The first Presidential Debate ahead of the upcoming 2024 United States election has prompted a wave of memes online, with people cracking jokes at the expense of both former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden.

While the former is the first convicted felon to ever have held the presidency, the latter routinely faces accusations of mental deterioration in his old age — particularly prominent online as of late.

A flurry of memes directed toward Biden seemingly losing support amongst DNC donors and voters appeared online in the aftermath of the debate streamed on CNN last night, with one journalist even noting a spike in Google Search results for the phrase "It's Joever." But what does that mean exactly?

It's a meme that first went viral in 2020, and it's almost poetic that it was directly inspired by a meme about Biden's opponent, Trump. Here's a history of how "It's Joever" rose from the pits of 4chan into the mainstream.

Where Did 'It's Joever' Come From?

"It's Joever" is a meme directly inspired by Huffington Post's October 14th, 2016, Trump editorial. The original article discussed the likelihood of Hillary Clinton usurping Trump from various red states ahead of the 2016 election in a rather short-sighted prediction that missed the mark on the results that year.

The article was accompanied by a large graphic showing a morose-looking Trump with the words "IT'S OVER" above him.

In October 2020, nearly four years after the aforementioned post made the rounds on 4chan, an anonymous channer on the site's /pol/ board posted an edit of Biden standing at a podium in the rain with the words "It's Joever" hanging over him. The image was reportedly taken during a conference in Washington D.C. back in March 2019.

How Did 'It's Joever' Spread Online?

In the following months, the image was actively used on 4chan's /pol/ boards in threads discussing the election.

However, the image did not receive mainstream usage until 2022, when variations of the meme began making the rounds on Twitter / X.

For instance, a version of the meme that read, "joewari da" went viral on the site, even as the original meme came to be used as a reaction template on the site.

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For the full history of It's Joever, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.