--- ---  # Donald Trump Referred to 'Local Milk People.' The Internet Took It From There by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 3, 2017 6:38 PM UTC  Woman checking ingredients on back of milk carton in supermarket Woman checking ingredients on back of milk carton in supermarketFangXiaNuo—Getty Images/iStockphoto by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 3, 2017 6:38 PM UTC Newly published transcripts of January [phone calls between President Trump and the leaders of Mexico and Australia](http://time.com/4885703/donald-trump-phone-call-transcripts-mexico-australia/) didn’t just give people an opportunity to see how Trump discussed matters with [international leaders](http://time.com/4885415/italy-naval-mission-migrant-smuggling/) at the time. One conversational snippet has given the internet a primo meme opportunity. Published Thursday by the Washington [_Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/australia-mexico-transcripts/), the transcripts showed that Trump had a combative conversation Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull about a plan to accept hundreds of refugees from offshore detention centers near to Australia. “I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they are in prison right now. They are not going to be wonderful people who go on to work for the local milk people,” Trump said, seemingly a reference to the massive U.S. dairy industry. That milk snippet was all the internet needed to turn it into a meme full of all the dairy product-themed jokes. > [](https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/893103787686100998) > [](https://twitter.com/Barneymanirl/status/893112474295296001) > [](https://twitter.com/JillianSed/status/893112317482860545) > [](https://twitter.com/gregorybrothers/status/893160901171458048) > [](https://twitter.com/gilbertjasono/status/893122254070050816) The topic of cookies, another business Trump gave airtime to during the presidential debates of 2016 popped up too. > [](https://twitter.com/HaroldItz/status/893144982357512192) A band name was born. > [](https://twitter.com/petridishes/status/893118001024774145) > [](https://twitter.com/brbarrett/status/893102905280139265) > [](https://twitter.com/Papapishu/status/893117048515170308) > [](https://twitter.com/AliWatkins/status/893123853660106752) > [](https://twitter.com/ObsoleteDogma/status/893108680396337155) Those iconic collectible milk print ads made an appearance. > [](https://twitter.com/courtenlow/status/893170131949506565) Donald Trump: Local Milk People Comment Inspires Viral Meme ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4886389/trump-local-milk-people-meme/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4886389/trump-local-milk-people-meme/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Referred to 'Local Milk People.' The Internet Took It From There","datePublished":"2017-08-03T18:38:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:46:08.927Z","description":"Trump's comment about local milk people leaked from a conversation about refugees has become a viral meme.","url":"https://time.com/4886389/trump-local-milk-people-meme/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Australia","politics","viral","Donald Trump","food and drink","memes","trump","Business"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f447535b091a3c5/6988bf6286f68e0b696e3ef0/florida-skim-milk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f447535b091a3c5/6988bf6286f68e0b696e3ef0/florida-skim-milk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Woman checking ingredients on back of milk carton in supermarket","caption":"Woman checking ingredients on back of milk carton in supermarket","creditText":"FangXiaNuo—Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4886389/trump-local-milk-people-meme/","name":"Donald Trump Referred to 'Local Milk People.' The Internet Took It From There"}}]}] ```