The Brief: Memes featuring current and former North American leaders Barack Obama, Justin Trudeau, and Enrique Peña Nieto shaking hands represent people bonding over shared experiences and traits.
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In 2016, American President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto participated in a three-way handshake, inspiring a meme that’s surging in popularity four years later.
Obama, Trudeau, and Peña Nieto shaking hands memes originated from a photo taken at the Three Amigos summit in Ottawa in 2016. The picture shows the three North American leaders semi-awkwardly shaking hands all at once. As a meme format, this image represents people coming together from across aisles and bonding over similarities and shared experiences.
Variations of these memes have circulated online over the years and a version that shows the original photo followed by a red-tinted closeup of everyone’s hands became popular on meme subreddits in late Novembere 2020.
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