An image destined to be the lasting image of the Trump campaign, and it just shows you how the mainstream media is rapidly being replaced by social media. As reported by Jim Hoft’s Gateway Pundit:

At his rally on Miami on Friday, Donald Trump took the stage to “Do You Hear the People Sing” from the Broadway hit “Les Miserables.”

The Daily Mail reported:

Donald Trump unveiled a new visual campaign theme in Miami on Friday – a mashup of the Broadway musical ‘Les Misérables’ and an epithet Hillary Clinton leveled at his supporters one week ago.

He took the stage, introduced by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as the ‘Les Mis’ anthem ‘Do You Hear the People Sing’ blasted through loudspeakers.

The video screen behind the podium flashed to an artistic rendering of ‘Les Deplorables’ – pilfered from Reddit – complete with USA and ‘Trump’ flags replacing the French colors, and a bald eagle soaring over the revolutionary scene.

‘Welcome to all of you deplorables!’ Trump boomed as thousands screamed ‘Trump! Trump! Trump!’ and ‘We love you!’

Just a word about that “pilfered from Reddit” comment: there’s a frequent commenter over at The Conservative Treehouse – one of the most popular and influential blogs of the 2016 election season – named “Keln”, and he (or she) was the one who created that “Les Deplorables” image following Hillary Clinton’s ill-advised comments on those who support Donald Trump’s campaign. And it just goes to show you how, in this election campaign, all the old rules about how campaigns are conducted and through what media, are all being rewritten.

As I’ve written in other posts, on other subjects such as music, there comes a point where a single event becomes more than just what it was intended to be; it becomes a part of the popular culture. We may have seen today a moment when the Trump campaign transcended plain presidential politics and “broke through” into popular culture, a moment where a lasting image creates a dynamic that draws people to it. I’ve always believed Donald Trump when he said his campaign is a movement, but I’ve been waiting for that place and time where that movement is given an image or rallying cry every movement needs in order to break through the traditional politics fog and into popular culture. The “Les Deplorables” image and the Trump campaign’s use of it accomplishes just that.

Over the last week we have seen Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” speech, her collapsing physically on video, Trump’s appearance on the “Dr. Oz” show with the results of his latest physical, and then on the Tonight Show where he allowed Jimmy Fallon to tussle his hair. On Friday we saw Trump’s most brilliant campaign move when he trolled the mainstream media over its insufferable badgering over Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Over all this, you have the polls moving significantly in his direction everywhere, Democrats and supporters freaking out, Hillary having a Twitter meltdown, and then, finally, the rally in Miami.

I’ve always said that if you want to know what’s really happening in a given election campaign, forget about what the media is telling you, focus instead on what the campaigns are doing. It is clear that the Trump campaign has the momentum, and has caught the Clinton campaign off-stride and on the defensive. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Hillary’s “deplorables” comment is destined to go down in history as one of the greatest gaffes in electoral politics. Thanks to Keln at “the Treehouse”, that gaffe has been put into an incredible and memorable image that will last even longer than Clinton’s ill-advised comment. And it’s all because of social media and the way the game is now played.

Kudos to the Trump campaign for exploiting this new political environment, and congratulations to Keln for all the attention he/she is now receiving. It’s well-deserved.