A moment of silence for 2016, the year liberals failed to stop an authoritarian from becoming president. Too often, instead of offering voters progressive solutions for their grievances, the Democratic Party gave us a campaign deeply saturated in superficial celebrity and pop culture. As the party dithered, its supporters grasped for an appropriate response to Trump. They didn’t come up with much; but they did buy a hell of a lot of branded swag. This was the year that many liberals turned to forms of protest that were convenient and often social media–based, but ultimately ineffectual: Drumpf hats, safety pins, and thinkpieces about Harry Potter. They’re each deeply narcissistic gestures that put the individual front and center. To borrow a term from sociologist Charles Tilly, this was an inadequate repertoire of contention.

The year of faux-protest arguably started with Donald Drumpf. John Oliver’s revelation of the Trump family’s ancestral German name was intended to rattle Trump’s followers. Behold the inner thought of the Drumpf superfan: “Haha! Trump supporters are so dumb they don’t understand the hypocrisy!” Some of them are that dumb, but most of them just don’t care. They only would have cared if Trump’s ancestral name was “Rodriguez” or “Ahmed,” not Drumpf. Drumpf is solid and reassuringly German, like a warm Luger in your hands. Oliver fed into xenophobic stereotypes to produce a meme with no political utility. It didn’t succeed in harming Trump’s campaign at all.

Despite its uselessness, Drumpf became briefly, inexplicably popular. People took selfies in special Make Donald Drumpf Again hats. They tweeted smoking hot burns blaring #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain. There’s even a Chrome extension that replaces “Trump” with “Drumpf.” Yet the only concrete outcome of this protest was that HBO won a ratings boost. Oliver’s segment broke viewing records. It premiered in February; by June, he’d sold 50,000 Make Donald Drumpf Again hats. Jay-Z even wanted one! And is it really a protest if you can’t buy merchandise from HBO?

Alas, #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain did not sway the election. Trump won the electoral vote and, barring Armageddon, will take office in January. Confronted with the prospect of President Donald Trump, liberals hit the books for inspiration. Just not books about history or politics.

Welcome to the wizarding world of liberal politics! In chronological order, a depressing tale: