What is the Bernie Sanders Mittens meme?

It's a viral photo from the January 20, 2021 presidential inauguration showing Senator Bernie Sanders sitting alone in a folding chair, bundled up in a parka and handmade wool mittens, looking completely indifferent to the ceremony. The image was photoshopped into countless settings and became the first major meme of the Biden era[2][5].

Where did the Bernie Sanders Mittens meme come from?

AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski captured the image at Joe Biden's inauguration at the U.S. Capitol. It went viral on Twitter within minutes as people shared reactions and began creating photoshop edits[10][1].

What does the Bernie Sanders Mittens meme mean?

The meme is used to express relatable feelings of being cold, bored, antisocial, or indifferent to formal events. Sanders' practical outfit and hunched posture amid the glamour of the inauguration made him a perfect stand-in for "I'd rather be somewhere else" energy[8][9].

How do you use the Bernie Sanders Mittens meme?

Cut out the image of Sanders in his chair and paste him into any background, movie scene, album cover, or famous painting. The humor comes from the contrast between his casual indifference and the new setting[2][5].

Is the Bernie Sanders Mittens meme still popular?

The meme peaked in January and February 2021 and was one of the biggest memes of that year. It resurfaces occasionally, especially in cold weather months or during political events, but the initial viral wave has long passed[5][10].

Who made Bernie Sanders' mittens?

Jen Ellis, a second-grade teacher from Essex Junction, Vermont, made them from repurposed wool sweaters and lined them with fleece from recycled plastic bottles. She gave them to Sanders after he lost the 2016 Democratic primary[11][1].

How much money did the Bernie Sanders Mittens meme raise?

Sanders' official merchandise featuring the image raised $1.8 million for Vermont charities including Meals on Wheels, the Chill Foundation, and Feeding Chittenden[13]. Additional donations came from Getty Images, Burton Snowboards, eBay, and the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame[10].

What coat was Bernie Sanders wearing?

A light brown Burton parka from the Vermont-based snowboard company. He had worn the same jacket during his 2020 presidential campaign, and it was the same coat from his earlier "I Am Once Again Asking" meme[4][2].

What was in Bernie Sanders' manila envelope?

According to a source who spoke to BuzzFeed News reporter Ruby Cramer, it was simply the original envelope his inauguration tickets came in[1].

Did Jen Ellis profit from the mittens going viral?

Ellis partnered with Vermont Teddy Bear Company to manufacture the mittens at scale, with proceeds benefiting Make-A-Wish Vermont. She received roughly 13,000 emails requesting mittens within three days of the inauguration[12].

Why did the Bernie Sanders photo work so well as a meme?

Sanders' seated figure was cleanly extractable from the background, making it easy to paste into new scenes. His body language conveyed a universally relatable mood, and the contrast with the formal event gave it built-in comedy[9][8].

Bernie Sanders Mittens

2021Viral photo / exploitable image / photoshop memesemi-active

Published March 10, 2026 · Updated March 16, 2026

Also known as: Bernie Sitting · Chairman Sanders · Unfazed Bernie · Bernie's Mittens

Bernie Sanders Mittens is a viral photo meme from the January 20, 2021 presidential inauguration of Joe Biden, showing Senator Bernie Sanders sitting alone in a folding chair wearing a Burton parka and oversized wool mittens, arms crossed, looking thoroughly unbothered by the ceremony around him. The image, captured by AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski, became the first major meme of the Biden era as people photoshopped the bundled-up senator into every setting imaginable2. The mittens themselves, handmade by Vermont teacher Jen Ellis from repurposed wool sweaters and recycled plastic bottles, became a feel-good story that raised $1.8 million for Vermont charities13.

bernie sanders memes exploitable templates photoshop memes inauguration memes accidental fame memes

Overview

The meme centers on a single photograph: Bernie Sanders, 79 years old, seated in a metal folding chair at the 2021 presidential inauguration. His legs are crossed, his arms are folded, and his hands are wrapped in chunky brown-and-cream patterned mittens. He's wearing a heavy olive-green Burton parka over a suit jacket, with a blue surgical mask slightly askew on his face. A manila envelope is tucked under one arm1.

What made the image so meme-worthy was the contrast. While other attendees showed up in designer coats and carefully coordinated outfits, Sanders looked like he had stopped by on his way to the post office9. The pose radiated a very specific energy: cold, slightly annoyed, pragmatic, completely indifferent to the pageantry. People immediately recognized themselves in it. The image worked as a blank canvas because Sanders and his folding chair could be cleanly cut out and dropped into any background, from the Iron Throne to a New York City subway car11.

Origin & Background

Platform

AFP/Getty Images (source photo), Twitter (viral spread)

Creator

Brendan Smialowski

Date

2021

On January 20, 2021, AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski captured the now-iconic image of Senator Bernie Sanders at President Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony on the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol10. The temperature was the coldest at any inauguration in over a decade, with the strongest winds in nearly 40 years7.

Sanders wore a light brown Burton jacket from the Vermont-based snowboard company, the same coat he'd worn during his 2020 presidential campaign4. The mittens were made by Jen Ellis, a second-grade teacher from Essex Junction, Vermont. Ellis had given Sanders the mittens over two years earlier as a gift after he lost the 2016 Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton11. She included a note saying "I believe in you, I've always believed in you, and I hope you run again"9. The mittens were crafted from repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles1.

BuzzFeed News political reporter Ruby Cramer was among the first to identify the mittens' backstory, tweeting about their origin during the ceremony1. Within minutes of the photograph circulating, Twitter exploded with reactions and photoshop edits.

How It Spread

The meme spread with remarkable speed on January 20, 2021. The first wave was pure reaction. People on Twitter compared Sanders to a Vermont grandfather running errands, a dad waiting at the post office, and someone who had parked his Subaru on the Capitol lawn to briefly attend the inauguration before heading to Stewart's for coffee1. The phrase "I am once again asking that you not talk to me at parties" became one of the earliest caption hits, riffing on Sanders' existing "I Am Once Again Asking" meme6. Sharp-eyed observers noticed he was even wearing the same coat from that earlier meme2.

The second wave was the photoshop explosion. Sanders' seated figure was cleanly extractable from the background, making him an ideal exploitable image. Within hours, he appeared on the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones, on a park bench next to Forrest Gump, riding the New York City subway, and sitting outside the Quick Stop from Kevin Smith's "Clerks"2 11. Kevin Smith himself was delighted, tweeting his thanks2. Kal Penn posted Sanders edited onto the couch between Harold and Kumar2.

Reporter Tatiana Tenreyro created an Instagram account called @theberniealbums, placing Sanders on the covers of classic records like Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours"2. The hashtags #BernieSanders, #berniesmittens, and #BernieSandersIn trended across multiple platforms11.

By January 24, Sanders' office had started selling union-made sweatshirts and stickers featuring the image, with all proceeds going to Vermont charities10. The merchandise sold out within 30 minutes11.

Platforms

TwitterRedditInstagramFacebookTikTokmainstream media

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The standard format takes the cutout of Sanders sitting in his folding chair and places him into a new scene or setting. The humor typically comes from one of a few angles:

- Location swap: Drop Sanders into a famous movie scene, album cover, painting, or landmark photo. The more formal or dramatic the setting, the funnier his indifferent posture reads. - Relatable mood: Caption the original or edited image with text about being cold, bored, antisocial, or just wanting to go home. His body language reads as universal "I don't want to be here" energy. - Vermont dad energy: Play on his practical clothing choices by placing him in everyday scenarios like waiting at the post office, grocery shopping, or sitting at a bus stop. - Political commentary: Use the image to comment on Sanders' outsider status within the Democratic Party or his working-class aesthetic versus political glamour.

The image works best when the contrast between Sanders' casual indifference and the setting is at its sharpest.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The Bernie Sanders Mittens meme broke out of internet culture and into mainstream media within hours. Major outlets including Vogue4, GQ7, The Cut9, The Daily Beast3, and the New York Post6 all ran stories about Sanders' outfit on Inauguration Day itself. Vogue ran a feature on the mittens' backstory and Sanders' history as "a serial outfit repeater"4. GQ declared Sanders the winner of the "Inauguration Fit Battle"7.

The charitable dimension gave the meme an unusually positive real-world footprint. Sanders' official merchandise raised $1.8 million for Vermont organizations including Meals on Wheels, community action agencies, the Chill Foundation, senior centers, and Bistate Primary Care13. The total fundraising across all related merchandise and donations was even higher when factoring in Getty's licensing donations, Burton's jacket donation, and the various eBay and bobblehead contributions10.

Jen Ellis went from anonymous schoolteacher to internationally recognized figure. She fielded media requests from outlets around the globe and secured a manufacturing deal with Vermont Teddy Bear Company to meet demand12. The meme also brought renewed attention to Ellis' craft of making mittens from recycled materials, aligning neatly with Sanders' environmental and working-class brand.

The image also reinforced Sanders' existing meme legacy. He was already well-known online for the "I Am Once Again Asking for Your Financial Support" meme from his 2020 campaign. The mittens photo cemented him as one of the most memed politicians in American history, and the fact that he wore the same coat in both viral images became its own sub-joke2.

Full History

The backstory of the mittens stretches back to roughly 2016. After Sanders lost the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton, Jen Ellis, whose daughter attended a preschool run by Sanders' daughter-in-law, knitted him a pair of mittens as a consolation gift11. Ellis made mittens as a hobby, using repurposed wool sweaters and lining them with fleece from recycled plastic bottles7. She had been making holiday gifts for her daughter's teachers and decided to include an extra pair for the senator11.

Sanders began wearing the mittens publicly during his 2020 presidential campaign. Ellis recalled a small "flurry of sales" after people noticed them on the trail, "but then it was over, and it all disappeared until Inauguration Day"11. At one point Sanders had even lent the mittens to someone else, prompting Ellis to send him ten more pairs12.

On Inauguration Day itself, Ellis was remote-teaching her second-grade class when her phone started "dinging and dinging and dinging"11. A student told her, "I think someone is trying to contact you, Ms. Ellis." She checked her phone to find a text saying Bernie had worn her mittens to the inauguration11. She rushed home to catch the end of the ceremony, her wife scrambling to get their TV antenna working since they rarely watched television11.

The next morning, Ellis woke up to 1,000 emails. The day after that, 18,000. Her email eventually stopped working under the flood11. She received roughly 13,000 mitten requests from around the world within three days of the inauguration12.

The commercial aftermath was substantial. Getty Images, which owned the rights to Smialowski's photograph, agreed to donate proceeds from licensing to Meals on Wheels of America10. Burton Snowboards donated 50 jackets in Sanders' name to the Burlington Department for Children and Families13. A crocheted Bernie Sanders doll sold for $20,000 on eBay, and the retailer donated an equivalent amount to Meals on Wheels10. The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame sold 20,000 mitten-clad Bernie bobbleheads in a single week and made a $10,000 donation10.

Sanders called Ellis personally to thank her for the mittens and let her know the fundraising total. "It felt like talking to an old friend," Ellis told Grazia. "That's kind of how Vermonters are"11. In a public statement, Sanders noted, "Even this amount of money is no substitute for action by Congress," staying characteristically on-brand even while acknowledging his internet fame13.

The commodification moved fast. T-shirt retailers that had previously been selling "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirts after the Capitol riot pivoted to hawking Bernie mittens merchandise10. The Forward reported on the irony of an image that celebrated Sanders' anti-fashion ordinariness being immediately turned into a consumer product10.

Ellis eventually partnered with Vermont Teddy Bear Company to manufacture the mittens at scale, with proceeds benefiting Make-A-Wish Vermont12. "Everybody who wants these mittens will get them," she announced with what VOA described as "the enthusiasm of a second-grade teacher"12.

The meme's appeal crossed political lines. As Ellis put it: "If I was going to be thrust into the spotlight, I'm glad it's for something that brings joy and transcends political boundaries. If you're going to have 15 minutes of fame, it might as well be for a good thing"11.

Fun Facts

Sanders had previously lent the original mittens to someone else. When Ellis found out, she sent him ten additional pairs12.

The manila envelope Sanders carried to the inauguration was simply the original envelope his inauguration tickets came in. People joked it contained the Green New Deal or $2,000 stimulus checks1 9.

Ellis' mittens feature a pattern with a "vague nod to Fair Isle" on the outside and blue-and-white palms4.

Sanders wore the mittens to the Women's March in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in January 2020, and the Burton jacket during a campaign stop in Utah in March 20204.

Comedian Julia Claire's tweet, "I will never forget Bernie honoring our middle class New England tradition of having exactly one heavy winter coat, worn to both formal and casual events," was one of the most-shared reactions2.