Democrat congressman dragged for ‘weird' TikTok ‘aura farming' trend video
Subramanyam's "aura farming" appears to have backfired, with some commenters calling it out as tone-deaf, hypocritical and "cringe."
Left-leaning viewers frustrated with perceived inaction from Democrats under President Donald Trump took aim at the VA-10 congressman in the comment section. One of the top-liked comments asked flatly, "By doing nothing…?" Another read, "Representatives have got to stop doing this. Actually do something."THE REVOLUTION WILL BE LIVESTREAMED: HOW ZOHRAN MAMDANI WON THE NYC PRIMARY ONLINE
Many commenters linked the post to Subramanyam's past voting record, including his controversial decision against his party just weeks ago not to move forward with a House impeachment resolution against Trump.
On June 24, 2025, Subramanyam voted to table (i.e., block) a resolution to impeach President Trump over "high crimes and misdemeanors." The resolution was introduced by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, but was halted by a wide House majority.
Several comments mocked the tone and delivery of the video. One read, "-1000 aura," while another said, "Our taxpayer money hard at work…" Another commenter wrote, "So what exactly are you on your way to do? Because so far democrats have not really done anything at all."A top comment simply read, "This feels weird idk."FAR-LEFT LAWMAKER BREAKS SILENCE AFTER UNEARTHED SOCIAL MEDIA POST IGNITES FIRESTORM
One lengthy reply said, "Not trying to be disrespectful. But? Less of this sh--. More fire on the floor please. I get wanting to do outreach. But this? Isn't the action an average American needs from their representatives right now. We're approaching no taxation without representation territory here. Do better." Another suggested, "Introduce a new amendment for every one performative TikTok a Congress person posts they have to cosign 3 bills that work to limit the power of money in politics."
Subramanyam, a former tech advisor in the Obama White House and the first South Asian elected to Virginia's General Assembly, has gained a reputation as a more moderate Democrat. He won Virginia's 10th District in 2024 and often plays up his immigrant roots in political messaging.
The "aura farming" trend, popular among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, refers to pulling off effortless, cool gestures usually while standing still. It took off after a now-viral video of 11-year-old Indonesian boy Rayyan Arkan Dikha danced stone-faced and confident while wearing sunglasses aboard a racing boat.Most "aura farming" clips on TikTok are soundtracked to "Young Black & Rich" by Melly Mike, which includes the lyric "I ain't even gon' get mad, I'm young, black and rich."CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPFox News Digital reached out to Subramanyam's office and TikTok for comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Threatens Washington Commanders' RFK Stadium Deal Over Team Name
A Washington Commanders jersey displaying President Donald Trump's name sits in the Oval Office of the White House on May 5, 2025, as Trump announced Washington, D.C., would host the 2027 NFL Draft. Credit - Jim Lo Scalzo—EPA/Bloomberg/Getty Images 'Our country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them, not nonsense,' Donald Trump tweeted in 2013. Then-President Barack Obama, Trump said, 'should not be telling' Washington, D.C.'s NFL team 'to change their name.' But now, there is a need to focus on the nonsense, it seems. As President Trump continues to try to turn attention away from scrutinizing his relationship with the late alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, he posted twice on his Truth Social platform on Sunday about the name of the football franchise in the nation's capital as well as that of the MLB team in Cleveland, Ohio. 'The Washington 'Whatever's' should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team,' he posted. 'There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past. Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago. We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!' In a follow-up, Trump added: 'I may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original 'Washington Redskins,' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, 'Washington Commanders,' I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington. The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone. Cleveland should do the same with the Cleveland Indians. The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change. What he doesn't understand is that if he changed the name back to the Cleveland Indians, he might actually win an Election. Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!' (Dolan, a Republican who served five years in the Ohio House of Representatives and eight years in the state senate and whose father purchased the Cleveland baseball team in 2000, ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2022 and 2024.) Amid widespread concern about social injustices across the U.S. in 2020, both the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians decided to change their controversial names out of respect for Native Americans. Washington became the Washington Football Team that year, and in 2022 adopted the name the Washington Commanders, while the Cleveland Indians transitioned to its current name, the Cleveland Guardians, in 2021. Read More: A Linguist's Analysis of the Redskins Defense Trump was never a fan of the name changes, tweeting in 2020: 'They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct. Indians, like Elizabeth Warren, must be very angry right now!' (Sen. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has been mocked by Trump and other Republicans for her claims of Cherokee ancestry.) Trump's urging of the sports organizations to reverse their rebrandings comes as his second-term Administration has targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in both the public and private sector. Speaking to reporters Sunday, Guardians' president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said, 'We understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago but obviously it's a decision we made. We've got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last 4 years and are excited about the future.' The Commanders did not immediately issue a statement, but earlier this year, controlling owner Josh Harris said his team had no plans to change its name again. 'In this building, the name Commanders means something,' Harris said during a February press conference. 'It's about players who love football, are great at football, hit hard, mentally tough, great teammates.' It's unclear whether Trump has the authority to upend a deal that the Commanders and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced in April to return the team in 2030 to its former home at the capital's Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium after having moved to Landover, Md., in 1997. Amid years of discussions about redeveloping the storied-but-defunct sports and events campus, Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, signed into law in January a bill that transferred the land of the RFK Stadium from federal to local control for the next 99 years. Still, earlier this month, as some members of the D.C. Council expressed skepticism about the timeline and financing of the mayor's deal with the Commanders, Trump suggested he could intervene if the council doesn't approve it. 'It's a very important piece of property. It's a great piece of property,' Trump said, referring to the RFK Stadium site, 'You know, ultimately we control that. The federal government ultimately controls it, so we'll see what happens.' Contact us at letters@
USA Today
23 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump is racking up GOP wins no one else could. What do Never Trumpers say now?
For all the hand-wringing over Donald Trump in the past decade, I think his detractors on the right need to take a moment and consider what this president has accomplished. He'll destroy the Republican Party. He'll end democracy. He's not a conservative. He's a bad guy who can't be trusted. For all the hand-wringing over Donald Trump in the past decade, I think his detractors on the right need to take a moment and consider what this president has accomplished. He's racking up huge conservative wins that no other Republican president in modern history has come close to matching. What others only talked about, Trump is doing. I'll walk you through some of the biggest wins. Trump assassination attempt: Trump almost died a year ago. That moment changed the direction of America. | Opinion Taxpayers are now free from funding liberal NPR. Hallelujah. I've advocated for ending taxpayer funding of NPR and PBS for years. So it came as welcome news that Congress last week finally rescinded funding for these progressive outlets. From the start of his second term, Trump made it clear this was a priority for him. And he worked with the slim GOP majority in Congress to make it happen. House Republicans made it official on July 18, voting to axe about $1 billion in federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which allocates the funds to stations across the country. 'This vote is an unwarranted dismantling of beloved local civic institutions, and an act of Congress that disregards the public will,' Katherine Maher, president and CEO of NPR, complained. Here's the thing. If the stations are so beloved by their local communities, then local residents and businesses are more than welcome to donate to the cause. NPR has a right to exist. That doesn't mean it has a right to my tax dollars. | Opinion But there is not a First Amendment requirement for the government (taxpayers) to fund any specific outlet – especially one that so glaringly ignores the perspectives of half the country. This has been a purported Republican goal for years, but squishy conservatives facing reelection didn't want to be the ones to pull the plug on Big Bird. In fact, according to PBS, every Republican administration (save for Gerald Ford) has sought to cut funding for CPB since its inception in 1967. Only Trump succeeded. Finally! Penn will erase trans athlete's records. But are they just biding time? | Opinion Trump is dismantling the Education Department, like Reagan wanted to do As he promised, Trump is also working to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, a behemoth of bureaucracy that has done nothing to improve education in the country. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court greenlighted his efforts to slash the department's workforce in half, an action that began in March with an executive order. Trump celebrated the victory on social media, saying his administration can follow through with his goal of giving 'the Power back to the PEOPLE' in regard to education. Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary during Trump's first term, has told me that she is 100% on board with closing the Education Department and empowering the states, which should be the level of government that oversees public schools. Much of the work the department does could easily transfer to other branches of government, as it was done before the Education Department's creation in 1979 under Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Since that time, Republicans have regularly advocated for doing away with the department. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. President Ronald Reagan, the darling of conservatives, talked about doing this in the 1980s, although he didn't follow through. In 1996, the Republican Party platform included abolishing the department and ending 'federal meddling in our schools' and promoting school choice. Yet, it took Trump to get the job done. He's also taken a strong lead in expanding education options for families. The 'big, beautiful bill' he just signed into law creates the first federal private school choice tax credit program. Education system is failing: Trump trusts parents to know what's best for their kids. What a concept! | Opinion As the American Enterprise Institute's Nat Malkus told CNN, 'Trump's big changes in education are the federal retreat many conservatives have long called for, with some new attacks added in for good measure.' And don't forget about Roe v. Wade Last but not least, Trump is the one to thank for the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Since 1973, when the Supreme Court fashioned a constitutional 'right' to abortion, conservatives had fought hard to overturn it. During his first term, Trump had the exceptional opportunity to appoint three Supreme Court justices, which effectively sealed the court's conservative majority for years to come. His excellent choices of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett paved the way for the groundbreaking decision that gave abortion regulation back to the states, where it belongs. The Never Trumpers have told us Trump is bad news for the Republican Party. Those of us who line up on the right can't look at these significant conservative wins, however, and not be thoroughly impressed. Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@ or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
CNN
24 minutes ago
- CNN
CNN's chief data analyst breaks down how Americans are reacting to Epstein files fallout
CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten looks at public sentiment over the Jeffrey Epstein case and how the government is handling it.
