I thought it was 45*
No, that’s the complex conjugate of Donald Trump.
“I don’t know, Dad. Senator Jackson has often referred to me as Number 2.”
“He’s not talking about the order of presidents, son.”
Twitter. Twitter requires an economy of language and 45 is three letters shorter than Trump. Trump is the first president to start his first term with Twitter being a culturally dominant form of communication (and Trump himself is a Twitter personality, of course.) I wouldn’t be surprised if this convention of Twitter has percolated outside into more staid discourses.
My recollection is that it started during GWB’s presidency within the Bush family as a jokingly way for them to refer to one another.
I saved a copy of the iconic Newsweek cover when Obama was elected in 2008.
My good friend and cousin, just refer to him as “it”. 45 is way to dignified.
But they’re missing out on calling him Dolt 45
This is how I understand it. Using 45 keeps his name from trending as highly on Twitter, etc., as he might like so yeah, it is all about poking the narcissist with a stick.
Sounds like a reasonable explanation for why it has become so popular.
I’ve seen an internet meme: Dolt 45, day drinking since January 20!
I would’ve been cool with comparing the Clinton42 and Clinton45 administrations.
Um…Barry Soetoro? First I’ve heard of that one. For that matter, I must have missed Obambi as well. 
Barry Soetoro gives hits to 21 threads just here at the Dope and 377,000 on Google. For Obambi it’s 7 and 151,000. That’s some impressive missing.
Damn, you’re old. But then again, so am I. 
I refer to him as 45 because I refuse to give him the respect of the title PRESIDENT. I’ll call him Trump, Drumpf or 45. That’s it.
Edgy
Yes, having principles is like being an edgelord. You’ve totally figured it all out.
I bet that seemed like quite the burn in your head before you typed it out.
Wow. Not everyone makes an oblique cross reference back to a cult-followed, British, esoteric sequel television series from 1967.
As for the whole numbering the President thing, it does seem to be a relatively recent thing, NOT an insult at all, boosted more than anything else by the urge of commentators to look neato-keen, while referring to the two Bushes.
I’d suggest that the primary reason for it, IS the “I want to seem clever while I talk about the Presidents” thing. It’s the main reasons for a LOT of popular slang, including the insult stuff.
People who say things like “Obozo” or “Shrub” and so on, never do it because they think that by insulting someone casually, that their opinions will be taken more seriously. They aren’t THAT idiotic. They do it as a way to signal the other prejudiced people in the audience that they are also really cool guys.