Don Poorleone

About

Don Poorleone is a nickname given to Donald Trump in March 2024 as the March 25th deadline for him to pay a $464-million bond concerning a fraud charge neared. The nickname was given to Trump as early as March 21st, 2024, and is inspired by reports that Trump would not have the funds to pay the full bond on the original deadline, with his lawyers reportedly pushing to pause the date. The nickname is a reference to Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather and went viral along with the hashtag "#DonPoorleone." On the day of the deadline, it was reported that Trump would only have to pay a smaller amount of $175 million, giving him 10 additional days to pay the bond.

Origin

In February 2024, Donald Trump was charged with fraud for "falsely inflating his net worth and assets to secure favorable financing terms over a decade."^[1] Trump was ordered to pay a roughly $454-million bond by March 25th, with the possibility of seizing his property if the bond was not paid. On March 18th, it was reported that Trump's lawyers argued that it was "impossible" to pay this bond, asking for the court to "pause the appeal bond."^[2]

It's unclear who first gave Trump the nickname "Don Poorleone." The earliest available use of the name in reference to Trump was posted on March 21st, 2024, by X^[3] user @alternativfctz, simply writing "Don Poorleone" in response to a post about Biden calling him "Broke Don." On The morning of March 24th, X^[4] user @TimHannan posted, "It would be a shame, it really would, if Trump’s new nickname Don Poorleone doesn’t stick," garnering over 18,000 likes in a day, marking one of the earliest viral uses of the name (shown below).

Spread

The nickname gained viral spread over the following days as the source of memes, with the hashtag "#DonPoorleone" also going viral. On March 24th, 2024, the day before the bond deadline, X^[5] user @7Veritas4 posted a meme photoshopping Trump's head onto that of Don Corleone, writing, "'I made an offer everyone refused.' – Don Poorleone," garnering over 38,000 likes in a day (shown below, left). That same day, X^[6] user @SethAbramson posted a meme using the name, garnering over 5,800 likes in a day (shown below, right).

Later on March 24th, X^[7] user @mermaidmamamags posted a comedy skit in which she uses the nickname, writing, "That, I cannot do," garnering over 2,800 likes in a day (shown below). Also that day, u/LondonDavis1 posted a screenshot to /r/WhitePeopleTwitter^[8] showing "Don Poorleone" trending on X, garnering over 3,400 upvotes in a day. The Occupy Democrats Facebook^[9] page posted a meme that gained over 4,800 reactions in a day.

That, I cannot do. #DonPoorleone #theconfather #comedy #TrumpCrimeFamily pic.twitter.com/qCaUDA7n0G

— Maggie Reed (@mermaidmamamags) March 25, 2024

On March 25th, X^[9] user @WUTangKids posted a photograph of what appears to be chalk graffiti outside of a Trump Hotel reading "Don Poorleone," garnering over 2,200 likes in under a day (shown below).

That same day, it was reported that Trump would now only have to pay around $175 million for the bond and would be given 10 extra days to do so, with Trump telling reporters that he plans to pay the bond.^[10] That day, the Independent^[11] reported on the nickname and memes about Trump.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References