About

Someone Should Do It and Somebody Has to Do It are catchphrases used online as dog whistles to indirectly suggest that somebody needs to kill or assassinate a powerful person, which are commonly aimed at United States President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and other powerful people in American politics and business who are perceived by many to have negative impacts on the world or are widely disliked. Variations of the phrase were first used in this context on sites like TikTok and X / Twitter as early as January 2025, with a video by TikToker @theotherotherdarius helping popularize and spread the phrase after it was reposted by the Libs of TikTok page and boosted by Musk.

The phrase continued to be prevalent online throughout 2025 and 2026, inspiring discourse. This includes discussions about why so many people are able to correctly guess what "do it" means without direct context as to what "do it" means, suggesting a certain level of anger and discontent with the U.S. administration during President Trump's second term. Some critics of the phrase suggest that "doing it" would only make the victim a martyr and make things worse.

In July 2025, left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker discussed the term with journalist Taylor Lorenz during an anti-ICE benefit, claiming that it shows how much "untapped revolutionary potential" there is in America. The clip went viral, with some painting it as a call to action from Piker.

Origin

Variations of the phrase "someone needs to do it" or "somebody should do it," specifically referring to killing a powerful person, first started garnering attention on social media in early 2025. The meaning behind the phrases is never made explicit, but is largely inferred through context.

It is unclear who first used the phrase online, with examples appearing on X / Twitter^[1] as early as January 22nd, 2025, including a post with zero interactions by user @karmaisacatttt that reads, "please someone kill him im so serious, arrest me idc. that man is trying to ruin our country someone needs to do it.."

Another X^[2] post with no interactions, made on February 14th by user @softpiscean, reads, "Somebody needs to do it," in response to a video clip of Elon Musk's son saying, “We’ll do whatever we want,” and, “They’ll never know,” during a speech.

One of the earliest known viral videos to use similar wording was posted by TikToker @theotherotherdarius around February 16th, 2025. In the video, he directly mentions the "Elon, Trump stuff" and says someone's going to have to "throw their life away" and "take one for the team." The video was reposted by the Libs Of TikTok X^[3] account and later quote-reposted on X^[4] by Elon Musk, gaining over 50 million views in a year.

Spread

Memes, videos and posts about someone "needing to do it" continued to appear online throughout 2025, particularly on TikTok and X / Twitter, as the catchphrases spread on social media.

For example, on March 25th, 2025, TikToker^[5] @julesandthevibe posted a video in which she frustratedly repeats the phrase, "Someone's gotta just do it," garnering over 31,000 likes in a year.

Many commenters assume that she is referring to assassinating the president, with one of the top comments reading, "in hindsight, it's crazy that the one dude missed," likely referring to the 2024 assassination attempt on President Trump. Another reads, "I refuse to let him become a martyr," which is a sentiment often echoed in retaliation to the idea of someone "needing to do it."

On May 19th, 2025, independent journalist Taylor Lorenz posted a video on YouTube^[6] titled "'Somebody needs to do it,'" gaining over 1.1 million views in a year. The video begins with Lorenz showing a compilation of videos and posts about "needing to do it," explaining that the posts refer to assassinating Donald Trump, then shares her opinion on why this is such a common sentiment online.

On May 22nd, the Hasanabi Productions YouTube^[7] channel uploaded a video of leftist streamer Hasan Piker reacting to the video that gained over 100,000 views in a year.

On July 25th, Piker and Lorenz spoke at an anti-ICE rally held by Little Secret.^[8] During the rally, Piker mentioned Lorenz's "somebody needs to do it" video, directly mentioning how many people know exactly what the phrase means without ever saying a name, and stating that it shows how angry people are at the administration. He also says that it shows "untapped revolutionary potential" in America.^[9]

Twitch and Kick streamer Asmongold, an outspoken critic of Piker and far-left politics in general, reacted to the clip at a later date, sharing the opinion that Piker would be one of the "first to go" if a violent revolution ever did happen in America.^[10]

The phrase continued to be prevalent online in late 2025 through early 2026 as it spread further on social media sites.

On December 20th, 2025, Instagram^[11] influencer peytonvanest posted a video in which he explicitly says that nobody should do it, where he uses facial expressions to imply that he means the opposite of what he's saying, garnering over 4.4 million views in five months.

On April 7th, 2026, the same influencer, @peytonvanest, posted a video on TikTok^[12] that gained over 3.1 million views in a month. In this video, he explicitly says that someone should "do it."

Once again, many of the top comments express that they know he is referring to assassinating Trump or another powerful figure. Some examples include highly liked comments reading, "They just don’t drive around in convertibles like they use to" (a reference to JFK), "it's always 'Somebody should' but never 'I will,'" and "We got a Luigi. We just need a Mario now," referring to Luigi Mangione and Mario from Super Mario.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References