Donald Trump has been the King of Twitter during this presidential campaign. During the primaries he regularly tweeted about “little Marco,” “lyin’ Ted,” and “low energy” Jeb. Now the presumptive Republican nominee continues his attacks on “crooked Hillary.” It’s the 6th grade campaign of insults.
But now Trump’s Democratic opponents have decided to play ball. In the last 24 hours their three-word response to him has set social media on fire.
First Trump attacked Hillary Clinton after she received the endorsement of President Obama:
Obama just endorsed Crooked Hillary. He wants four more years of Obama—but nobody else does!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2016
Clinton calmly responded:
Delete your account. https://t.co/Oa92sncRQY
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 9, 2016
This tweet is Clinton’s most popular ever, with more than 450,000 retweets and over half a million likes in 24 hours.
Trump then on Friday attacked Sen. Elizabeth Warren after she eviscerated him in a speech:
Pocahontas is at it again! Goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of the least productive U.S. Senators, has a nasty mouth. Hope she is V.P. choice.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2016
Warren followed Clinton’s lead and calmly responded:
No, seriously — Delete your account. https://t.co/O1u7oc0jAR
— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) June 10, 2016
“Delete your account” has been effectively used against politicians and celebrities in the past. Think of it as Twitter’s mic-drop. It’s not particularly original twanguage, but when trying to respond to rambling attacks by opponents it is meme-rific.
The Clinton campaign has watched Trump’s use of twitter, and all the free publicity it generates, for months. She has now hired a team of social media experts to engage (some may say provoke) him.
“The Clinton campaign is particularly good at planning to be spontaneous,” Twitter spokesman Nick Pacilio told Politico.
Those who do not have twitter accounts could be missing the most interesting, and entertaining, part of election 2016.