Entertainment

This comedy writer found the perfect way to respond to Donald Trump’s tweets

Saturday Night Live writer Josh Patten found a personal touch worked best when responding to the president.
Saturday Night Live writer Josh Patten found a personal touch worked best when responding to the president. Saturday Night Live writer Josh Patten found a personal touch worked best when responding to the president.

A US comedy writer has developed an ingenious way to respond to tweets from Donald Trump: by treating them like personal texts.

Josh Patten, who writes for the hit NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live (SNL), started trolling the president with innocuous messages that have the tone of a close friend or relative.

President Trump in Paris on July 14 (hristophe Archambault/AP)

When Trump announced that he would be present at the Women’s US Open on July 15, Patten replied: “Ok text if you need anything,” and has been routinely replying to updates about the president’s travel schedule with similarly tongue-in-cheek responses.

There was the president’s trip to France:

His long hours, which cut into his TV time:

Donald Junior’s appearance on the Sean Hannity show:

Trump’s defence of his son’s political tactics:

His return to Washington:

And trouble in the approval ratings:

But despite their personal tone, Patten’s replies have gathered a rather more public appeal over recent days, with many receiving hundreds of likes in a matter of hours.

The writer, who hasn’t given any indication of how long he intends to keep the joke going, has described the prank as an “incredibly stupid project”, but its simplicity belies a certain comic genius that emerges in the texts’ apparent innocence.

You have to have to admit: it’s pretty funny.