Overview

The Trump Boat Parade on Lake Travis, Texas took place on September 5th, 2020 in Austin, Texas. The event, a rally in support of the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump, hosted boaters and vessels brandishing Trump merchandise. However, due to the wake created by larger boats, some of the smaller boats sank at the event, inspiring a number of jokes online.

Background

Organized on Facebook, ^[1] the Lake Travis Boat Parade occurred on September 5th, 2020 on Lake Travis in Austin, Texas. It is unclear how many boats joined the parade. However, on Saturday, authorities reported that at least five boats sank at the event.^[2]

Developments

Online Reaction

That day, Twitter user @rahulrajnews tweeted a video of the boats sinking. They wrote, "#BREAKING: Multiple boats are either in distress or have sunk on Lake Travis in Texas during a Trump Boat Parade." The tweet received more than 3.7 million views, 8,000 likes and 6,800 retweets in less than one week (shown below).

#BREAKING: Multiple boats are either in distress or have sunk on Lake Travis in Texas during a Trump Boat Parade#DonaldTrump#Dumbkirk #Texas #BoatParade pic.twitter.com/HYPRUVwBDp

— Rahul Upadhyay (@rahulrajnews) September 5, 2020

Many online joked about the boats sinking, blaming the issue on "poor boating etiquette." Politician Brianna Wu tweeted,^[3] "Why did the Trump boats sink? Because of poor boating etiquette. Responsible boat owners are thoughtful with what their wake does for smaller craft. Trump supporters just didn’t care, which is perfectly on-brand for a political movement signifying selfishness." The tweet received more than 22,000 likes and 5,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, left).

That day, the hashtag #Dumbkirk trended on Twitter. On the tag, many mocked the people whose boat sank. For example, Twitter user @Sky_Lee_1 tweeted,^[4] "Let’s take the real irony away from this… These fools representing Trump sunk their own boats. This lake doesn’t have major wakes like this. They literally sunk each other’s boats. And there’s your sign." The tweet received more than 17,000 likes and 4,800 retweets in less than two days (shown below, center).

Many shared an image of a boat at the bottom of the water with a Trump flag attached to the vessel (example below, right). However, Snopes ^[5] later determined that the image was fake.

On September 6th, Twitter user @jumbo_colombo tweeted a video of recording artist Lizzo shaking a salad. They wrote, "Poseidon when he saw the boat parade for trump." The tweet received more than 1.2 million views, 110,000 likes and 22,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Poseidon when he saw the boat parade for trump pic.twitter.com/cNobcQ3gCV

— Tall Dark and Gay (@jumbo_colombo) September 6, 2020

The news inspired several threads on the /r/news,^[6] /r/politicalhumor^[7] and /r/LeopardsAteMyFace.^[8] Each thread received more than 12,000 points in less than 24 hours.

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the story, including CNN,^[2] The New York Times,^[9] NY Mag,^[10] BBC,^[11] AXIOS^[12] and more.

Search Interest

External References