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Smocking Guns? Covfefes?
Trump's 'Smocking Gun' becomes mocking fun (for some) Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic Published 1:28 p.m. MT Dec. 10, 2018 Who among us hasn’t made an embarrassing typo that practically burned down the internet? Hmm. Most of us, probably. But President Donald Trump certainly did that Monday, tweeting, “ ‘Democrats can’t find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony. No Smocking Gun … No Collusion.’ @Fox News. That’s because there was NO COLLUSION. So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,...” Donald J. TrumpTrump meant no smoking gun, presumably, but who knows? He did type "smocking" twice, after all. Whatever the case, the Smocking Gun quickly turned into the Mocking Fun as Twitter lit up with teasing, taunts and the occasional defense. “Smocking Gun” quickly started trending on Twitter. And it wasn’t pretty. Actress Mia Farrow tweeted a picture of a gun made of embroidery. Mia FarrowSome people used the typo to reference earlier ones: “My covfefe is smocking hot this morning.” Matthew KickRep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) took things more seriously, tweeting, “While it’s fun to mock #SmockingGun & the spelling skills of stable genius, here's a key fact: @realDonaldTrump has now moved from saying there is no evidence of collusion to there is no smoking gun. Mueller hasn't yet revealed what he knows & Trump is moving the goalposts again.” Ted Lieu
Donald J. TrumpPerhaps best of all was the response by Merriam-Webster, whose Twitter-mocking game is sorely underrated. The dictionary company tweeted: “Today in Spellcheck Can’t Save You: 'Smocking' is a type of embroidery made of many small folds sewn into place.’” Merriam-WebsterAs ever, there was no other context. You’re either in the know or you’re not (which makes it all the funnier). Most of us have made embarrassing typos. I once wrote the word “shirt” without the R, and it made it into the newspaper. Response was … extensive. And unforgiving. But most of us aren’t the president. And as Lieu points out, this is serious business. I re-read texts to my kids about 15 times before I send them to make sure I don’t make some bone-headed mistake. (Note: method not foolproof.) You’d think if you were going to tweet something to your 56 million followers, you’d give it a once-over. Or was it intentional? A few folks deemed it so, saying that Trump was, in his own way, mocking everyone who opposes him. Interesting theory. Not being able to type with your thumbs doesn’t disqualify anyone from being president. Not being able to spell, period, doesn’t — it’s not like you have to pass a written test to get elected. But Trump does brag a lot about being the smartest guy in the room. If you’re going to mock (smock?) other people, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re not giving them fodder to refute you. Trump will get around to defending it at some point. But we’ll long be on to the next thing by then. And that’s probably the point. Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.
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