Why Ann Coulter’s tweet about being single might be the worst use of social media in 2017

By Arielle Tschinkel

December 18, 2017

By Arielle Tschinkel

December 18, 2017

In a political landscape where it feels like rich, straight, white men are doing everything they can to hinder the chances for the rest of us to achieve any semblance of equality, it feels especially cruel when a woman shows she’s not even on our side. Which is why it makes sense that when Republican political commentator and writer Ann Coulter tweeted about her love life on Friday, people were especially quick to pounce on her truly bizarre display of…self-pity?

In case you’re not keeping up with the hourly Twitter rants of the most outspoken Republicans right now, we’ll give you a recap. In a rare and fleeting moment of redemption from the right last Thursday, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio announced he wouldn’t support the latest version of the Republican tax bill unless leaders made changes to benefit low-income families with children. Rubio reportedly expressed concern that GOP leaders “found the money to lower the top rate” for high earners but “can’t find a little bit” more for low-income parents raising kids.

At this point, we’re basically so used to bizarre and nonsensical retorts coming from right-wing extremists on social media these days (see: anything that Donald Trump tweets), but Coulter’s response to Rubio’s stance was somehow both maddening and sad all at the same time. We’re still scratching our heads at the sheer lunacy of it all.

We singles live empty lives of quiet desperation and will die alone. Now Rubio is demanding that we also fund happy families with children who fill their days with joy.

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) December 15, 2017

Coulter seemingly has a problem with Rubio’s support of low-income families because she’s…single? Taking her tweet quite literally, it seems that Coulter feels that people with “happy families” don’t deserve lower taxes because they’ve got “children who fill their days with joy,” and that single people “live empty lives of quiet desperation and will die alone.”

It’s not hard to see why Coulter quickly received a flurry of attention for this particular tweet. After all, there’s a whole lot to unpack here in fewer than 200 characters. But for a woman who has made her career on outlandish and often truly heinous statements (like the time she wondered if Hillary Clinton had Bernie Sanders supporters “gassed” or debated about whether Hurricane Harvey was “God’s punishment” for Houston having elected a lesbian mayor), this tweet in particular felt weirdly out of place.

What was Coulter going for here, exactly? Was she trying to make a joke about the unfair stereotypes that surround single, childless people? Was she giving us a glimmer of humanity, a peek behind the curtain into her own “empty” life? Is she…okay? And should we care?

I’m single, but I’m not desperate. And I happily help children and those less fortunate than me. Why are you so bitter and miserable?

— Barbara Fairservice🌊 (@fairservice_3) December 15, 2017

It definitely feels as if Coulter is trolling us all, hedging on the stereotype that single people live miserable lives with their cats and their Chardonnay only to eventually die sad and alone. But why?

[Halloween]
KIDS: Trick or treat!
ANN COULTER: NO! You're not getting any candy because I'm lonely and will die alone!!!

— Thrill Hill (@ThrillWHill) December 15, 2017

What bothers her so much about people with families being given the opportunity to care for those families in a way that’s sustainable for them, without having any impact at all on people who don’t? Is she just a Grinch?

If you are feeling desperate and unfulfilled, it has nothing to do with being single. It’s because you have a heart that is two sizes too small. Try helping others – that’s how you make your heart grow. #DeGrinchifyThyself

— Veek (@veek61) December 16, 2017

In true social media fashion, plenty of people had jokes about Coulter’s tweet, because what else is Twitter good for if not for revealing your (seemingly) deepest and darkest innermost thoughts and opening yourself to millions of people?

In fairness, Ann Coulter was never able to get that Tinder account because she was so opposed to the idea of swiping left

— Ron Placone (@RonPlacone) December 15, 2017

Ann was desperately hoping that the tax credit for cat litter, Marlboro Reds, indifferent box-wine Chardonnay and the gnawing loneliness consuming her soul would make it into the tax bill. pic.twitter.com/VsEK9MSS4E

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) December 15, 2017

it's ok ann one day you'll find another person that's a knockoff leather handbag full of scorpions and copies of mein kampf

— Goth Ms. Frizzle (@spookperson) December 15, 2017

Amid the snark and the sass, some people did express concern for Coulter. If she truly feels she’s living a life of “quiet desperation,” that is truly a bummer.

I disagree with you on almost everything possible, but I sincerely hope you get help. This tweet seems like the deeply bleak & irrational thoughts from a dangerously depressive episode. This isn’t an insult. I speak from my experience.

— Jenny Lawson (@TheBloggess) December 15, 2017

https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/941719578517868547

For her part, Coulter has yet to address the tweet or explain the meaning behind it. But 24 hours later, she posted a somewhat emphatic tweet of a beagle playing the piano on YouTube, so it seems she’s fine?