As is now typical in the Trump era, Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, made a mistake on Twitter, then turned around and blamed Twitter and accused the company of having an “anti-Trump agenda.”
You just can’t make this stuff up.
It was, decidedly, no such thing. It was just a typo, followed by an opportunistic prank by an improv actor in Atlanta.
Last Friday, Giuliani — by failing to put a space after a period, and starting the next sentence with the word “In” — had inadvertently created a hyperlink.
Mueller filed an indictment just as the President left for https://t.co/8ZNrQ6X29a July he indicted the Russians who will never come here just before he left for Helsinki.Either could have been done earlier or later. Out of control!Supervision please?
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) November 30, 2018
In a tweet yesterday, Giuliani refused to acknowledge his mistake, instead complaining the social network had “allowed someone to invade my text with a disgusting anti-President message.”
Twitter allowed someone to invade my text with a disgusting anti-President message. The same thing-period no space-occurred later and it didn’t happen. Don’t tell me they are not committed cardcarrying anti-Trumpers. Time Magazine also may fit that description. FAIRNESS PLEASE
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) December 5, 2018
In fact, when Jason Velazquez, 37, who owns a web design firm in Atlanta, saw the tweet, he immediately bought the domain for about $5.
He then created a page with a simple message, which anyone who clicked on Giuliani’s accidental link would see: “Donald J. Trump is a traitor to our country.”
The whole process took him about 15 minutes, Velazquez told The New York Times.
It was the type of throwaway gag that entertains Twitter users for a few hours before forever fading from memory.
But Giuliani preserved it in amber by following up Tuesday with the baseless accusation against Twitter, which has often been the subject of bias complaints from Republicans.
He characterized it as evidence that Twitter employees were “cardcarrying anti-Trumpers.”
A Twitter spokesman said “the accusation that we’re artificially injecting something into a tweet is completely false.”
The company does not have the ability to edit users’ tweets, he said.
As to Giuliani’s argument that the second “period no space” instance in his original tweet didn’t create a similar link, that’s because Helsinki.Either, so far, is not a working domain.
Velazquez said when he saw Giuliani’s follow-up, he was bewildered.
“He could have deleted it and everyone would have forgotten about it, my tweet would have stopped going viral,” he said. “Instead he tweeted about it and created a conspiracy theory against Twitter.”
Many Twitter users couldn’t resist noting that Giuliani, who spent 16 years as a security consultant, was originally brought into the Trump administration as a cybersecurity adviser.
President’s CYBERSECURITY advisor doesn’t understand hyperlinks???
— Danny Rojas (@DanieltheRed79) December 5, 2018
is your VCR clock also blinking “12:00”
— Steve Agee (@steveagee) December 5, 2018
Have you tried learning how the internet works? Might be a good place to start. Especially since you’re Trumps cyber security advisor. https://t.co/zo9oN4TZcU
— JerryRigEverything (@ZacksJerryRig) December 5, 2018
News flash Rudy: Nobody allowed anyone to “invade” your tweet. You have a habit of not placing spaces between your words and characters which led to the opportunity of simply buying the domain & posting the obvious truth.
— Inmate Trump (@realTrumpClone) December 5, 2018
Rudy took awhile to set up hos new computer on The Inter-Webs. pic.twitter.com/qW4gip4L9I
— The Brofucius (@TheBrofucius) December 5, 2018
DT: “I want you to be my cybersecurity advisor.”
RG: “What is fiber security?”
DT: “Not fiber, cyber.”
RG: “I do enjoy a nice bran muffin every now and then.”
DT: “Screw it you’re hired just don’t say anything bad about me.”— Gene the Cow (@VladHammer) December 5, 2018
— Emoco (@emoco) December 5, 2018
https://t.co/1BshYWNTQO an https://t.co/F0Q7VDHlWD.t
— Oren Kessler (@OrenKessler) December 5, 2018
First, you typed something that someone took advantage of….you weren’t hacked. Second, you of all people asking for fairness is rich. Please stop embarrassing yourself and binding yourself to a president that will surely throw you under the bus as soon as it meets his needs.
— aldamar (@aldamar11) December 5, 2018
You are not good at knowing or doing things.
— Ray Cumberland (@courier11sec) December 5, 2018
You might want to learn how Twitter works.
And the Internet.
And take responsibility for your own mistakes.
— Alex Stein (@coldfootfilms) December 5, 2018
It’s sad how sincere you are about this. Almost makes me feel sorry for you… Almost.
— The Opened Mirror (@theopenedmirror) December 5, 2018
It’s not uncommon for political figures to display a lack of understanding regarding the machinery of the internet.
Ted Stevens, a former senator from Alaska, was roundly mocked in 2006 when he described the internet as “a series of tubes.”