The Brief: In the wake of Joe Biden's presidential win, liberals and leftists are debating (and making memes about) whether or not it's time to "go back to brunch."

DEEP DIVE
Since Joe Biden was elected president, “back to brunch” memes challenge the idea that life will return to “normal” once Trump is no longer president.
y’all it’s a joke damn
— taylor garron (@taylorgarron) November 6, 2020
The phrase “back to brunch” refers to liberals returning to a sense of normalcy when Trump is voted out of office. It was famously seen on protest posters after the 2016 election with variations of “if Hillary won, we’d be at brunch right now.”
If anyone thinks that liberals or centrists will push @JoeBiden left or hold him accountable once he is president then they haven’t been paying attention. They cannot wait to get back to brunch. pic.twitter.com/KLZyiF9VF4
— Ryan Knight 🌹 (@ProudSocialist) October 24, 2020
Progressives and leftists often push back on this idea that there won’t be anything to protest if Trump isn’t president, noting that white supremacy, poverty, imperialism, etc. won’t be solved simply by putting a Democrat in the White House. Before the election, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez warned people via Instagram Live that even if Biden wins, “I’m sorry to tell you, you’re not going back to brunch.”
now that Biden won, its time to go back to BRUNCH
B – broken healthcare system
R – rampant systemic racism & inequality
U – underfunded federal programs
N – not enough to fight climate change
C – continuation of neoliberalism
H – holding back progressive policies and real change— ronak (@ronaksath) November 6, 2020
Much of this discourse isn’t actually about the late morning/early afternoon meal itself. Memes and comments about “going back to brunch” typically see the idea as representative of movement towards complacency and acceptance of the status quo simply because Trump is out of office.
"We got the freaking cheeto out of the white house! We can all go back to brunch now!" pic.twitter.com/xb1qBfxBCu
— migz (@migztodeath) November 7, 2020
Now that Biden’s won let’s get back to brunch:
B – building parallel power
R – reading theory
U – undermining the government
N – normalizing the word communist
C – centering BIPOC comrades
H – helping our communities— ☭ Gomer ☭ (@FullCommie) November 7, 2020
Going back to brunch:
B read and Roses (worker gets both)
R evolution
U tilities under public control
N o ICE, no cops
C onstituent Assembly
H ousing for AllJoin DSA today: https://t.co/FNKAYRzEuG
— Queens DSA 🌹🏳️🌈 (@QueensDSA) November 6, 2020
Although much of the talk around going back to brunch have been figurative, there were reports of upticks in brunch reservations for the weekend following the announcement of Biden’s win.
People were joking about everyone going back to brunch but there is apparently legitimately a surge in brunch reservations for tomorrow lol
— Selene 🤠🌵🐬 (@seltbram) November 8, 2020
We’re not going back to brunch. https://t.co/coJPyPXxAH
— Working Families Party 🐺 (@WorkingFamilies) November 7, 2020
Libs: Joe Biden won! Our job is finally done. Whew! Back to brunch!
Everyone Else: pic.twitter.com/krhq1aTxQ0
— Cap'n Johnny Greybeard (@Enjoneer01) November 6, 2020
Time to go back to brunch!!! pic.twitter.com/YcxgCwI4sM
— Michael (@Berniewouldawon) November 8, 2020
me surveying my feed to make sure none of you good people are liberalposting back to brunch on this day pic.twitter.com/9dvDOVnNtm
— 🥱 bedtime jackson 😴 (@headfallsoff) November 6, 2020
Only 6 more electoral votes before liberals can go back to brunch.
Finally! Back to normalcy. pic.twitter.com/KtOoKzw0h7
— The Star Trek Communist (@BoomerNiner) November 5, 2020
Arthur is a centrist Democrat, part of the #backtobrunch crew. He wears a mask and tweets constantly about how he hates people not socially distancing but can’t understand that going out to Olive Garden with 5 different groups of people outdoors is still not social distancing. pic.twitter.com/jBWd9kb2Oz
— s (@srirachapetosi) November 7, 2020