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Donald Trump’s 2015 tweet about intern’s ‘accidental’ retweet resurfaces amid Obama video row
A video depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama was shared on Donald Trump’s Truth Social profile.
A nearly decade-old tweet by Donald Trump has resurfaced on social media, gaining fresh traction amid the ongoing Obama video row. The 2015 post, in which Trump attributed a controversial retweet to a "young intern", has been widely circulated by social media users.
What is the recent row?
A video was posted on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account and stayed online for nearly 12 hours before being deleted amid massive backlash. The video depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The White House initially rejected "fake outrage" over the video. However, it was later labelled as an error by a staff member. "A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down," a White House official told AFP.
Trump, while speaking to the media, condemned the video but blamed a staffer for posting it. When asked if he would apologise, the president said, “I didn’t make a mistake.”
What is the 2015 tweet?
“The young intern who accidentally did a Retweet apologizes,” Donald Trump posted on October 23, 2015. According to CNN, he blamed the intern for retweeting a post that suggested that Iowans were dumb for favouring Trump’s then-opponent, Ben Carson, in the polls. Trump’s tweet about the intern appeared after he faced intense backlash on social media.
Social media reacts:
American film producer Franklin Leonard reposted the 2015 tweet and wrote, “He’s been using this excuse for more than ten years, and y’all are still falling for it.”
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Leonard’s post prompted a series of reactions. An individual wrote, “Good find. There is always a tweet.”
Another commented, “Why wouldn't you give an inexperienced intern the password and free rein of the President of the United States' social media account?” A third posted, “Problem is, now we can’t be sure who is posting on Trump’s account, which posts are Trump himself and which are done by staffers or interns.”
