Slugs for Salt

About

Slugs for Salt is a catchphrase inspired by a political cartoon in which a group of slugs cheers on a salt shaker standing on stage at a microphone as if running for president, the joke being that salt kills slugs and it is against the interests of the slugs to cheer it. The webcomic was originally posted online in 2017 as a criticism of groups of people supporting Donald Trump as President despite being against their best interests. The phrase spread as a slang expression over the following years, typically used to call out people who are supporting something that may arguably harm them. The comic shares the same sentiment as "Chickens for KFC."

Origin

On February 7th, 2016, Imgur^[1] user sventhors posted a political comic depicting a group of slugs chanting "slugs for salt" at a salt shaker, standing before a microphone on a stage as if running for president. The post garnered over 105,000 views and 1,100 upvotes in eight years. It is unclear if the poster is the artist behind the comic.

The comic has been interpreted as being about Donald Trump's 2016 Presidential Election win and the groups of people who supported him despite his campaign promises arguably being against their best interests, including groups like Gays for Trump and Latinos for Trump.

Spread

The cartoon and phrase "slugs for salt" garnered viral spread over the following years. As a catchphrase, the expression started to see use by online posters as a way of calling someone out for acting against their own best interests.

For example, on September 6th, 2020, a screenshot of a Twitter / X interaction was posted to the subreddit /r/SelfAwarewolves,^[2] titled "Slugs for salt," in which a user defends the claim that Trump supporters aren't racist while telling a story about a Trump supporter calling them a slur, garnering over 23,000 upvotes in four years.

On October 17th, a post was made to the subreddit /r/LeopardsAteMyFace,^[3] titled "Another example of slugs voting for salt," sharing a screenshot of an X post sharing conflicting messages about feminism in relation to the alt-right movement, garnering over 53,000 upvotes in four years.

On July 6th, 2022, X^[4] user @morbidcuriosit9 posted an edit of the "slugs for salt" comic adding MAGA hats to some of the slugs, garnering over 900 likes in two years. On September 30th, 2023, Redditor u/Internet_Prescense posted their own take on the slugs for salt comic to /r/comics,^[5] garnering over 2,300 upvotes in a year.

On October 26th, 2024, X^[6] user @VolKno55 posted the slugs for salt comic in response to a post in which a lesbian couple shared a photo of themselves after having voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, garnering over 378,000 likes in 10 days. On November 2nd, the original slugs for salt comic was posted to Reddit's /r/im14andthisisdeep,^[7] garnering over 1,200 upvotes in four days.

Various Examples

Related Memes

Chickens for KFC

Chickens For KFC is a catchphrase and meme that's used as a rhetorical analogy mocking queer pro-Palestinian protestors and other minority groups that show support for a cause that they could be targeted by. The phrase has been used since November 2016 to mock LGBTQ+ Trump supporters but gained traction in early 2020 after a picture showing students holding a sign reading "Queers for Palestine" went viral on X / Twitter. The term resurfaced in late July 2024 after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mocked pro-Palestine supporters in a speech addressed to the U.S. Congress, saying, "Some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming gays for Gaza. They might as well hold up signs saying 'Chickens for KFC.'"

Search Interest

External References