On Monday morning, following last week’s revelations in court documents linking Donald Trump to felonies committee by his former lawyer as well as to possible collusion with Russia — revelations that, as Inquisit r reported, some experts say could ultimately put Trump behind bars — Trump took to his preferred form of self-expression, Twitter, to attack the Russia investigation, attempting to say that no “smoking gun” had been found tying him to Russian collusion.
Except, as the Inquisitr noted, in the Twitter post in which he used the phrase, Trump spelled the word “smoking” incorrectly — instead spelling the word as “smocking.” And Trump misspelled the simple, seven-letter word not just once in the tweet, but twice.
In fact, setting to rest any speculation that the error was simply a typographical error, a search of Trump’s past postings using the Trump Twitter Archive database illustrates that Monday’s Twitter post was not the first time that Trump spelled “smoking” as “smocking” on Twitter. He also made the misspelling on August 1, in a tweet that has since been deleted, making him — as author and Twitter user Jessica Shortall punned — “a chain smocker.”
But Shortall was just one of hundreds of Twitter users who posted messages Monday, ridiculing Trump’s misspelling of “smoking.” This was to be a long list, one that included a number of celebrities and prominent people — such as actress Mia Farrow, Star Trek star George Takei, and even Monica Lewinsky, who became famous as the White House intern who had a sexual affair with President Bill Clinton.
“Smocking Gun” pic.twitter.com/zAhsDBOtFI
— Mia Farrow ???? (@MiaFarrow) December 10, 2018
No Smocking, please. ???
— Monica Lewinsky (she/her) (@MonicaLewinsky) December 10, 2018
I’m curious about this Smocking Gun. Is that related to the Red Hearing? https://t.co/uDvADJsTBB
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) December 10, 2018
Comedian Kathy Griffin critiqued Trump via Twitter , and even Merriam-Webster got in on the fun, as did Two and a Half men Star Jon Cryer.
Well, technically he’s right.
There is no smocking gun.
Because there’s no such thing as a smocking gun.
Because our president is a moron.
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) December 10, 2018
Even the Merriam-Webster Dictionary editors had their say.
Today in Spellcheck Can’t Save You:
‘Smocking’ is a type of embroidery made of many small folds sewn into place. https://t.co/3wbxPG24ne
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) December 10, 2018
Another Twitter user was reminded of the 1973 hit song “ The Joker ” by The Steve Miller Band.
“I’m a jocker, I’m a smocker, I’m a midnight tocker…” (I’m sure someone’s already posted this, but I’m not scrolling through 30k replies to find it). ?
— Elton Johnny Dangerously (@DesertPlains496) December 10, 2018
Southern moms everywhere, “They make a smocking gun? Where can I get one?” https://t.co/J30o4g27B0
— Amy Yurkanin (@AmyKingsley4) December 10, 2018
Art teachers should be equipped with smocking guns.
— Josh Comers (@joshcomers) December 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/jemimah_knight/status/1072129316509630465
A smocking gun sounds like something a well-prepared contestant would bring to Project Runway
— Adam Feldman (@FeldmanAdam) December 10, 2018
Ultra-conservative radio host Bill Mitchell, however, saw Trump’s “smocking” tweet as a deliberate way to provoke liberals.
https://twitter.com/mitchellvii/status/1072161161947303937
And others, including California congressional rep Ted Lieu, lawyer George Conway — husband of Trump adviser and spokesperson Kellyanne Conway — and Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe were less interested in Trump’s apparent inability to spell “smoking” correctly, and more concerned with the substance of Trump’s Twitter post.
No, the criminal campaign-finance violations were found by professional line prosecutors in a Republican-controlled United States Department of Justice. It looks like a pretty good case. Kudos to them. https://t.co/PrtXErjcVI
— George Conway? (@gtconway3d) December 10, 2018
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. https://t.co/ooqxr1JxaM
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) December 10, 2018
This tweet is itself a SMOKING GUN: Saying it was wrong to call his payments a “campaign contribution” implies he’s known all along that he wanted to make a campaign “expenditure” while hiding it from voters by funneling it off the books by contributing to a shell company https://t.co/yMkdBJoRDa
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) December 10, 2018
Finally, for the second time in three days, Trump found himself trolled on Twitter by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling.
The world’s in such a state, I almost feel like taking up smocking again. pic.twitter.com/zJCqYtjluv
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 10, 2018
As Inquisitr reported, Rowling mocked an earlier Trump tweetstorm on Saturday, via her own Twitter account. Trump’s frequent Twitter use has become a mainstay of his communications strategy with voters, and is frequently the topic of much discussion whenever the president deigns to offer his thoughts via the popular social media platform.
