With Democrats in control of the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, Republican lawmakers have leapt to characterize the opposite party's platform as one of radical anarchy, determined to foist "cancel culture" and economic hardship on Americans across the country.
Such was the case when Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday ahead of President Joe Biden's special address to a joint session of Congress.
Ernst displayed a poster board detailing a "Liberal Fantasy Island," where the Supreme Court is packed, the Green New Deal is law, the police are abolished, and cancel culture is rampant.
Watch below.
Ernst said as she displayed the board:
"The President only seems to be listening to the far-left progressives within the Democratic party, who live on their own Liberal Fantasy Island."
It wasn't long before a Photoshop user with a sense of humor posted an altered version of Ernst's poster.
Featuring items like "SEX BLIMPS," "ABOLISH LASAGNA," and "Only Gay People Get To Go To Restaurants," the image poked fun at the Republican hysteria that's become an all-too-familiar reaction to moderate policies, many of which enjoy bipartisan popularity among Americans.
In this instance, satire was too believable as reality, and CNN fact checker Daniel Dale felt the need to intervene.
And every time I tweet about one of these kinds of social media things, some people are like “come onnn it's a joke," but tons of people see them and believe them, so I'm gonna keep being the non-fun guy
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 29, 2021
Numerous people believing the image is real said a lot about the current state of the Republican party.
People were disgruntled that sex blimps were not, in fact, a thing.
"Abolish Lasanga" soon began trending on Twitter after the photo's circulation.