On the morning of June 8, there was only ONE tweet that Donald Trump had ‘liked’ on Twitter. The tweet was a reference to the June 7 episode of Insecure on HBO. It’s unclear if the ‘liking’ of the tweet was an accident, or done on purpose, but either way, viewers of the show were totally caught off guard. One fan even took a screenshot of Trump’s ‘like’ and tagged the show’s stars, Issa Rae and Natasha Rothwell.
what the fuck is this
— Issa Rae (@IssaRae) June 8, 2020
“What the f*** is this,” Issa, who also co-created the show, wrote, in response to seeing Trump’s ‘like.’ Kumail Nanjiani also jokingly tweeted about the situation, “Well I found one thing I have in common with [Trump]: We’re both big fans of Issa Rae.” In response to that, Issa posted a GIF that said, “Don’t say that. Shhh. Shh!”
Kumail. pic.twitter.com/AffVxhhjKk
— Issa Rae (@IssaRae) June 8, 2020
Trump’s ‘liking’ of a tweet about Insecure sparked a widespread conversation on Twitter about whether or not the president watches the HBO series. “The revelation that Trump watches Insecure is so mind-shattering,” someone tweeted. “I don’t know how to process this.” Someone else wrote, “So Trump is just in his bunker watching Insecure while we all out here fighting for human rights???”
The timing of the ‘like’ heightened the public’s reaction even further, though. The June 7 episode aired amidst a widespread call for justice following the death of George Floyd on May 25. Floyd was killed while being arrested by a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, in Minneapolis. Chauvin was charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
In the aftermath of George’s death, protests broke out across the United States. At first, some of the demonstrations became violent, and Trump threatened to send in the National Guard. He also tweeted, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” and was flagged for ‘glorifying violence’ on Twitter. It was also reported that Trump spent nearly an hour in an emergency bunker when protests broke out outside the White House. Naturally, he has received extreme backlash for how he’s handled what’s been going on.