#ILeftTheGOP

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Part of a series on Donald Trump. [View Related Entries]

About

#ILeftTheGOP is a hashtag used by former members of the Republican political party to express why they no longer consider themselves a member.

Origin

On March 16th, 2016, Twitter ^[1] user @avetnurse tweeted the earliest known usage of the hashtag (shown below). The tweet reads, "#ILeftTheGOP
@reince @Senate_GOPs Obstruction, War on women, Racist #OpTrump #Drumpf #ImWithHer #SCOTUSnominee."

Spread

While the hashtag received modest usage over the next few years, it did not grow in spread until 2020. On January 26th, 2020, Twitter^[2] user @CheriJacobus tweeted, "#ILeftTheGOP in July, 2016 as they nominated Trump. When did you? Use the hashtag and give us your date! Tag those you know cut the cord:) cc: @IAmSophiaNelson @BillKristol @JoeNBC." The tweet received more than 3,000 likes and 900 retweets in less than one week (shown below, left).

Over the next few days, the hashtag continued to grow in usage. On January 27th, Twitter^[3] @Sketh tweeted, "#ILeftTheGOP because they cyber bullied a sitting president to show his birth certificate on live tv just because he was a black man. Now they have a cyber bully in the white house and they won’t show anyone any papers." The tweet received more than 4,800 likes and 985 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, center).

That day, Twitter^[4] user @145Mainstreet tweeted, "#ILeftTheGOP after 30 years when I saw the GOP’response to Trump’s Helsinki performance. I did NOT vote for Trump, and will never vote Republican again. I am now, and always will be, a Democrat. The corrupt GOP has lost all semblance of credibility and strength." Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 8,600 likes and 1,800 retweets (shown below, right).

Several media outlets covered the spread of the hashtag, including Newsweek,^[5] The Daily Dot, ^[6] Raw Story,^[7] The Independent^[8] and more.