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Trump cryptic tweet 'covfefe' trends on Twitter
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US President Donald Trump hosts an event for military mothers on National Military Spouse Appreciation Day with is wife, first lady Melania Trump, in the East Room of the White Hosue on May 12 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP/Chip Somodevilla)
N
ot for the first time, a Donald Trump tweet has lit up the internet. But this time, users the world over have been left scratching their heads over "covfefe": a bizarre word apparently created by the president.
"Despite the constant negative press covfefe," read the US leader's short tweet sent early Wednesday.
Trump deleted his #covfefe Tweet.😂Too late, now the whole world is laughing at you. Thanks for the laughter, and keep the #covfefe coming.😂 pic.twitter.com/6Tw8Y9AeAL
— Voice of Reason (@raggapegs) May 31, 2017
Was it an acronym? A secret message? Or just a typo?
Wags around the world weighed in with biting sarcasm, and #covfefe quickly became the top trending item on Twitter.
Comments included a mock Google translation of "covfefe" from Russian into English as "I resign," and comments like "Drain the covfefe" -- a play on Trump's promise to "drain the swamp" in Washington.
This is #covfefe translated from Russian. pic.twitter.com/1Im7ZzLO0Y
— Kristina Wong ❄️ (@mskristinawong) May 31, 2017
"'Covfefe is a great word, period! - Sean Spicer tomorrow," read one tweet, mentioning the president's spokesman.
Read also: Michael Moore filming new documentary on Donald Trump
To avoid confusion, the Regent's English Language Center in London wrote: "To all of our English language students, we can confirm that 'covfefe' is not an English word. Yet."
To all of our English language students, we can confirm that "covfefe" is not an English word.
Yet. #Covfefe
— Regent's English (@regentslingo) May 31, 2017
More than five hours later the tweet had been neither corrected nor deleted, nor was there any hint of what Trump was trying to say.
At 0910 GMT Trump's "covfefe" tweet had more than 120,000 retweets and had been shared 39,000 times, according to Twitter figures.
Then, around 0945 GMT, the mysterious tweet was deleted. There was no explanation.
Since entering office, Trump has used Twitter to issue declarations on everything from Arnold Schwarzenegger's TV performance to an alleged "MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany."
