On Wednesday, The New York Times published an anonymous op-ed revealing a secret cabal among senior staffers in President Donald Trump’s administration. The story mentioned the 25th Amendment, an amendment that allows a president’s cabinet to declare the president unfit and replace him with the vice president.
For a brief time, the 25th Amendment became one of the most searched topics on the entire Internet.
Washington Post data reporter Christopher Ingraham noticed when “the 25th Amendment” beat celebrity actress Kim Kardashian.
“10 minutes ago, Google searches for 25th amendment briefly eclipsed searches for Kim Kardashian,” Ingraham reported.
10 minutes ago, Google searches for 25th amendment briefly eclipsed searches for Kim Kardashian pic.twitter.com/Em6vPFklAQ
— Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) September 5, 2018
The amendment actually left the celebrity in the dust.
Google Trends screenshot.
So PJ Media analyzed just how popular searches for the 25th Amendment were after the Times op-ed. The results should surprise you.
5. “Score.”
Americans often turn to Google for the results of the big game. The search term “score” is rather popular, consistently blowing “Kim Kardashian” out of the water. But this afternoon and evening, the 25th Amendment beat it, multiple times.
Google Trends screenshot.
4. Colin Kaepernick.
Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and the infamous leader of kneeling protests against the National Anthem, recently appeared in Nike ads, sparking a national controversy. Even so, more people searched for the 25th Amendment.
Google Trends screenshot.
3. “How do I?”
While you may not think about it, millions of people type “How do I…” into Google each day, attempting to learn the best way to ask a girl on a date, make a reservation at a restaurant, or livestream an event. For a few brief times today, more people typed “25th Amendment” into Google than “How do I…”
Google Trends screenshot.
4. “Recipe.”
Millions of people use Google’s search feature to discover recipes for all sorts of food and drink. “Recipe” is an extremely popular search term for that reason. Even so, at about 6:35 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, “the 25th Amendment” was more searched on Google than “recipe.”
Google Trends screenshot.
5. Porn.
Yes, the 25th Amendment beat porn. Sadly, porn is one of the all-time biggest search terms on Google, because so many people use the Internet to look up pictures and videos they should not be seeing. That said, for one moment of respite at around 6:35 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, Americans turned away from their obsession with naked bodies and wondered about the process of cabinet members ousting a sitting president.
Google Trends screenshot.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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