That’s why Sforza and his team so frequently had banners appear behind Bush at presidential appearances. In 2002, a backdrop wallpapered with the phrase “protecting the homeland” was used when Bush gave a speech about homeland security in Kansas City. In 2003, just a week before Bush’s infamous aircraft-carrier speech, he spoke about the economy in Canton, Ohio, in front of a giant sign that said “JOBS AND GROWTH”—in the exact style of the “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” banner.

Bush’s team believed that short bursts of text were crucial to conveying the president’s message—and these messages clearly resonated with people. Fifteen years later, the president of the United States doesn’t need to print banners for this purpose: He has Twitter.

Which is perhaps why it seems fitting that Twitter is where President Donald Trump declared “Mission Accomplished!” on Saturday morning, despite Trump’s well-known affection for television. “A perfectly executed strike last night,” Trump wrote, referring to the strikes he ordered on government targets in Syria. “Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!”

One remarkable response came from Ari Fleischer, who served as the White House press secretary for Bush from 2001 to 2003: “Um … I would have recommended ending this tweet with not those two words,” Fleischer tweeted.

It’s possible that Trump meant to be provocative—he has demonstrated a masterful knack for norm-shattering trolling in the past. It’s also possible that he has no sense of irony, or at least no real knowledge of recent American political history, and didn’t realize what he was invoking with the phrase.

Either way, Trump has a preternatural sense for captivating people. And a president who participates in meme culture—knowingly or not—is a president who commands attention at every level.

The political theater that Bush’s team staged for him seems to come effortlessly to Donald Trump. It is an instinct that has been reinforced, no doubt, by his own obsession with television, and one that Trump leverages constantly on Twitter. Incidentally, the power of television is part of what made “mission accomplished” become a meme so quickly. (A “mission accomplished” banner appears repeatedly in the comedy series Arrested Development, for example.) And the internet’s remix culture has sustained it ever since. (There are multiple meme generators that use “mission accomplished” in some way.)

Trump has a record of dabbling in memes outright, too—and not just because some of his closest confidants, like Dan Scavino and Stephen Miller, are steeped in troll culture. Even Trump’s unmistakable red “Make America Great Again” hat could be considered a meme in its own right. The slogan was used by Ronald Reagan, then remixed in wearable form for the Trump moment. But in the sprawling and context-unraveling universe of memes, “mission accomplished” has always been particularly potent—simply because of how discordant it was with reality from the very beginning. This is the same reason Richard Nixon’s wing-tipped stroll on the beach was a meme of sorts in Nixon’s day. When he was photographed walking in the sand wearing a suit and fancy dress shoes, it wasn’t just awkward—it was totally absurd.

Bush never actually said “mission accomplished” in the remarks he made on the aircraft carrier that day. He was going to, though.