About

"This Is What They Took From Us" and "Unbelievable Honkers" Right-Wing Nostalgia refers to an internet cliché about American conservative and right-wing nostalgia posts – which yearn for an older U.S. time period to return – mostly using the catchphrase, "This is what they took from us," and a photograph of an attractive woman with large breasts. The engagement bait posts, meant to generate views and likes from other users, surfaced en masse in the 2020s and gained notable awareness in July 2025, due to a Twitter / X trend, started by a photo of a woman in the 1970s sitting on a car, wearing a crop top and jean shorts. The post sparked a series of quote-tweets parodying the "This Is What They Took From Us" and "Unbelievable Honkers" combination. One such post notably featured a photo of influencer Jordan McDonald (jord627) gesturing to her chest in a black top. The catchphrase "This Is What They Took From Us" first went viral in 2022, amid the Gio Scotti Ancient Greek Towel Boy posts.

Origin

On July 21st, 2025, X^[1] user @LindyTasteful tweeted, "America in the 1970s. Probably afforded this lifestyle on one income," attaching a photo of a woman sitting on a car, wearing a crop top and jean shorts. Over two days, the tweet received over 29,000 likes.

On July 22nd, X^[2] user @FuckedUpYogis quote-tweeted the post, writing, "95 percent of Right Wing nostalgia is just a picture of a woman with unbelievable honkers captioned, 'This is what they took from us 😔.'" In a day, the tweet received over 66,000 likes (shown below).

Precursor

Use of the catchphrase, "This is what they took from us," to evoke nostalgia in online posts began surfacing en masse in the 2020s.

For instance, on November 7th, 2021, X^[8] user @nic__carter tweeted a photo of an airplane interior from the 1970s, captioned, "This is what they took from us," gaining over 9,600 likes in four years (shown below).

In 2022, the phrase became associated with a series of posts that called Italian model Gio Scotti an "ancient towel boy" from Greece or Rome, following a post from X^[9] user @SCHIZO_FREQ on October 8th, 2022, who captioned a video of Scotti, "This is what the towelboys ancient Roman warriors had sex with looked like. This is what they took from us." Over three years, the tweet received over 9,900 likes (shown below).

This is what the towelboys ancient Roman warriors had sex with looked like. This is what they took from us pic.twitter.com/ex6N4F85R6

— Lukas (computer) (@SCHIZO_FREQ) October 8, 2022

Spread

On July 22nd, 2025, X^[3] user @Lead_Flinger quote-tweeted @FuckedUpYogis' post, attaching an old photograph of a woman leaning against a race car, captioned, "This is what they took from us." In a day, the post gained over 36,000 likes (shown below).

Also on July 22nd, X^[4] user @MakimaRespecter tweeted a photo of Instagram ^[5] and TikTok ^[6] influencer Jordan McDonald (@jord627) gesturing to her breasts in a black top, captioned, "This is what they took from us." In a day, the tweet gained over 171,000 likes (shown below).

On July 23rd, 2025, X^[7] user @flapprdotnet quote-tweeted the post, attaching images of Lily from AT&T (Milana Vayntrub), captioned, "This is what they took from us 😔." In a few hours, the post gained over 2,000 likes (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References