The GOP Teens Twitter Is Too Sassy For This World

The run up to the 2016 presidential election is going to be long, exhausting, and loud, so we’d better get some laughs in where we can, right? GOP Teens is a parody Twitter account purporting to be a Republican youth outreach campaign that hilariously skewers politicians’ misguided attempts to appeal to young people. The brainchild of comedy writer Daniel Kibblesmith, GOP Teens tweets messages written from the perspective of someone who doesn’t really understand how social media works (or teenagers, for that matter). GOP Teen’s tweets are thus riddled with inexplicable hash tags and ludicrous attempts to make the Republican Party seem “cool.”

Obviously, Republicans and Republican teens are not as silly as portrayed in GOP Teens. But although the Twitter account does make fun of certain aspects of GOP politics, it’s emphasis is less on the political party than on the silliness that often typifies attempts from politicians (Republican and Democratic alike) to attract young voters. In an interview with National Journal, Kibblesmith explains his inspiration, remarking,

It's this really specific voice of failed youth outreach falling on its face. I picture the person behind the account being one or more Karl Rove types who are just trying anything that they can think of—slang or pop culture references, anything that they can think of—to try to get kids interested in the Republican Party.

Although GOP Teens focuses on conservatives, Kibblesmith points out that Democrats can be equally guilty of making fools of themselves in their youth outreach:

I think it is absolutely a bipartisan thing. I think all politicians—maybe with the exception of Barack Obama—sound pretty insincere when they try to get down and rap with the kids. But I gotta admit, it's a lot easier with Republicans.

Check out this sampling of GOP Teens’ totally hip questions and words of wisdom: