corruption from one's political allies by portraying one's opponents as equally corrupt.[17] Shared enjoyment of owning the libs maintainsgroup cohesion among a conservativevoting bloc, according toNicole Hemmer of Columbia University. Hemmer views the strategy as a substitute for the cohesive conservative ideology that existed during theCold War.[17]
The phrase "the cruelty is the point" was coined from the title ofAdam Serwer's 2018 article inThe Atlantic about Trump supporters building community together by delighting in the suffering of those they consider outsiders.[18] The phrase and the observation about shared joy in cruelty have been written about in the media as the purpose of owning the libs.[19][20]
Art criticBen Davis has written that the painterJon McNaughton's stated goal of creating work that "triggers the left" undersells the sincerity of his work. McNaughton's paintings communicate a "real and popular viewpoint" sincerely held by conservative or reactionary consumers of art, even as the paintings also function as memes intended to upset perceived political enemies.[21]
The strategy of owning the libs has been criticized by both liberal and conservative observers as an unsuccessful strategy, or as leading only to counterproductivePyrrhic victory.
At a 2018Turning Point USA event, RepublicanNikki Haley remarked:[5]
Raise your hand if you've ever posted anything online toquote-unquote own the libs. I know that it's fun and that it can feel good, but step back and think about what you're accomplishing when you do this. Are you persuading anyone? Who are you persuading? We've all been guilty of it at some point or another, but this kind of speech isn't leadership. It's the exact opposite.
In her bookTroll Nation,Amanda Marcotte argues that owning the libs is so central to the political right that any effort to show care and concern for the well-being of others, or even for oneself, is viewed as suspiciously liberal. She gives the example ofrolling coal, the practice of illegally modifying a dieselpickup truck to produce clouds of black smoke.[22][23] Exhaust from rolling coal is sometimes directed at drivers of fuel-efficient cars and cyclists, in order to offend their presumed liberalenvironmentalist values. Marcotte argues that rolling coal has no value outside of trolling liberals. It costs the coal-roller money, increases fuel consumption, can void thewarranty of their vehicle, and may violate air-pollution laws. Hence, Marcotte argues, rolling coal is an expensive and counterproductive way to misconstrue environmentalism as an identity marker instead of a policy matter.[24]
In 2020,Paul Waldman opined that "hatred of liberals is all that's left of conservatism." He argues that owning the libs has pushed aside all policy goals previously central to Republicans, such as small government and lower taxes, as well as Republican commitment to democracy and patriotism. Waldman gives the example of theTexas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit and the physical violence threatened against Republicans who refused to join the suit.[25]
Inside the White House, Miller has emerged as a staunch ideologue and an immigration hawk championing an agenda of right-wing nationalism. But people who have known him at different points in his life say his political worldview is also rooted in a deep-seated instinct for trolling. Miller represents a rising generation of conservatives for whom "melting the snowflakes" and "triggering the libs" are first principles. You can find them on college campuses, holding "affirmative action bake sales" or hosting rallies for alt-right figures in the name of free speech. You can see them in the new conservative media, churning out incendiary headlines for Breitbart News or picking bad-faith fights on Twitter. Raised on talk radio, radicalized on the web, they are a movement in open revolt against the dogmas of "political correctness"—and their tactics could shape the culture wars for years to come.
Owning the libs offers bread and circuses for the pro-Trump right while Republicans quietly pursue a traditional program of deregulation and tax cuts at the policy level.