You guys know the meme?

So the meme I speak of is “Voldemort couldn’t even take over a high school.” But… I’m re-reading the series and that’s not the case, Tom had won; he took over the government and installed a puppet to rule it, he took over Hogwarts and installed a puppet (Snape) to rule that too. Granted he wasn’t aware that Snape was against him, but that’s not the point; he DID take over Hogwarts, he DID take over the government. Those who were resisting were failing, being captured or killed; there were some resistances still around, like in Hogwarts how the DA hadn’t given up, but at the end of the day Tom had won and was simply “cleaning up” remnants of the Phoenix, and supporters of Dumbledore/Potter. Tom himself was focussing on ridding Potter because he knew once the resistances rallying point was gone, their morale would crumble as would his reign as King (or whatever he was hoping to be titled) be cemented with the removal of the last one capable of stopping him.

But the meme of “Voldemort couldn’t take over a Highschool” has been said so much, and in many conversations I’ve had meant as an honest critique to the villain and not a meme at all, that I felt like I needed to see if other Potterheads saw what I see in the story- he did take over Hogwarts… after Potter was killed Tom likely would have shifted his sights on the muggle world of the UK and surrounding territory, and then continued expansion of his rule/influence to surrounding wizarding nations until the world was under his boot. Thankfully Harry stopped that-