This is part of a series of articles designed to help you craft powerful and engaging protest signs.
Below are tropes often seen at anti-Trump protests that we encourage you to avoid because they inadvertently reinforce harmful and demeaning stereotypes. These phrases are often used on signs for comedic effect, but they can unintentionally hurt people who are already being targeted by rightwing hate.
Don't feel guilty if you've used these stereotypes in the past. These tropes are very common at left-wing protests. But now that you know better, please do better for future protests.
Avoiding these phrases is an act of community care. It prioritizes the safety of fellow protesters who might be harmed by these tropes.
Ableist Language
Stigmas around mental illness are ingrained in our society and often prevent people from seeking help when they need it. Calling Trump 'crazy' or 'mad' reinforces the idea that mental illness is a character flaw deserving ridicule or scorn. Stigma relating to mental illness can prevent people from seeking help, so it's a good idea to avoid mocking Trump's mental health.
Terms like 'moron', 'imbecile' and 'idiot' originated by eugenicists who championed the idea of using controlled breeding to eliminate undesirable traits to create a superior (read: white) race. White supremacists in the United States during the 20th century used eugenic principles to rationalize deporting, segregating, sterilizing and/or institutionalizing immigrants, BIPOC people, poor people and disabled people. Eugenic principles also drove racial segregation laws of the Jim Crow era. These laws in turn influenced Hitler as he developed Nazi apartheid laws and sterilization programs.
Eugenic principles are once again gaining traction in the United States. Donald Trump has long been fascinated by eugenics which has informed his anti-immigration policies. His HHS Secretary RFK Jr. is developing public health policies grounded in eugenic thinking. In late July, Trump signed an Executive Order that will make it easier for homeless people to be forcibly institutionalized. And recently Fox News host Brian Kilmeade advocated killing homeless people with "involuntary lethal injections".
Disability rights activists and scholars are raising alarm bells that current conditions in the US will usher in the return of eugenics policies targeting disabled and BIPOC people.
Needless to say, fighting for disability and racial justice is inextricably linked to defeating fascism. So it makes sense to avoid using ableist tropes in signs protesting the Trump Administration. For further guidance, see the Disability Language Style Guide from the National Center on Disability and Journalism.
Homophobic and/or Transphobic Tropes
Avoid using homophobic or transphobic jokes. Illustrations of Putin and Trump kissing or depictions of JD Vance dressed in drag reinforce the idea that being queer is shameful. Proponents of these images argue that they are intended to anger Trump who is homophobic. The problem is that Trump likely will never see these protest signs. But local members of the LGBTQ community will see these signs and internalize their underlying message.
As R. Eric Thomas writes: "Ask any LGBTQ person how many well-intentioned allies have called something "gay" in front of them, have mimicked gay sex as a punchline, have joked a person is gay or lesbian because of the way they dress or talk or the things they enjoy. Every time a gay person hears a "joke" like this, it confirms that the world we live in is not safe, that the people who say that they have our backs are lying, that any interaction can suddenly reveal a hurled slur and after that, a thrown fist."
Fat Jokes
Donald Trump has fat-shamed people throughout his life. When he owned the Miss Universe pageant, he called one contestant "Miss Piggy" after she had gained weight, and he told other contestants to "suck in their gut". Trump allegedly also kept an unflattering "fat picture" of a former employee that he used to demean her when she displeased him. He has mocked the weight of political opponents and critics, including Chris Christie, Rosie O'Donnell, and JB Pritzker.
In light of Trump's fat phobia, it is tempting to create protest signs that mock Trump's weight. Resist that temptation. Trump will never see your protest sign, so it will never upset him personally. But fellow protesters who are fat and/or have eating disorders will see your sign and feel unsafe around you. Furthermore, jokes about Trump's weight distract from criticisms of his policies, which should be the focus on any anti-Trump protest.
Calling Trump a Felon
Labels like "convict" or "felon" are used to dehumanize currently or formerly incarcerated people.
As former president of the Marshall Project Carroll Bogert writes: "Most people in prisons and jails in America come from lives of poverty and discrimination. A label such as “felon” or “inmate” contributes to keeping them at the margins of society....Trump is a person convicted of felonies. So are millions of other Americans. How we describe him affects them, too."
Stigmas tend to use even the kindest among us as their unwitting weapons. — Lawrence Bartley from The Marshall Project
Next: Construction Considerations
Further Reading:
- Lawrence Bartley, "I Am Not Your 'Inmate'", The Marshall Project.
- Derek Beres, "MAGA's Era of 'Soft Eugenics': Let the Weak Get Sick, Help the Clever Breed", The Guardian, May 4, 2025
- Carroll Bogert, "The Problem with Labeling Trump a 'felon'", The Marshall Project, July 25, 2024.
- Bevin Branlandingham, "Fat-Shaming President Trump Is Wrong, and Bad Activism", Newsweek, January 19, 2018.
- Erica Bryant, "Why We Shouldn't Call Trump a 'Criminal'", Vera, July 2, 2024.
- Disability Language Style Guide, The National Center on Disability and Journalism
- Michael Friedman, "Why People Need to Stop Calling Each Other Crazy", Psychology Today, June 17, 2021.
- Lee Hurley, "An Image of Putin and Trump Kissing Isn't Funny. It's Homophobic", The Guardian, July 21, 2018.
- Juliet James, "When You Talk About Donald Trump’s Body, Every Fat Person You Know Hears You", HuffPost,
- Lisa Ko, "Unwanted Sterilization and Eugenics Programs in the United States", PBS, January 29, 2016, November 6, 2020.
- Marlena Scott, "The Sinister History of the Word 'Moron'", Teen Vogue, September 12, 2017.
- JoElla Straley, "It Took a Eugenicist to Come Up with 'Moron'", NPR, February 10, 2014.
- R. Eric Thomas, "Gay Jokes about Trump and Putin Aren't Funny. They're Hate", Elle, July 16, 2018.
- Your Fat Friend, "#MarALard*ss and the Left’s Fat Problem", Medium, February 18, 2019.
