In America, a meme is a joke. In Kenya, a meme is a death wish

After a tense moment with Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, where U.S President Donald Trump and his deputy JD Vance ambushed the Ukrainian leader, harassed him and even kicked him out of the White House, the world was collectively angered with the undiplomatic behaviour exhibited by the Oval Office, leading to an avalanche of memes from all around the world.

Americans, in particular, have been explicitly angered by their leaders' decorum (or lack of it) leading to intense attacks on social media, with many focusing their bile especially on VP JD Vance, who did not hide his disdain for Zelenskyy, in that mortifying Oval Office attack.

While backing up his boss in thoroughly tearing into Zelenskyy, Vance wondered why the Ukrainian leader had not show gratitude to the US for military aid.

He repeatedly asked, "Did you even say thank you?"

Since then, American X has been turned into a memefield of hilarious jabs at Vance, with many sharing photoshopped images of the American DP - In almost all of the photos, Vance's face is ridiculously blown up to feature a rotund, baby-like face, as if to depict Vance as childish and a man with the emotional intelligence of a toddler.

Some have depicted the U.S Vice President in exaggerated forms - ranging from an overweight monster to an ogre, and even a child holding a lollipop.

One of the most popular involves Vance’s purple skin and enlarged face, making him look like the character Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, who turns into a giant blueberry after eating experimental chewing gum while touring Willy Wonka’s candy factory.

Taking the cue from the Vance memers, anti-Trump Americans also took to the internet to share their own depictions of President Trump, especially after his messy address to Congress.

One popular account @Anonymous, which boasts over 7.6 million followers, even posted a photo of President Trump naked, addressing Congress. Others depicted the US leader on his fours, being dragged along on a leash, like a dog - by Russia's Putin.

Even on popular late-night talk shows, hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert continued to lampoon the US leaders, depict them in unsavoury ways and even mimicking them in full, deprecating skits.

Despite all this colorful humor widely shared at the expense of the Most Powerful Men in the world, still, no American creative - or random social media user - has been abducted, arrested, threatened or even found dead, in an abandoned dam.

In Kenya, attempts to poke fun at political leaders is almost always a suicidal mission with people even warning you to 'stay safe' any time you attempt to mock or artistically ridicule some of the most senior political figures.

Popular X figure Kibet Bull, a satirist and humorist, even disappeared for several weeks after spending months drawing caricatures which appeared to depict President Ruto's leadership foibles - and along with them, a new nickname, Kasongo.

Kenyan leaders have even publicly warned Kenyan social media users from 'disrespecting' them, some even going as far as brazenly spelling out harsh penalties for anyone found mocking the President online.

Back in December, National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah urged security officers to act decisively to curb character assassination on social media platforms.

“If there’s anybody who has violated the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act, arrest them, make it public, and take them before the courts of law so that it becomes a deterrent to those misusing computers and AI not only to insult but also to do very uncivilised things,” Ichung'wah stated.

"You must make use of the laws that we created and enacted in Parliament in 2018. Implement that law to end this shenanigan of people insulting each other with impunity.”

Minority Leader Junet Mohamed echoed similar sentiments, highlighting the misuse of freedom of speech. “There is freedom of speech, but if someone makes an offence, they should be taken to court as per that law,” he said.

While these leaders threaten Kenyan social media users, they themselves have demonstrated nothing but helpless admiration of the American way of life - American democracy, American leaders, American development, heck, even American taxing enthusiasm.

But while a random American in a rural town in Ohio can walk away free after sharing a digitally-altered President Trump meme, one which explicitly insults the US leader and one which goes super viral on X, a random Kenyan in a rural village in Makueni dare not repeat the same tomfoolery, lest they end up abducted - never to be seen again.

And while JD Vance probably understands it's just a random meme, our leaders think it's the work of their political opponents. Hence the insatiable appetite for killings and disappearances.