Trump Pence Logo

2016Logo parody / design faildead

Also known as: Trump Pence TP Logo · Make America Penetrate Again

Trump Pence Logo is a 2016 political meme from Trump's campaign, featuring an interlocking T-and-P design that sparked immediate sexual innuendo jokes and was quietly replaced.

The Trump-Pence Logo is a political design fail meme from July 2016, when Donald Trump's presidential campaign unveiled a joint fundraising logo featuring an interlocking "T" and "P" set against American flag-inspired stripes. The suggestive positioning of the letters, with the T's vertical stroke passing through the P's loop, triggered an immediate wave of sexual innuendo jokes across Twitter, turning a routine campaign graphic into one of the fastest-mocked political logos in internet history1. The campaign quietly replaced the logo within 24 hours2.

trump memespolitical satire memesdouble entendre memeslogo fail memesmid 2010s memes

Overview

The original Trump-Pence logo featured a blue letter "T" and "P" interlocked inside a field of red and white stripes meant to evoke the American flag. The candidates' full names were stacked below the monogram with the campaign slogan "Make America Great Again!" at the bottom3. The design's fatal flaw was immediately obvious to anyone who looked at it: the T's vertical bar slides directly through the curved opening of the P, creating what critics universally read as a sexually suggestive image5. The visual was so unambiguous that the entire internet reacted like a room full of eighth-graders spotting something dirty on the chalkboard2.

On July 15, 2016, Donald Trump confirmed via Twitter that he had selected Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his vice presidential running mate4. Shortly after the announcement, the Make America Great Again Committee, the joint fundraising operation between Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee, sent out an email newsletter featuring the new campaign logo to supporters10. The graphic design debuted in this fundraising email, asking recipients to contribute to the effort10.

The logo was intended to convey partnership between the two candidates, with their initials merged inside an American flag motif5. But the design team apparently failed to anticipate how the internet would interpret a letter literally penetrating another letter. As Ethan Imboden, vice president of creative at Frog Design, explained to Vox: "I can see this being sold to them as a visual representation of two people working hand-in-hand"5.

Origin & Background

Platform
Trump campaign fundraising email (logo debut), Twitter (viral mockery)
Key People
Unknown, @Darth
Date
2016

On July 15, 2016, Donald Trump confirmed via Twitter that he had selected Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his vice presidential running mate. Shortly after the announcement, the Make America Great Again Committee, the joint fundraising operation between Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee, sent out an email newsletter featuring the new campaign logo to supporters. The graphic design debuted in this fundraising email, asking recipients to contribute to the effort.

The logo was intended to convey partnership between the two candidates, with their initials merged inside an American flag motif. But the design team apparently failed to anticipate how the internet would interpret a letter literally penetrating another letter. As Ethan Imboden, vice president of creative at Frog Design, explained to Vox: "I can see this being sold to them as a visual representation of two people working hand-in-hand".

How It Spread

The mockery started within minutes. Former Michigan congressman John Dingell, a Democrat with a sharp Twitter presence, posted one of the first notable reactions: "What is the T doing to that P?". Florida congressman Alan Grayson followed with "This logo accurately represents what Trump Pence will do to America".

At 12:05 p.m. on July 15th, Twitter user @Darth posted an animated GIF version of the logo that made the suggestive motion between the letters explicit. The tweet picked up nearly 2,000 retweets and over 2,200 likes within seven hours. Bloomberg's Matt Negrin joked about making the logo "safe for TV".

The jokes piled up fast. One widely shared tweet noted that "the reason Trump didn't pick Christie is bc the logo wouldn't have full penetration". Another observed that when flipped upside down, the logo "literally looks like a handjob". Samantha Bee's team at Full Frontal found what they called the "horrifying hidden meaning" and tweeted "Breaking the mattress of America". Vanity Fair's analysis pointed out that "the T's stem is so much longer than the P's stem. It's clear who the alpha is".

By early afternoon, the logo had been declared a full-blown meme by outlets including The Daily Beast, Politico, NPR, and CNN. NPR dubbed it the "#MemeOfTheWeek". Design professionals piled on. Nancy Skolos, dean of architecture and design at the Rhode Island School of Design, called the design "fussy and overwrought" and compared it to a "high school doodle". Cyrus Highsmith, an internationally known designer, said between laughs: "The only thing I can guess is that Trump wants to make sure that everyone knows that he's in charge".

The campaign moved quickly to contain the damage. By Saturday, July 16th, Trump's official introduction of Pence featured a modified logo: a simple "TRUMP" stacked above "PENCE" in plain text, with the interlocking monogram gone entirely. Campaign spokesman Jason Miller told CNN: "We have a number of logos. The final one won't be unveiled until the convention".

How to Use This Meme

The Trump-Pence Logo meme typically works in a few ways:

1

Sharing the original logo with a reaction pointing out the suggestive design, often paired with mock innocence ("I don't see it")

2

Animating the logo to emphasize the T-into-P motion, as @Darth's viral GIF did

3

Using it as a reference point for other badly designed logos or unintentional visual innuendo

4

Comparing it to the Airbnb logo, which drew similar anatomical interpretations when it launched in 2014

Cultural Impact

The logo fiasco drew comparisons to other branding disasters. Vox connected it directly to Airbnb's 2014 logo redesign, which critics also said resembled human anatomy. The article noted both logos shared a symmetrical vertical axis that "invites an anthropomorphic meaning".

Vanity Fair published an extensive design analysis that went beyond the sexual jokes. Writer Bruce Handy noted that the oversized kerning in "PENCE" compared to "TRUMP" created visual instability, and that placing Trump and Pence's initials over the American flag's star field was "a very aggressive positioning of their identity on top of our national identity". The piece also drew an uncomfortable comparison to logos used by certain white nationalist groups, though noted this was "surely coincidental".

Matt Luckhurst of the Collins design firm, whose portfolio included Facebook's M app and Airbnb's rebrand, offered a blunt assessment: "I think it's an oversight. I doubt they actually planned this. It's something where they said good enough and they launched it out into the world".

GQ published a satirical imagined dialogue of how the logo might have been approved, ending with the note: "The Trump campaign has replaced the T fucking a P logo for the simpler 'Trump-Pence' logo".

Fun Facts

The logo also invited toilet humor since "TP" is a common abbreviation for toilet paper.

NPR pointed out the irony that in an election cycle where candidates discussed "the size of their manhood" on a debate stage, the logo felt almost inevitable.

Hillary Clinton's own campaign logo had been mocked by Democrats who complained the arrow pointed right instead of left.

Designer Cyrus Highsmith suggested the campaign should have "put it in enough focus groups to make sure you're not going to get laughed at".

The logo was released as a "poorly cropped, 175×120 jpeg in the year 2016," as one viral tweet noted.

Frequently Asked Questions

References (14)

  1. 1
    Trump-Pence unveils modified logo | CNN Politicsarticle
  2. 2
    First Trump-Pence Logo Unveiledarticle
  3. 3
    Trump-Pence Campaign Logo: The Best of Twitter Mockeryarticle
  4. 4
    Trump-Pence Logo - Know Your Memeencyclopedia
  5. 5
    January 6 United States Capitol attackencyclopedia
  6. 6
    #MemeOfTheWeek: The New Trump/Pence Logo That's Doing ... Something : NPRarticle
  7. 7
    Trump-Pence unveils modified logo | CNN Politicsarticle
  8. 8
    First Trump-Pence Logo Unveiledarticle
  9. 9
    Trump-Pence Campaign Logo: The Best of Twitter Mockeryarticle
  10. 10
    Like Airbnb, Trump-Pence logo designer forgot that the internet has a dirty mind | Voxsocial
  11. 11
    Samantha Bee reveals the hidden meaning behind the new Trump-Pence 2016 logo - Salon.comarticle
  12. 12
    The Donald Trump-Mike Pence Logo, Explained | Vanity Fairarticle
  13. 13
    New Trump-Pence logo gives some people the gigglesarticle
  14. 14
    How Donald Trump Settled on That Terrible Logo | GQarticle

Trump Pence Logo

2016Logo parody / design faildead

Also known as: Trump Pence TP Logo · Make America Penetrate Again

Trump Pence Logo is a 2016 political meme from Trump's campaign, featuring an interlocking T-and-P design that sparked immediate sexual innuendo jokes and was quietly replaced.

The Trump-Pence Logo is a political design fail meme from July 2016, when Donald Trump's presidential campaign unveiled a joint fundraising logo featuring an interlocking "T" and "P" set against American flag-inspired stripes. The suggestive positioning of the letters, with the T's vertical stroke passing through the P's loop, triggered an immediate wave of sexual innuendo jokes across Twitter, turning a routine campaign graphic into one of the fastest-mocked political logos in internet history. The campaign quietly replaced the logo within 24 hours.

trump memes political satire memes double entendre memes logo fail memes mid 2010s memes

Overview

The original Trump-Pence logo featured a blue letter "T" and "P" interlocked inside a field of red and white stripes meant to evoke the American flag. The candidates' full names were stacked below the monogram with the campaign slogan "Make America Great Again!" at the bottom. The design's fatal flaw was immediately obvious to anyone who looked at it: the T's vertical bar slides directly through the curved opening of the P, creating what critics universally read as a sexually suggestive image. The visual was so unambiguous that the entire internet reacted like a room full of eighth-graders spotting something dirty on the chalkboard.

On July 15, 2016, Donald Trump confirmed via Twitter that he had selected Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his vice presidential running mate. Shortly after the announcement, the Make America Great Again Committee, the joint fundraising operation between Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee, sent out an email newsletter featuring the new campaign logo to supporters. The graphic design debuted in this fundraising email, asking recipients to contribute to the effort.

The logo was intended to convey partnership between the two candidates, with their initials merged inside an American flag motif. But the design team apparently failed to anticipate how the internet would interpret a letter literally penetrating another letter. As Ethan Imboden, vice president of creative at Frog Design, explained to Vox: "I can see this being sold to them as a visual representation of two people working hand-in-hand".

Origin & Background

Platform
Trump campaign fundraising email (logo debut), Twitter (viral mockery)
Key People
Unknown, @Darth
Date
2016

On July 15, 2016, Donald Trump confirmed via Twitter that he had selected Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his vice presidential running mate. Shortly after the announcement, the Make America Great Again Committee, the joint fundraising operation between Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee, sent out an email newsletter featuring the new campaign logo to supporters. The graphic design debuted in this fundraising email, asking recipients to contribute to the effort.

The logo was intended to convey partnership between the two candidates, with their initials merged inside an American flag motif. But the design team apparently failed to anticipate how the internet would interpret a letter literally penetrating another letter. As Ethan Imboden, vice president of creative at Frog Design, explained to Vox: "I can see this being sold to them as a visual representation of two people working hand-in-hand".

How It Spread

The mockery started within minutes. Former Michigan congressman John Dingell, a Democrat with a sharp Twitter presence, posted one of the first notable reactions: "What is the T doing to that P?". Florida congressman Alan Grayson followed with "This logo accurately represents what Trump Pence will do to America".

At 12:05 p.m. on July 15th, Twitter user @Darth posted an animated GIF version of the logo that made the suggestive motion between the letters explicit. The tweet picked up nearly 2,000 retweets and over 2,200 likes within seven hours. Bloomberg's Matt Negrin joked about making the logo "safe for TV".

The jokes piled up fast. One widely shared tweet noted that "the reason Trump didn't pick Christie is bc the logo wouldn't have full penetration". Another observed that when flipped upside down, the logo "literally looks like a handjob". Samantha Bee's team at Full Frontal found what they called the "horrifying hidden meaning" and tweeted "Breaking the mattress of America". Vanity Fair's analysis pointed out that "the T's stem is so much longer than the P's stem. It's clear who the alpha is".

By early afternoon, the logo had been declared a full-blown meme by outlets including The Daily Beast, Politico, NPR, and CNN. NPR dubbed it the "#MemeOfTheWeek". Design professionals piled on. Nancy Skolos, dean of architecture and design at the Rhode Island School of Design, called the design "fussy and overwrought" and compared it to a "high school doodle". Cyrus Highsmith, an internationally known designer, said between laughs: "The only thing I can guess is that Trump wants to make sure that everyone knows that he's in charge".

The campaign moved quickly to contain the damage. By Saturday, July 16th, Trump's official introduction of Pence featured a modified logo: a simple "TRUMP" stacked above "PENCE" in plain text, with the interlocking monogram gone entirely. Campaign spokesman Jason Miller told CNN: "We have a number of logos. The final one won't be unveiled until the convention".

How to Use This Meme

The Trump-Pence Logo meme typically works in a few ways:

1

Sharing the original logo with a reaction pointing out the suggestive design, often paired with mock innocence ("I don't see it")

2

Animating the logo to emphasize the T-into-P motion, as @Darth's viral GIF did

3

Using it as a reference point for other badly designed logos or unintentional visual innuendo

4

Comparing it to the Airbnb logo, which drew similar anatomical interpretations when it launched in 2014

Cultural Impact

The logo fiasco drew comparisons to other branding disasters. Vox connected it directly to Airbnb's 2014 logo redesign, which critics also said resembled human anatomy. The article noted both logos shared a symmetrical vertical axis that "invites an anthropomorphic meaning".

Vanity Fair published an extensive design analysis that went beyond the sexual jokes. Writer Bruce Handy noted that the oversized kerning in "PENCE" compared to "TRUMP" created visual instability, and that placing Trump and Pence's initials over the American flag's star field was "a very aggressive positioning of their identity on top of our national identity". The piece also drew an uncomfortable comparison to logos used by certain white nationalist groups, though noted this was "surely coincidental".

Matt Luckhurst of the Collins design firm, whose portfolio included Facebook's M app and Airbnb's rebrand, offered a blunt assessment: "I think it's an oversight. I doubt they actually planned this. It's something where they said good enough and they launched it out into the world".

GQ published a satirical imagined dialogue of how the logo might have been approved, ending with the note: "The Trump campaign has replaced the T fucking a P logo for the simpler 'Trump-Pence' logo".

Fun Facts

The logo also invited toilet humor since "TP" is a common abbreviation for toilet paper.

NPR pointed out the irony that in an election cycle where candidates discussed "the size of their manhood" on a debate stage, the logo felt almost inevitable.

Hillary Clinton's own campaign logo had been mocked by Democrats who complained the arrow pointed right instead of left.

Designer Cyrus Highsmith suggested the campaign should have "put it in enough focus groups to make sure you're not going to get laughed at".

The logo was released as a "poorly cropped, 175×120 jpeg in the year 2016," as one viral tweet noted.

Frequently Asked Questions