Donald Trump gives 'covfefe' to the world, Twitter does the rest

Donald Trump once boasted that he has the “best words” in the world. For months, we waited for evidence to back up this claim, even hearing the US president go about calling things “bigly” and “braggadocios”. But we always knew he would come good on his promise. And that moment is finally here.

On Tuesday night, Trump did what he does on Tuesday nights: He had a bit of the strong stuff, and took to Twitter. This time, his target was negative press coverage, so he launched straight into it. “Despite the constant negative press,” he started off, clearly delighted at getting his own back at the fake media.

And then he decided to give a peek show at the fabulous vocabulary he’d told us about all those months ago. He ended the tweet with “covfefe”, leading many to assume it was a word, a theory, a defence of his allegedly chaotic presidential style, and an “alternative fact” all at once. Either that, or the president decided he’s had enough of social media, and had a lot more on his mind then. We shall never know

The only person who can decode this is Trump himself, and in the three hours it has been since the tweet went up, he hasn’t offered any explanations. He also hasn’t deleted the tweet, leading many to assume he is standing by his “best words”. It had, however, notched up an impressive 86,725 retweets and 108,689 favourites, and was only rising.

And Twitter wasn’t done with Trump just yet. The word took on a life of its own, and Twitterati have been frantically adding their own two-bits to it.

The most important debate was over the correct pronunciation.

What is the correct pronunciation of #covfefe?

— Splinter (@splinter_news) May 31, 2017

Or the meaning:

Covfefe: (n.) When you want to say "coverage" but your hand... https://t.co/c03tN3AFx6 pic.twitter.com/xMvcLMMZzd

— Urban Dictionary (@urbandictionary) May 31, 2017

The Meriam-Webster dictionary, which has been often criticised Trump in the past, was also doing its bit.

Wakes up.
Checks Twitter.
.
.
.
Uh...
.
.
.
📈 Lookups fo...
.
.
.
Regrets checking Twitter.
Goes back to bed.

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) May 31, 2017

Comedian Kristina Wong guessed — correctly — that the domain wouldn’t remain in circulation for even 15 minutes.

Goddamit. Someone already bought #Covfefe.com. Probably the Russians. pic.twitter.com/duRrtb41PO

— Kristina Wong 🍆 (@mskristinawong) May 31, 2017

Others were looking to the future already. 

Nine months from now there will be a flood of babies named #Covfefe.

— Zanti Misfit (@ZantiMisfit_) May 31, 2017

Trump was quickly added to the pantheon of the greatest American presidents, alongside JFK.

Some thought back to the meeting in Saudi Arabia, and that creepy photograph. 

While some others thought maybe the US president is far more scientifically attuned than most people give him credit for.