The world has been obsessed with Donald Trump's tweets for well over a year now, and his latest social media rambling is no exception. "Covfefe" is everywhere, with no shortage of jokes and unflattering explanations being levied at the president's expense. Here's the tweet that started it all:
So what does "covfefe" mean? Is it just a bungled spelling of the word "coverage?" Yeah, probably, despite the many joking definitions of the word now vying for supremacy on sites like Urban Dictionary- and of course, the usual hoard of people on Twitter looking to get their one-liners in.
that was the moment Trump became prsiduvhirw pic.twitter.com/fKVPPNVFH0
— Anthony Brian Smith (@AnthonyBLSmith) May 31, 2017
Does no one on staff have his password? Have they tried the most common ones? 123456, or 11111, or, like ... "password"?
— Clive Thompson (@pomeranian99) May 31, 2017
You used to #covfefe me on my cell phone. pic.twitter.com/rkp5r9XDJ0
— Matt Slevinsky (@_MATTATTAK) May 31, 2017
This is #covfefe translated from Russian. pic.twitter.com/1Im7ZzLO0Y
— Kristina Wong ❄️ (@mskristinawong) May 31, 2017
Are you suffering from small, dysfunctional... "hands"? Ask your doctor if #covfefe is right for you! pic.twitter.com/k28gQnnYzt
— Morgan Stuart (@MorganTStuart) May 31, 2017
It's been less than 12 hours since @realDonaldTrump 's peculiar #covfefe tweet, and meanwhile the internet's gone meme-crazy @MikkelHaastrup pic.twitter.com/Dr9SosFF2J
— Maja Forever Still (@MajaShining) May 31, 2017
I wonder if that's what President Trump had in mind when he essentially embroiled the whole of the Internet in a meme contest.
Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ??? Enjoy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017
On a more serious note, the true meaning of "covfefe" might be that Trump needs to stop spending so much of his time on Twitter. His recent string of visits in the Middle East and with NATO allies saw a positive bump in Trump's polling numbers, a time when he was notably inactive on social media. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Regardless of your personal views on the matter, it appears as those close to Trump are taking the hint, and deliberately trying to limit his "screen time."
A recent piece on the news site Axios cited top White House officials as saying, "the key to forcing a more disciplined President Trump like the one onstage overseas is limiting his screen time. In Trump's case, it's curtailing his time watching TV and banging out tweets on his iPhone. Trump himself has been pushing staff to give him more free time. But staff does everything it can to load up his schedule to keep him from getting worked up watching cable coverage, which often precipitates his tweets. It has worked well overseas so far."
While Trump is as eager as ever to lambast his perceived enemies on social media, it seems that those around him want him to stay focused- a reasonable thing to expect from any man his age, let alone one with presidential responsibilities. If that's the case, his advisers will have to come up with creative ways to hold his attention and curb his reactive tendencies. Perhaps they should buy him a fidget spinner.
