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“Nineteen Eighty-Four” (also written as “1984”; 1949) by George Orwell tells of a semi-futuristic dystopian society set in Airstrip One (formerly Great Britain) of Oceania, a totalitarian super-state ruled by “The Party” and “Big Brother.” It follows protagonist Winston Smith, who edits newspaper articles to the new history, and love interest Julia, who maintains the novel-writing machines, as they navigate overwhelming surveillance while trying to contact a supposed secret underground resistance. Ultimately, the two are caught by undercover agents, and imprisoned and tortured until they renounce their beliefs (and each other), blindly supporting Big Brother.
According to KnowYourMeme, there are “1984 “memes dating back to at least 2004. However, the current wave appears to be the result of a specific sub-meme known as “Big Brother Orders” and “Big Brother is Watching,” which premiered on December 1, 2020, when a Redditor posted a GIF of a Big Brother screen from the 1984 movie adaptation of “1984” with the caption “Don’t piss in the McDonald’s Sinks.” These became more mainstream after a January 8, 2021 tweet from Donald Trump, Jr, calling his father’s social media bans “Orwell’s 1984;” a cartoon by Gary Varvel (included) on January 9, 2021, that promoted the same; satirical and ironic parodies of these; and a now-deleted Reddit post in early February of 2021 that used the “Big Brother Orders” meme template titled “literally 1984.” This is how “literally 1984” was popularized.
While Trump’s tweet and Varvel’s cartoon largely missed the point of “1984,” there are important – and concerning – parallels between “1984” and the current Trump administration. Full disclaimer: I know that we have not gotten to the point of recreating “1984.” I also know this is an incredibly brief overview that misses a lot and will already be out-of-date by publication. That said, let’s look at how Donald Trump is Big Brother, and how his actions mimic “1984.”
Airstrip One: The Party separates people from historic context by using language change commonly understood reference points. On January 20, 2025, Trump signed Executive Order (EO) 14172, renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Trump also signed EO 14224, making English the official language for the first time in American history.
Hate Week: The Party also declares arbitrary holidays, such as Hate Week, for the sake of nationalism. On February 9, 2025, Trump signed Proclamation 10894, declaring it Gulf of America Day, to celebrate his visit to the Gulf, and “to restore American pride in the history of American greatness.”
Delegitimizing institutions: While not directly depicted in “1984,” it would have happened prior to the events of the story. Trump sanctioned the International Criminal Court, who prosecutes war crimes, over charging Israel, which makes it harder for them to act as a check on international power (EO 14203). He also has restricted law firms who disagreed with him from interacting with the government, while rewarding those who acquiesce to him, meaning only those he likes have power (EOs 14230, 14237, and 14244; memoranda “Suspension of Security Clearances and Evaluation of Government Contracts;” “Trump, Perkins Coie and John Adams,” Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal).
Cult tactics: Big Brother has a cult of personality around him. Trump shares a lot of tactics and traits in how he communicates with cult leaders (Cultish, Amanda Montell, 2021; The Cult of Trump, Steven Hassan, 2019).
“Ingsoc” (part 1): “Ingsoc” is a shortening of “English Socialism,” the official ideology of The Party. It’s not explicitly stated, but it is implied that this was developed for The Party. “Trumpism” is often used to describe the new political ideologies that were developed around by Trump.
“Ingsoc” (part 2): Ingsoc is a prominent example of Newspeak, a new dialect developed within Oceania, used by the party to simultaneously communicate, confuse, and enforce their ideologies, by preventing rational and logical discussion. The comparison in the modern day would likely be political dogwhistles, or coded language used to communicate political thoughts and idea. While not inherently left- or right-wing, most examples I can find lean right-wing (“The utility of (political) dogwhistles – a life cycle perspective,” Asad Sayeed et al., 2025), and there is even research showing how these contributed to Trump’s popularity (“Covert Hate Speech: White Nationalists and Dog Whistle Communication on Twitter,” Prashanth Bhat and Ofra Klein, 2020) and right-wing internet meme culture (“Endnote 5: A Case Study in Digital Radicalism (UC Merced Talk),” Innuendo Studios, 2021).
Weaponization of the federal government: The Party and particularly the thought-police use the force of law to control dissent. And as much as Trump might like to say he’s the victim of this (EO 14147), he has perpetrated this. Danielle Sassoon resigned over attempts to leverage non-prosecution in exchange for political favors (Sassoon’s resignation letter). Denise Cheung resigned when she refused to falsely allege that a series of Environmental Protection Agency payments showed signs of criminal fraud (Cheung’s resignation letter). Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk were detained with the intent to deport them for pro-Palestinian protesting on college campuses (“What We Know About the Detention of Student Protesters,” Kate Selig, New York Times). This is as of the writing of this article, with other students considered to be potential targets – this list might expand soon. Leveraging prosecutions for favors, withholding funding due to false charges, and deportation for free speech – that is weaponized government.
Changing newspapers: Smith’s job within The Party involves changing newspapers to change history. EO 14168 caused the National Park Service to remove references to trans people from historical monuments, most notably the Stonewall Monuments (“Stonewall Inn protesters stand against recent moves to ‘erase trans and queer people,’” Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR). The Associated Press was also banned from the Oval Office for refusal to use government-approved reporting language for the Gulf of Mexico (“AP Statement on Oval Office Access,” Lauren Easton, AP).
Dictatorialism: Big Brother is a dictator. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a dictatorship is “a form of government where absolute power is concentrated in a dictator or small clique… [or] a government organization or group.” Now I’ll acknowledge Trump isn’t fully a dictator, which is why I chose to focus on dictatorialism – acts or behaviors characteristic of a dictator. He ignored US District Judge James Boasberg ordering the administration to stop deporting hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador prisons and the Constitutional concept of “habeas corpus” – that is, that there must be a judicially cognizable reason to detain and restrain someone (J.G.G. v. Trump; “Trump administration deports hundreds of immigrants even as a judge orders their removals be stopped,” Nicholas Riccardi and Regina Garcia Cano, AP). Ignoring other government powers is in the dictator playbook.
Cruel and unusual punishment: The Party uses torture to extract confessions and compliance, at one point shoving Smith in a room full of rats because it was his worst fear. I think that reactivating the federal death penalty on its own is cruel and unusual (EO 14164), but also he’s sending people to prisons that look like Squid Games sets and have been accused of forced labor and torture (“Trump Defies Judge to Deport Venezuelans to Salvadoran Slave Jail,” Legal Eagle, 2025).
Self-Preservation and Self-Love: This common dual theme in “1984” shows how people in the story will consistently put themselves first and foremost, at the expense of those they purportedly care for: they only really preserve and love themselves. Trump’s first EO in office, “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” protected those prosecuted for their role in the January 6 insurrection and investigates the prosecutors and investigators – including Jack Smith’s Special Counsel. His first action was to protect himself. If that’s not self-love and self-preservation, I don’t know what is. He also later extended this to law firms who offered Smith pro-bono advice (memoranda “Suspension of Security Clearances and Evaluation of Government Contracts”).
Doublethink: The ability to accept contradicting facts and beliefs as true simultaneously is a prominent theme of “1984.” It’s possible that Elon Musk was at least working, if not residing, illegally in the United States at some point (“Elon Musk is sharing some details about his immigration path. Experts say they still have questions,” Catherine E Schoichet, CNN). He’s now leading an agency in an administration that demonizes illegal immigration, so that’s already a good example. On March 8, 2025, green card holder Khalil was arrested to be deported for free speech (“‘I think he knew’: Mahmoud Khalil’s wife on his detention and her search for answers”, Leila Fadel and Arezou Rezvani); the next day, March 9, Trump signed Proc. 10902, which says “the United States will not tolerate unlawful detention of its citizens… and… will not back down until they are home.” EO 14168 claims to protect women’s rights, but not only are trans women less likely to assault cis women than men, they are more likely to be victims of assault if forced to use the wrong bathrooms (“Transgender People, Bathrooms, and Sexual Predators: What the Data Say,” Julia Serano, Medium). EO 14149 – which purports to protect free speech – threatens actions against Biden administration officials whose speech the Trump administration disagrees with.
Restrictions on books, information, and education: Julia maintains machines that print approved books, and the undercover thought-police lure Smith in with an anti-Party book. Trump has EOs 14190, 14214, 14235, and 14242 about education; EOs 14148, 14150, 14151, 14158, 14159, 14161, 14168, 14173, and 14188 – among others I’ve probably missed – all have direct implications for education. in particular, EO 14242 instructs the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education;” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the Department of Education Craig Trainor’s “Dear Colleague Letter” that threatens to remove funding for, among other things, calling out “systemic and structural racism” and promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion;” and book bans are at an all-time high, with most requests coming conservative or Trumpist supporters (“Banned in the USA: Beyond the Shelves,” PEN America, 2024).
Changing the goalposts: The Party switches their primary opponent from Eurasia to Eastasia when politically expedient, an argumentative strategy known as “changing the goalposts.” While Trump was homophobic and transphobic the first time around, and is still Islamophobic, the transphobia has largely replaced Islamophobia, because it’s currently more controversial (“The cruel truth behind Trump’s new attacks on trans people,” Aja Romano, Vox). Trump has also used this to ignore former feuds – such as once calling Secretary of State Marco Rubio “Robot Rubio,” or now-Vice President JD Vance’s old comments about him being “America’s Hitler” – or friendships – he once endorsed “Meatball Ron” Ron DeSantis for Florida governor, before their presidential runs (“US Republican Marco Rubio feels heat in New Hampshire,” Anthony Zurcher, BBC; “JD Vance is Trump’s VP pick. His relationship with Trump, controversies and comments, fact-checked,” Samantha Putterman, Politifact; “Trump endorses DeSantis for governor via Twitter,” Marc Caputo et al., Politico). Additionally, Trump’s calls to arrest Hillary Clinton over her emails were so infamous that the Offspring’s return-from-hiatus single satirizes it (“Let the Bad Times Roll,” 2021), but in a press conference while speaking on behalf of Trump and the White House, press secretary Karoline Levitt said the Signal chat where several Cabinet members revealed war plans to a journalist is a non-issue.
Demonization of the “other”: Examples in “1984” include Eurasia, Eastasia, Emmanuel Goldstein , thought-criminals, and women. In real life, demonized groups include immigrants, queer people, people of color, women, most non-Christian religions, leftists, schools, pronouns, the courts, Anthony Fauci, and people who wear masks and get vaccines.
2+2=5: The Party has an alternate set of facts, exemplified by this equation. Let me just get a few points. Fewer immigrants than citizens are criminals, per capita. Gender and sex are different. Police brutality disproportionately impacts people of color. True freedom is paradoxical. Climate change exists and is manmade. George Floyd’s autopsy determined he was murdered.
Centralized power: The Party controls and centralizes its power. Trump has signed well over 100 EOs – an attempt to use broad and unchecked power. (For comparison, Joe Biden signed 162 over four years.)
Literally 1984.