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.
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.
sorry just seeing this
— Josh Patten (@thejoshpatten) July 17, 2017
There was the president’s trip to France:
looks like fun you should go to the louvre if you have time
— Josh Patten (@thejoshpatten) July 13, 2017
His long hours, which cut into his TV time:
that sucks but if you do find some time check out stranger things
— Josh Patten (@thejoshpatten) July 12, 2017
Donald Junior’s appearance on the Sean Hannity show:
I missed it how'd it go
— Josh Patten (@thejoshpatten) July 12, 2017
Trump’s defence of his son’s political tactics:
Oh for sure. Any good info?
— Josh Patten (@thejoshpatten) July 17, 2017
His return to Washington:
Oh cool, I used to live in DC
— Josh Patten (@thejoshpatten) July 17, 2017
And trouble in the approval ratings:
ugh that sucks
— Josh Patten (@thejoshpatten) July 16, 2017
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.
cool think I'm just gonna make some pasta
— Josh Patten (@thejoshpatten) July 19, 2017
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.
whoa whoa whoa lot to process here
— Josh Patten (@thejoshpatten) July 19, 2017
You have to have to admit: it’s pretty funny.