Cheeto Jesus

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About

Cheeto Jesus is a pejorative nickname given to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump by Republican political strategist Rick Wilson in a rant he posted on Twitter in mid-June 2016. Shortly after Wilson's tweet, the nickname, which likens Trump’s orange-tanned skin tone to Frito-Lay's cheese-flavored snack, spawned a series of Cheetos-themed photoshopped parodies on Twitter.

Origin

On June 15th, 2016, Rick Wilson tweeted a ten-part rant^[1] condemning the Republican Party’s endorsement of Trump as the presumptive candidate in the upcoming United States presidential election. In the tweets, Wilson likened the rise of Trump as a conservative leader to getting a "No Ragrets" tattoo that had gone viral online, while referring to Trump as "Cheeto Jesus" in criticizing his controversial response to the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. Within 48 hours, the Cheeto Jesus tweet accumulated more than 3,500 likes and 2,200 retweets.

"How the actual fuck does anyone at the RNC have standing to act shocked that Trump is not doing the basics of campaigning? You can't elide over his utter dipshittery. No matter how much you try to act surprised, you own this. You're covered in his stench. History will be so cruel to you. Your off the record sniping and grumbling is no substitute for moral courage. That's so DC. You won't escape the stain. It's like a big, visible "No Ragrets" chest tat that will mark your careers forever. Go public. Man up. Show courage. Say what's in your hearts; he's insane. He's poison. He's doomed. He's killing the Party. None of you are good enough to spin the unspinnable ratfuck that is Trump. None of you can say, "I was just following orders." This weekend, people were lined up hundreds deep to give blood to the victims of Orlando. Your Cheeto Jesus was praising himself. There is no better Trump. There is not Presidential Trump. He is a vile stain on the this Republic. Your resumes will always read "Worked for a batshit crazy crypto-fascist who destroyed the GOP"

Wilson's Criticism of Trump

Months before his Twitter rant in June, Wilson had previously made the headlines in January after ridiculing Donald Trump's alt-right supporters as "childless single men who masturbate to anime" during an on-air appearance on MSNBC.

Precursors

In July 2008, CBS broadcast a news segment on a Cheetos snack which resembled the shape of a crucifix (shown below).

Spread

Also on June 15th, 2016, Twitter user @GroverOwnedPawn tweeted a photograph of a Circus Peanut snack, which resembles a Cheeto, with Trump's face etched onto the top (shown below). Within 48 hours, the tweet gained over 400 likes and 190 retweets.

The following day, other Twitter users tweeted various Cheetos-themed photoshopped pictures of Trump, many of which included the hashtag #CheetoJesus^[8] (shown below).

Also on June 16th, Redditor MushroomFry submitted a photograph of Trump titled "Cheeto Jesus" to the /r/EnoughTrumpSpam^[2] subreddit, where it garnered upwards of 14,800 votes (62% upvoted) and 280 comments within 24 hours (shown below).

In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the Cheeto Jesus meme, including The Daily Dot, Mother Jones, The Huffington Post, CNET and Inquistr.