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Trump 'covfefe' tweet sparks fresh concerns over White House security

Donald Trump has 31 million Twitter followers - REUTERS
Donald Trump has 31 million Twitter followers - REUTERS

Donald Trump’s midnight tweet was as cryptic as it was divisive. For more than five hours, people tried to decipher what the leader of the free world meant with his message: “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.”

By the time it was deleted at about 6am it had become something of a presidential Rorschach test, derided by Mr Trump’s critics as yet another symptom of a chaotic White House where officials lack the power to delete a garbled message but dismissed by supporters as an inconsequential distraction from the real business of making America great again.

Twitter users were puzzled by Mr Trump's cryptic tweet - Credit: AP Photo
Twitter users were puzzled by Mr Trump's cryptic tweet Credit: AP Photo

Mr Trump himself tried to laugh it off, as if he had not simply mispelled “coverage” and gone to bed without noticing he had posted an unfinished message.

“Who can figure out the true meaning of 'covfefe' ??? Enjoy,” he tweeted in the morning.

But his blunder comes at an awkward time. His administration has been unable to escape the shadow of allegations that Mr Trump’s campaign had links with Russia, this week his communications director resigned and there is talk that a messaging reboot could include a team of lawyers vetting his tweets before they are posted to avoid any legal issues.

Rich Galen, who served as press secretary for Dan Quayle when the former Vice President was a Senator, said it was another example of Mr Trump managing to disrupt his own messaging op eration.

“If it were a standalone thing it would just be amusing. Everyone would laugh about it for a day and then let it go,” he said. “The problem is that it indicates a wider problem in being able to have a message and then control that message.”

The odd episode sent Twitter users to the Merriam-Webster dictionary account for a definition of “covfefe”. They did not get clarification but did draw a response.

Twitter diplomacy | Trump's foreign policy tweets
Twitter diplomacy | Trump's foreign policy tweets

“Wakes up. Checks Twitter... Uh.... Lookups fo(r)... Regrets checking Twitter. Goes back to bed,” wrote the @MerriamWebster account amid a slew of possible definitions and jokes.

White House officials did not reply to a request for comment as many observers wondered why no-one had stepped in to delete the tweet from the account.

Jeanne Zaino, professor of political science at Iona College, said the buck appeared to stop with the president.

“You’d be hard pressed to imagine that Donald Trump would let his business operate this way.”

John Feehery, a Republican communications strategist who has done his fair share of cleaning up after political missteps, said deleting a tweet was a sensitive business for any aide, and more so for anyone working for a leader who sees Twitter as a way of presenting his authentic voice to the nation.

“Politicians like to think of themselves as infallible,” he said.

“There’s also an authenticity thing here that is appealing – you have a direct pipeline to what the president is thinking. The president also believes in cellphone diplomacy. He picks up the phone and calls people.”

Mr Trump used Twitter to impressive effect during his unconventional White House run. And he has continued to it as a powerful weapon in office, haranguing Lockheed Martin for the price of its F-35 fighter jet programme, for example.

There has been one concession, however. He appears to have traded his off-the-shelf Samsung phone for a new iPhone loaded with just a single app for tweeting.

That gives him instant access to his 31 million followers and much of his base.

But when it came to condemning Friday’s horrific attack on a Portland train by a knife-wielding Islamophobe, he chose a different channel. That message was delivered on his official Potus account which has 18 million followers and a rather different audience.

At the same time, it has emerged that Mr Trump has been giving out his mobile phone number to world leaders and asking them to call him directly, according to officials.

The practice breaks all diplomatic protocol as well as causing a headache for security officials charged with keeping his communications secure.

So far only Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, has called him on the number.