On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump baffled Twitter users by agreeing with himself as if he were a different person on the platform. The president quote-tweeted his own post from Thursday, adding a "So true!" at the top. Some wondered if the president had even noticed that it was his own tweet he was responding to.
Trump is an avid Twitter user, known for making typos and other blunders on the app as much as he is known for his rhetoric there. He often engages with his followers and supporters, particularly other politicians and pundits expressing agreement with him. However, on Saturday, he proved who his greatest ally truly is: himself. He retweeted his own post about the Democratic party.
"The Radical Left Democrats: First they try to take away your guns. Then they try to take away your police!" he wrote at the time. Apparently, Trump believed those words were as true on Saturday as they were on Thursday when he re-posted them.
Trump was responding to the growing calls to "defund the police" in cities across the U.S., where residents believe their police departments have over-sized budgets — especially compared with other social services. This is wrapped up with protests against police violence and systemic racism.
Naturally, the idea of defunding the police has shocked those on both sides of the political spectrum who are hearing it for the first time. However, the idea is not as simple or as new as it sounds. Many activists are now promoting comprehensive alternatives to conventional policing structures, which would include more social workers, medics and other first responders. Trump remains opposed to the idea, as he assured his followers on Saturday morning when he retweeted himself. Here is a look at how Twitter is handling the president's one-man conversation.