George Bush Learning About 911 — Andrew Card whispers into George W. Bush's ear as Bush stares forward with a serious expression.

George Bush Learning About 911

2020image macroclassic

Published August 10, 2026

George Bush Learning About 9/11 is an image macro format built from a September 11, 2001 photograph of Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispering the news of the attacks to President George W. Bush. Starting in 2020, captions began pairing Bush's stunned expression with absurd or trivial bad news, usually opening with 'Sir, a second X has hit' or 'Mr. President, X.'

exploitable templates reaction memes image macro memes snowclone memes historical photo memes

Overview

George Bush Learning About 9/11 is an image macro built from an AFP news photograph of White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card leaning in to whisper to President George W. Bush during a school visit in Sarasota, Florida on the morning of September 11, 20011. Bush's slightly furrowed brow and closed mouth became the visual anchor for captions that swap the actual news for something absurd, trivial, or extremely online5.

The format is also called George Bush Second Plane or Andrew Card Whispering in George Bush's Ear, and it is closely tied to the older Bush Did 9/11 joke ecosystem5. Captions almost always take the shape of an aide breaking bad news, with Bush's expression doing all the emotional work.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit / Twitter (viral spread)
Date
2020

The source photograph was taken by AFP photographer Paul J. Richards at Emma E. Booker Elementary School at around 9:07 a.m. on September 11, 2001, moments after American Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower1. Card later recalled leaning in and telling the president, 'A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack'1.

The image sat in the meme background for years, mostly attached to Bush Did 9/11 jokes5. Redditor littlehellflames posted the earliest known caption-style use on September 18, 2019 in r/MemeEconomy, where it picked up 68 upvotes but did not spawn a template2.

How It Spread

The template got its first real hit on January 20, 2020, when the Facebook page New And Fresh Memes For Impressionable Young Teens captioned the photo 'Sir, the e-girl has leaked the DM's you sent her.' That post pulled more than 350 reactions and 1,800 shares over the next two years3. On March 10, 2020, Twitter user @jaubreyYT posted a Pickle Rick variant that landed over 1,200 likes4.

Adoption stayed quiet through 2020 and most of 2021. The turning point was August 29, 2021, when @jesusdersupajew posted a version that pulled 590 retweets and more than 8,000 likes, dragging the format into wider Twitter rotation6. Days later, on September 2, @MKUltraMoney's take collected roughly 12,500 likes7, and on December 31, 2021, @KidDIabeetus tied the image to the 'All My Apes Gone' NFT panic for 5,700 likes8.

By 2022 the image was being cut into 'He Will Never Ballin' four-panel templates, with Bush's anguished face swapped in for Cereal Guy's spit-take5. An April 25, 2022 tweet by @sock_dem in that style pulled 34,000 likes9, and an Instagram repost by grapejuiceboys on September 30, 2022 reached 95,000 likes10.

▶

Watch Video

X

How to Use This Meme

The template typically pairs the photograph with a short two-line caption formatted as 'Sir, [X]' or 'Mr. President, [X],' where the news being delivered is comically minor, chronically online, or wildly out of scale with Bush's expression. A common convention echoes Card's real line by opening with 'Sir, a second [thing] has hit the [place].' The joke works by mapping Bush's genuine dread onto a trivial modern disaster.

Frequently Asked Questions