Trumputin is a portmanteau of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, usually attached to photoshopped images that merge the two leaders' faces or features.

Where did Trumputin come from?

The caption first appeared on the @donaldtrumpdoingthings Instagram account on October 26, 2015, over an edit of Putin's face on Trump's body.

What does Trumputin mean?

The images mock perceived closeness between Trump and Putin, and Urban Dictionary extends the slang to adversaries secretly building a mutually beneficial alliance behind their followers' backs.

How do you use Trumputin?

People typically share face-swap edits, splice one leader's hair or features onto the other, or use the word as a label for Trump-Putin collusion jokes.

Is Trumputin still popular?

The format peaked during the 2016 campaign and the inauguration window, with the last documented wave of edits running into January 2017.

Trumputin

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Published October 3, 2026

Trumputin is a portmanteau of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, popularized through photoshopped images that fuse the two leaders' faces or hint at a closeness between them. The term first appeared on Instagram in October 2015 and became shorthand for Trump-Putin collusion jokes across the 2016 election cycle and inauguration window.

trump memes political satire memes photoshop memes portmanteau memes face swap memes

Overview

Trumputin edits typically mash the two politicians into one face, drop Putin's head onto Trump's body, or hand Putin Trump's signature blond combover1. The humor plays on perceived ideological overlap between the men and reads as political jab more often than pure gag material3. Common variations include speed paintings5, mock dynasty portraits, and child-swap edits where one leader cradles the other with a face-swap applied2.

The word also picked up second-life usage as slang. Urban Dictionary entries describe Trumputin as adversaries who build a secret, mutually beneficial pact behind their constituents' backs, with verb forms like 'trumputinized'6. That slang reading pushed the label beyond the image-macro format and into general insult territory for perceived political collusion.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Instagram (origin) / Twitter and Reddit (viral spread)

Creator

@donaldtrumpdoingthings

Date

2015

The earliest documented Trumputin edit was posted on October 26, 2015, when the @donaldtrumpdoingthings Instagram account shared a photoshop of Vladimir Putin's face layered over Donald Trump's, captioned simply 'Trumputin'1. The post pulled in over 870 likes and more than 100 comments across the following two years3.

Trump was in the middle of his first Republican primary run at the time, and jokes about his warm public statements toward Putin were already in heavy rotation online. The portmanteau gave those jokes a short, sticky handle to attach to new edits.

How It Spread

In January 2016, a dedicated @Trumputin Twitter account launched, running on a profile picture of Putin wearing Trump's hair and branding itself around 'free markets, free speech' and anti-'global government' talking points3. A Trumputin Facebook page followed on July 28, 2016, collecting Trump-Putin collusion edits in one feed3.

The next day, Redditor alphabets00p submitted a photoshop of Putin holding a toddler with Trump's face to r/EnoughTrumpSpam, titled 'Trumputin 2016 Vanguards of the Oligopoly'2. On January 5, 2017, two weeks ahead of Trump's inauguration, the @trumpmememe Instagram account posted another face-fusion edit that pulled over 680 likes across the following five weeks4. Nine days after that, YouTuber PortraitPainter Pabst uploaded a speed painting titled 'Mr. Trumputin', showing Putin topped with Trump's hair5.

Alongside the images, Urban Dictionary entries landed between 2016 and 2017 that stretched the word into a general-purpose insult for backroom political alliances and blind partisan loyalty6.

Timeline

2015-10-26

@donaldtrumpdoingthings posts the first known Trumputin photoshop on Instagram[1].

2016-01

The @Trumputin Twitter account launches with a Putin-plus-Trump-hair profile picture[3].

2016-07-28

A Trumputin Facebook page launches, collecting Trump-Putin collusion memes[3].

2016-07-29

Redditor alphabets00p posts a Trumputin edit to r/EnoughTrumpSpam[2].

2017-01-05

The @trumpmememe Instagram account posts a Putin-over-Trump face-fusion edit[4].

2017-01-14

YouTuber PortraitPainter Pabst uploads a 'Mr. Trumputin' speed painting[5].

How to Use This Meme

People typically make Trumputin content by face-swapping Putin's features onto Trump (or the reverse), splicing Trump's hair onto Putin, or captioning any Trump-Putin collusion joke with the word. Common conventions include dynasty-style portraits, mock campaign posters, and speed-painting edits that keep one leader's hair and the other's face5.