Can't Stump the Trump

About

“Can’t Stump the Trump” is a slogan often used by supporters of the 2016 Republican presidential primary candidate Donald Trump, indicating that he is incapable of being flustered or defeated by critics.

Origin

While the exact origin of the phrase is unclear, the earliest known use of the expression was posted to the /pol/^[1] (politically incorrect) board on 4chan on June 15th, 2015 (shown below).^[1]

Spread

On July 28th, 2015, the conservative news site The Ralph Retort^[2] published an article titled “Can’t Stump the Trump,” which lauded Trump’s ability to deflect criticism. On August 9th, YouTuber ZarosTemplar uploaded a montage parody titled “Can’t Stump the Trump,” featuring footage of Trump from the first 2016 Republican presidential debate (shown below, left). On August 26th, YouTuber Can’t Stump the Trump uploaded a video titled “Can’t Stump the Trump (Volume 1),” containing footage of Trump dismissing a Univision reported during a press conference (shown below, right).

On September 26th, Redditor Townidiot submitted a Facebook comment screenshot titled “Can’t Stump the Trump,” which refuted the authenticity of an image macro claiming the Simpsons predicted Trump’s run for presidency many years prior (shown below). Within three weeks, the post gained over 4,900 votes (93% upvoted) and 180 comments on the /r/quityourbullshit^[3] subreddit.

On October 13th, 2015, Trump tweeted an illustration of himself as Pepe the Frog along with a link to a montage parody titled “Can’t Stump the Trump (Volume 4)”.^[4] In less than 24 hours, the tweet gathered upwards of 3,000 favorites and 2,800 retweets. The same day, the news sites RealClear Politics^[5] and Vocativ^[6] published articles about the online reaction to the tweet.

Search Interest

External References