About

George W. Bush's Facial Expressions at Donald Trump's Inauguration, also known as the George W. Bush Trump Inauguration Meme, refers to a video of former U.S. President George W. Bush looking around, smirking, raising his eyebrows and trying to hold in a laugh at the second inauguration of President Donald Trump in late January 2025. The clip and a GIF of it became reactions on social media sites like Twitter / X in the following days, typically used as a caption meme format. On Instagram and TikTok, among other video platforms, the clip became an exploitable green-screen template as people replaced the background and added captions that fit the new setting.

Origin

On January 20th, 2025, President Donald Trump was inaugurated in Washington, D.C. All former, living U.S. Presidents were in attendance, including George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush.^[1]

A video of George W. Bush at the event went viral on social media when X^[2] user @heyshanb shared it on January 20th. It shows Bush looking around the room, smirking and raising his eyebrows at someone out of frame, seemingly holding in a laugh. @heyshanb captioned it, "Idgaf what anyone says. I love George Bush and his 10-year-old-Christmas-concert-spirit," gaining over 117,000 likes in two days (shown below).

Idgaf what anyone says. I loveGeorge Bush and his 10-year-old-Christmas-concert-spirit. #Inauguration2025 pic.twitter.com/bLGyDmjkuP

— Hey Shan B. (@heyshanb) January 20, 2025

Spread

The video gained immediate memetic usage on January 20th, 2025. For instance, on the day, X^[3] user @SeanYoo tweeted it, and captioned it, "When you realize you took an edible before doing something serious," gaining over 343,00 likes in two days (shown below).

when you realize you took an edible before doing something serious pic.twitter.com/Yz1ArvHFqH

— sean yoo (@SeanYoo) January 20, 2025

Also on January 20th, X^[4] user @Lukewearechange tweeted the video, captioning it, "When you realize the 9/11 documents might actually be released," gaining over 242,000 likes in two days (shown below).

When you realize the 9/11 documents might actually be released, pic.twitter.com/EkrcwGcfW2

— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) January 20, 2025

On January 21st, 2025, X^[5] user @flapprdotnet shared an edit of the video that added the Directed by Michael Bay credits, gaining over 160 likes in a day (shown below). The video was later reposted by X^[6] user @flapprdotnet on January 21st, gaining over 52,000 likes in a day.

Maybe it was a fart? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/IjxSR3Nf3C

— Flappr (@flapprdotnet) January 21, 2025

On January 22nd, 2025, Instagram^[7] user @fakenewsnetwork reposted the abovementioned video, adding the caption, "A second plane has hit the towers," gaining over 20,400 likes in four hours (shown below).

Exploitable usage continued to spread on Instagram Reels during the same timeframe. For instance, on January 21st, Instagram^[8] user @daveyboyyyyyy shared a meme that greenscreened Bush into a bar setting, adding a caption that read, "Me when everyone starts asking who ordered more shots," gaining over 21,100 likes in a day (shown below).

The moment also went viral on TikTok, evident in a video shared by TikToker^[9] @i_lovebettyboo87 on January 21st, 2025, who laughed at Bush's facial expressions amid the inauguration, gaining over 241,700 likes in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

When you see your mate getting you a pint at the bar pic.twitter.com/Ha0RMGsX7W

— PintsO’Guinness (@PintsO_Guinness) January 21, 2025

born to be MLB commissioner, forced to be a war criminal https://t.co/HnqkgG2RwS

— The Ginger Swindler (recovering sixers fan) (@lilydsmith) January 20, 2025

Template / Green Screen

Search Interest

External References