Donald Trump made China a repeated focus of his speeches and debates during his 2015 and 2016 campaign, and short clips of him saying the word were quickly edited into compilations and remixes online. Earrape versions took that trend further by boosting and distorting audio for comic shock value, a style popular on YouTube and meme soundboards in the mid 2010s. Pairing the phrase with a final countdown structure gave editors a simple build and payoff that still works for parody, reaction and bait and switch videos.