At the end of a bitter election season that left many Americans devastated by Donald Trump’s win, some citizens of the bluest state on Hillary Clinton’s map took to social media to call for secession from the U.S.
The hashtag #Calexit trended on Twitter, recalling Brexit in its appeal to break off from the union. Another popular moniker: #Caleavefornia. Some took a serious approach, like venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar: “If Trump wins,” he wrote, “I am announcing and funding a legitimate campaign for California to become its own nation.”
He and others called California the sixth largest economy in the world and suggested it could be a serious player on the national stage. Others took a more lighthearted approach, with one Twitter user joking, “We’ll just take our avocados and legal weed and go.”
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