Does he do it intentionally? That’s the question many were left asking on Twitter after the Donald Trump, the gaffe-loving President of the United States, mistweeted the number of casualties in the dastardly Sri Lanka church and hotel attacks on Sunday.
While the exact number of casualties are as yet unconfirmed, conservative estimates put the death toll resulting from six serial blasts in several Sri Lankan cities at 180. Hundreds of victims have reportedly been injured.
Like most world leaders, Trump also took to Twitter to post his condolences.
While a number of estimates are doing the rounds on news and social media, most of them peg the casualties in the range of 130-180 at the time of writing.
However, Donald Trump, who often seems to be playing a game of “fastest-finger-first” with his Twitter handle, posted his condolences for the deaths of 138 million people. Yes, 138 MILLION.
“Heartfelt condolences from the people of the United States to the people of Sri Lanka on the horrible terror attacks in churches and hotels that have killed at least 138 million people and badly injured six hundred more. we stand ready to help”, the Presidential tweet read.
For the record, the total population of Sri Lanka is estimated to be 21.4 million, as per recent 2017 records.
Trump must have been tweeting the number “138”, the number of causalities that several news organisations in the US have stuck to in their reports. Or maybe he just really thought 138 million people – which is a sizeable chunk of all of Earth’s population – were wiped off in Sri Lanka.
The tweet seems to have been deleted soon after it was posted. But 30 minutes is a long time on Twitterverse. By the time it was deleted, the tweet was retweeted over 2,000 times and liked by 9,000 Tweeples. Luckily for you, we have a screenshot:
Needless to say, the tweet was instantly picked apart by Twitterati, who anyway wait around for a chance to pink on their beloved bully. and the President does not the disappoint (at least his trolls).
In fact, Indian Politician and Indian National Congress chief Omar Abdullah also commented on the faux pas.
The coordinated serial blasts that rocked churches and hotels in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa during Easter mass service killed at least 180 people on Sunday in what is being called the deadliest terrorist attack in decades. The attack has brought back fears of communal and religious tensions in Sri Lanka, which has experienced a decade of peace after years of LTTE-driven violence came to an end in 2009.
News18
