An 11-year-old boy called Joshua Trump who was invited by his presidential namesake to his State of the Union speech fell asleep and has been hailed as a hero of the anti-Trump resistance.

Joshua Trump, a middle-school student from Delaware, was invited to the delayed event by Melania Trump. He dropped out of school after being bullied because of his last name.

As cameras panned to the audience, the boy could be seen napping while Donald Trump renewed his promise to build a US-Mexico border and declared illegal immigration “an urgent national crisis”.

Donald Trump's 2019 State of the Union address – video highlights

One Twitter user, who posted a screenshot of the younger Trump asleep, wrote: “JOSHUA TRUMP RULES.”

“Joshua Trump, welcome to the resistance,” said another.

Joshua Trump, welcome to the resistance pic.twitter.com/kOJltEMykV — M (@DJDOGPIC) February 6, 2019

In reference to Trump’s “executive time”, in which, according to a leaked schedule, the president spends nearly 60% of his scheduled time at the White House enjoying, the user later added: “Everybody needs a little executive time.”

JOSHUA TRUMP RULES pic.twitter.com/Opc88adMfB — Josh Weinberg (@josh_weinberg) February 6, 2019

Jeffrey Evan Gold tweeted: “All of us were Joshua Trump Midway through President (no relation) Trump’s State of the Union.”

All of us were Joshua Trump Midway through President (no relation) Trump's State of the Union. pic.twitter.com/62Cq07a639 — Jeffrey Evan Gold (@jeffgoldesq) February 6, 2019

Another user quipped: “Joshua Trump is the only good Trump.”

Joshua Trump is the only good Trump. pic.twitter.com/AZXatGpHkl — Joe Kassabian (@jkass99) February 6, 2019

Joshua’s parents told WPVI-TV that his classmates had called him an “idiot” and “stupid” for sharing the president’s last name. Although they took him out of school in 2017 to homeschool him, when he returned for middle school the following year the bullying persisted.

His mother, Megan Trump, signed him up for a different school bus to avoid students who were teasing him but on the first trip the driver questioned him about his name.