Winter Boots Are Trending on TikTok

And it's almost definitely not what you think.

What’s not to love about winter boots? They’re stylish, versatile, toasty, and—according to TikTok users—a creative way to sidestep the dystopian censorship Trump isn’t even remotely famous for and to share information on the platform he singlehandedly (if temporarily) salvaged.

In an ironic twist that George Orwell himself would give an appreciative nod to, TikTok users are tagging their posts with the words CUTE WINTER BOOTS as a clever bait-and-switch so that they can talk about all of POTUS’s terrible, racist, xenophobic immigration policies without having to worry about being censored, verbally spanked, or kicked off the platform entirely.

Apparently the catchphrase came from the idea of sharing ideas on how to stay safe from ICE. Get it?

“TikTok creators have long adapted to algorithmic censorship by talking in code to avoid flagged keywords, a phenomenon known as ‘algospeak,’” Forbes explained in a recent, not even satirical take on the topic. “For example, ‘dead’ is referred to as ‘unalive',’ and ‘porn’ as ‘corn.’” (Imagine the poor soccer mom going on there to spy on her kid and taking a wrong-way turn at a corn pudding recipe.)

Wait. The poor, broken-hearted K-Hive has to speak in code on social media? You mean like we anti-carrot people had to do for the past five years if we wanted to post about another healthy young athlete expiring abruptly? Do they have to strategically place graphics or emojis over trigger words like quaxxine and schmovid to avoid getting banned from the site (only to get banned from the site anyway for sharing actual CDC data *waves hands in the air angrily*)?

Some TikTok users didn’t get the code-phrase instruction manual and are using the CUTE WINTER BOOTS caption to diss Trump’s policies on everything from Medicaid to gas prices (?), and to school Republicans “for the divisiveness they’re trying to sow” *the Left really can’t irony. And you won’t even believe this, but one complete rube made a two-minute presentation she tagged #CuteWinterBoots featuring her favorite seasonal footwear.

It’s almost adorable—like watching a freaked-out teenager call their phone to try to find their cell phone. But the real comedy here is that this trend only exists because some delusional snowflakes actually believe that censorship is a) brand-spanking-novel, and b) wholly attributable to Trump—the guy who issued an Executive Order to restore free speech on his (second) first day in office and appointed the First Amendment poster boy to lead his Department of Government Efficiency. Meanwhile, the actual administration that was found guilty of forcing social media censorship gets off scot-free while Bad Orange Man takes all the heat.

You have to admire the mental gymnastics. The people crying suppression are the same ones who cheered when Big Tech smothered dissenting voices like a pillow-wielding mob boss and insisted it wasn’t censorship because “private companies can do what they want.” They’re also the same ones who have no beef with so-called climate change gurus who fly around the world on private jets or officials who support defunding the police while using our tax money to fund their private security or politicians who preach “no one is above the law” before preemptively pardoning anyone they’ve ever made eye contact with for unnamed crimes they haven’t even been accused of committing (yet). These folks are hypocritical, delusional, self-righteous, and often accidentally comical. The one thing they’re not is even a little bit surprising.

Ironically, as TikTok’s fate remains uncertain, rumors are swirling that Mark Zuckerberg is poised to buy (or maybe even has already bought) the controversial platform, which would make perfect sense considering that Meta is currently being sued by the FTC for violating antitrust monopoly laws. You really can’t make this stuff up.

If anyone needs me while the Left is having its latest little meltdown, I’ll be over here shopping for cute winter boots. I found some great recommendations on TikTok.

You need this book. Seriously.