#ImWithKer
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About
#ImWithKer is a hashtag campaign employed by Twitter users that claims Kermit the Frog as an anti-bigotry, pro-hope symbol of the left in an effort to counter the rise of Pepe as a symbol of alt-right and white nationalist politics. It is a play on a slogan of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton supporters, I'm With Her.
Origin
On October 2nd, 2016, journalist Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo tweeted[1] a plea that America needed to get behind a "canonical pluralism frog to turn back the tide," along with a picture of Kermit the Frog. The tweet, shown below, gained over 1,600 retweets and 3,200 favorites as of October 4th, 2016. Shortly after Marshall's tweet, one of his followers, @BrooklynSpoke,[2] replied with the hashtag, "#ImWithKer."
Spread
Twitter users began tweeting pro-Kermit sentiments with with #ImWithKer and #TakingBackTheFrog hashtags,[3][4] along with the quote "Kermit Trumps Pepe,"[5] a play on a slogan popular with Hillary Clinton supporters, "Love Trumps Hate." In further tweets, Marshall claimed that Kermit "demonstrated generosity of spirit, perseverance, collegiality and openness to introspection and melancholy that are ingredients of any open, free society," while Pepe "embodies sadism, cruelty, and the lust for domination as touchstone of public life that are the makings of autocracy."[6] #ImWithHer trended on Twitter on October 3rd, 2016.[12]
Shortly after the hashtag's initial spread, alt-right users attempted to raid it in an effort to squash the movement.[7][8] Marshall responded to the attempted raid by suggesting it was he desperate work of people "who know they are about to lose."[9]
Threads about the trend were posted to Reddit in the /r/OutOfTheLoop[10] and /r/MillionDollarExtreme,[11] and the moment was covered by The Daily Dot[13] and Daily Kos.[14]
Various Examples
Search Interest
Unavailable
External References
[1] Twitter – @JoshTPM Kermit Tweet
[2] Twitter – @BrooklynSpoke
[3] Twitter – @MikeScholtz
[4] Twitter – #TakingBackTheFrog
[5] Twitter – @WizardOfStraya
[6] Twitter – @JoshTPM Pepe Tweet
[7] Twitter – @davisiain0
[9] Twitter – @JoshTPM Response to Raid
[10] Reddit – /r/OutOfTheLoop
[11] Reddit – /r/milliondollarextreme
[12] Ekla – #ImWithKer Trending
[13] Daily Dot – #ImWithKer enlists Kermit in the fight against Pepe
[14] DailyKos – Kermit: The froggy answer to the Alt-Reich Pepe #imwithker
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Top Comments
Briham
Oct 04, 2016 at 01:49PM EDT
Mameme
Oct 04, 2016 at 01:42PM EDT