Only President Trump knows what was going through his mind — and his smartphone — when he tapped out a confusing statement containing the non-word “covfefe” just after midnight.
He deleted the message early Wednesday morning, then tweeted again, just after 6 a.m., seemingly to make fun of his confounding “covfefe” tweet.
Enjoy, indeed: As The Washington Post's Travis M. Andrews reported, the original “covfefe” tweet was retweeted more than 127,000 times and “liked” more than 162,000 times within six hours — “making it one of his most popular tweets in months. By then it had become a massive Internet joke.”
Among the people getting in on the action: other politicians in the nation's capital.
It got kind of ugly.
Some not-so-politely pointed out that “covfefe” was not an actual word, although nobody noted it was unbecoming of the president of the United States.
No Mr President covfefe is not a valid word. #POTUSplayingScrabble https://t.co/j89J4IGXUl
— US Rep Brendan Boyle (@RepBrendanBoyle) May 31, 2017
Others offered definitions of what they thought the president was trying to convey.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) pointed out that the Twitter faux pas came just hours after the nation learned that Trump's White House communications director had resigned (although Swalwell incorrectly said Mike Dubke was fired).
In other news, today the President fired his communications director. #DIY https://t.co/P5l5rPGXrr
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) May 31, 2017
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) provided a salty sample definition:
If it was, Mr. President, I'd implore you to "Covfefe, already -- for goodness sake."
— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) May 31, 2017
And Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) took a shot at Trump's ongoing Russia scandal.
"Covfefe" is Russian for "please don't release those Kompromat tapes!" https://t.co/w7D33Nq0Pb
— Rep. Jared Huffman (@JaredHuffman) May 31, 2017
Then there was Rep. Ted Lieu, the California Democrat who has become something of a political star by trying to out-tweet Trump.
His 37-character response to the tweet mocked 'round the world:
Yrsvjseubpihfcovswtvnjhgfefesxnklimnq
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) May 31, 2017
A look at President Trump’s first six months in office
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