INTERNET-MEME AND MEDIADISCOURSE OF PRESEDENTIAL ELECTIONS: USA – 2016 AND RUSSIA – 2018

This article analyzes the functioning of the political Internet meme in the media discourse of the elec- toral process of the presidential election in the United States and Russia in 2016 and 2018. It compares and iden- tifies the characteristics of the political media discourse and the role of the Internet meme in it, identifies the functions that it performs, as well as how it is perceived by the participants of the communicative political pro- cess, using methods of comparative analysis. From the comparative analysis, conclusions are drawn about the features of the state of political communication in the United States and Russia at present