Welcome To The Resistance

About

Welcome To The Resistance is a catchphrase said by Twitter users who identify with the #Resist movement against the Donald Trump administration to those expressing their disillusionment with Trump or coming out with an anti-Trump statement for the first time. The line became parodied over 2017 as people began "welcoming" more absurd people to "the resistance" for various actions.

Origin

The #Resist movement started immediately following the November 8th, 2016 United States Presidential Election, and while the phrase "Welcome to the Resistance" had appeared on Twitter prior to the election, its use in the current anti-Trump context began appearing with the rise of the #Resist movement (examples shown below).

Spread

Shortly after the election, "Welcome to the Resistance" began seeing use as a catchphrase in editorials and various articles. Advocate.com^[1] posted an article titled "Welcome to the Resistance" on November 11th, 2016. They did so again on December 21st in an op-ed written by actor George Takei.^[2] In These Times^[3] wrote an article with that title on December 1st. Meanwhile, the phrase continued being used mostly in earnest through early 2017 and the start of the Trump administration on Twitter. However, as certain news broke about dissent within the administration began to break, people started jokingly pairing the phrase with prominent Republicans and even members of the Trump administration (examples shown below). The meme is generally formatted by saying "(Name)… Welcome to the Resistance"

Towards the summer of 2017 and beyond, the phrase became more of a meme, often paired with unlikely voices of dissent or various people in the administration, including Trump himself. For example, a popular tweet by Virgil Texas^[4] of Chapo Trap House paired the phrase with Trump and gained over 160 retweets and 1,400 likes (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References