Donald Trump is known to dish out attacks Twitter against opposition, people he doesn’t like, and the media. One state senator answered with harsh words of his own.
Pennsylvania State Senator Daylin Leach took to Twitter, often Trump’s medium of choice, to call out the president. Leach had a few choice adjectives for Trump, including “s— gibbon.”
Leach’s comments were a response to Trump after the president made a joke during a White House meeting with several county sheriffs. A Texas sheriff complained about a state senator who introduced legislation that would require suspects to be convicted of a crime before law enforcement could seize those suspects’ assets.
Trump responded, “Who is the state senator? Do you want to give his name? We’ll destroy his career.” The comment elicited laughs from the sheriffs.
Leach, who also opposes civil asset forfeiture, dared Trump to come after him on Twitter.
Hey @realDonaldTrump I oppose civil asset forfeiture too! Why don't you try to destroy my career you fascist, loofa-faced, shit-gibbon!
— Daylin Leach (@daylinleach) February 7, 2017
Leach’s flowery language directed at the president got the attention of his supporters, but perhaps the strangest part of the whole statement is the final word of the tweet.
The term “s–t-gibbon” has roots on the Internet, and this isn’t its first usage, but tracing what it exactly means is tougher to do. Online resources like Urban Dictionary are at something of a loss to explain the term — the two entries available now basically say, “Donald Trump.”
Analyzing the term might require breaking it down further. The first word is obvious. The second, “gibbon,” likely refers to a family of small primates found in Southeast Asia. Gibbons are smaller than the species known as the Great Apes, which include gorillas, chimpanzees and humans.
There’s also a song released in the 1975 by British comedian group, The Goodies, called “Funky Gibbon.” The song features a gibbon-inspired dance. The single was re-released in 2010 to help raise money to help protect gibbons.
It seems likely that Leach was invoking the primate when he used that particular term. For now, it seems the rest of the meaning of the tweet is left for the Internet to imagine.