Donald Trump’s Positive COVID-19 Test has been basically the only thing anyone on Twitter could talk about over the past few days, and while there’s been plenty of schadenfreude going, with many mocking the President’s for previously downplaying the coronavirus pandemic, Twitter has stepped in to say you can’t post tweets wishing for his untimely demise.

Shortly after Trump made his earth-shattering diagnosis on the platform, Twitter clarified that “tweets that wish or hope for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against anyone are not allowed and will need to be removed. this does not automatically mean suspension.”

tweets that wish or hope for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against anyone are not allowed and will need to be removed. this does not automatically mean suspension. https://t.co/lQ8wWGL2y0 https://t.co/P2vGfUeUQf

— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) October 2, 2020

The timing of Twitter’s statement clarifying their rules seemed disingenuous to myriad black people and women who have been dealing with death threats on Twitter for years. Politicians Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib tweeted exasperatedly about Twitter choosing now to clarify their statements considering the death threats they regularly receive.

So… you mean to tell us you could‘ve done this the whole time? https://t.co/7OmgEYjWnI

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 3, 2020

Seriously though, this is messed up. The death threats towards us should have been taking more seriously by @TwitterComms https://t.co/IOS7s2n1wx

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) October 3, 2020

Malorie Blackman and director Ava Duvernay expressed exasperation about the policy considering the death threats they’ve received during their time on Twitter.

Does this also go for Black and Brown women who have long been and continue to be harassed and threatened with assault and death on this platform or nah? I think no. Because I see those same accounts still up. Still causing harm. Your anyone is disingenuous. https://t.co/NTFzc93ASs

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) October 3, 2020

Weeks of death threats and serious threats against my family when I was Children’s Laureate resulted in Twitter doing bugger all about it. side-eyes in Black woman https://t.co/pKsvH1OVNu

— Aunty Malorie Blackman (@malorieblackman) October 3, 2020

Twitter’s apparently sudden enforcement of their anti-death threat rule has also had a Streisand Effect on the platform, as there’s been an uptick in people creatively finding ways to put their hope for the President’s untimely end in tweets.

terrible pic.twitter.com/hM2Ij1vm4U

— Ben Rosen (@ben_rosen) October 4, 2020

KEEP GOING YOU ARE SO CLOSE! pic.twitter.com/kW6SSpd6Gb

— Zack Bornstein (@ZackBornstein) October 5, 2020

Personally, I think the best person that the President and First Lady could be taking close, physically proximate counsel with right now is Dr. Henry Kissinger. A wise and accomplished man, with nearly a century of wisdom and physiological precarity to draw upon.

— ‘no cops, no capital, no malarkey’ zachary 🤠📉 (@TomKhruisehchev) October 2, 2020

if you want to say the thing you’re no longer allowed to say on here, just tweet “Big Money, No Whammies”

— COVID Goth Li’l 🌳 listen to onbeliefpod (karengeier) October 2, 2020

At the time of writing, President Trump is still in Walter Reed Hospital and has said he will be discharged at 6:30 P.M. today.

About

That Debate Was The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Seen is a phrase used in a series of viral tweets following the first 2020 U.S. Presidential Debate, made popular by Mark Hamill and other celebrities. Each tweet starts with the titular phrase, followed by a comparison to something regarded as “bad” that the tweeter once took part in. For example, “That debate was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and I was in X.”

Origin

On September 29th, 2020, screenwriter Jeremy Slater tweeted, “That was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and I wrote FANTASTIC FOUR” (shown below). The tweet was well-received, garnering over 619 thousand likes and 79.5 thousand retweets in 6 days.

Spread

Following Slater’s tweet, more people — particularly actors, screenwriters, and other celebrities — started posting their own renditions of the tweet. On September 29th, 2020, screenwriter Randi Mayem Singer quote-retweeted Slater, writing, “That was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and I wrote Tooth Fairy” (shown below, left). The tweet garnered over 1,000 likes and 180 retweets in six days. Five minutes later, Sarah Watson, the writer of Disaster Zone: Volcano In New York quote-retweeted Singer’s post, garnering over 300 likes and 50 retweets in the same amount of time (shown below, right).

On September 30th, actor Mark Hamill tweeted, “That debate was the worst thing I’ve ever seen & I was in The Star Wars Holiday Special” (shown below, left). The tweet was extremely popular, garnering over 1.1 million likes, 167 retweets, and 10.5 thousand comments in 5 days. On the same day, Alec Berg, writer of The Cat In The Hat movie, posted a variation of the tweet, garnering over 9.4 thousand likes and 690 retweets in the same span of time (shown below, right).

Beyond celebrities, other Twitter users made renditions of the tweet as well, using events from their lives as a comparison. Examples of this can be seen below.

By the end of September leading into October, the mainstream media started reporting on the trend. On September 30th, Fox News published an article on the trend. On the same day, Entertainment Weekly, CNET, The Hollywood Reporter, and Huffpost published articles on the trend.

Fake Stormy Daniels Tweet

On October 1st, Facebook page The Other 98%[] reposted a fake tweet photoshopped by Instagrammer therecoveringproblemchild, in which it looks like Stormy Daniels has tweeted, “That debate was the worst thing I’ve ever seen and I slept with Donald Trump” (shown below, left). The post garnered over 86 thousand reactions and 15 thousand shares, making it one of the top-performing Facebook posts that day. Many in the comments section seemed to believe the tweet was real. On the same day, Twitter user Seana Davis posted a tweet explaining that the post was fake, including an image highlighting the signs that it’s fake (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Know Your Meme Store

External References

MONDAY, Oct. 5, 2020 (HealthDay News) — The homemade cloth masks recommended for slowing the spread of COVID-19 seem to expel invisible cotton fibers into the air as people talk, cough or even breathe — underscoring the importance of regularly washing them, researchers say.

In experiments, researchers found that medical-grade masks — surgical and N95 — blocked most exhaled “particles” from the wearer’s mouth. But the results with cloth masks, fashioned from T-shirt material, were surprising.

People actually emitted more invisible particles while wearing a cloth mask than with no mask at all. And that, researchers said, was because the masks released microscopic cotton fibers.

There’s no proof at this point that the fibers can carry infectious viral particles. And experts stressed that everyone should keep wearing masks according to public health guidance.

“They didn’t show that infectious particles are being released,” said Ravina Kullar, a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “So it’s not clear what this means from an infectious disease standpoint.”

And certainly, she added, people would put themselves at greater risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 if they went out in public mask-free.

William Ristenpart, the senior researcher on the work, agreed that no one should take the findings as an argument against mask-wearing.

“That’s not what we’re saying at all,” said Ristenpart, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Davis.

Instead, he thinks the practical message is this: Wash your mask after each wearing. If tiny cotton fibers are released into the air, let them be as clean as possible.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health authorities urge the people to wear a cloth mask when they are out in public, especially in places where it is hard to maintain physical distance from others.

The CDC recommends wearing masks with at least two layers of fabric, and says “simple masks can be made at home with washable, breathable fabric.”

It’s not clear, however, exactly how well such homemade masks work. No one is going to run a clinical trial where people are randomly assigned to either wear masks or walk around mask-free.

Oct. 5, 2020 — The highest daily rate of new COVID-19 cases in the United States in nearly two months was reported late last week.

There were 54,506 new reported cases on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University, the highest single-day number since 64,601 cases were reported on Aug. 14, according to CNN.

From Sept. 29 to Oct. 3, the United States had an average of 46,500 cases per day — the most cases over five days since Aug. 14-18, the data show.

As of Saturday night, 21 states had more cases than in the previous week, just over half held steady, and there was a decline in just three states — Texas, Missouri and South Carolina, CNN reported.

Since it’s finally October, we’re happy to start celebrating Halloween. If you ever wanted to feel like you’re a part of a horror film, definitely hit up the following caves, hikes, and trails that are filled with terror below. The following images collected from the subreddit /r/ScarySigns where users will post actual photographs of signs they’ve found around the world, warning them of sickness or death. Below are 15 of the craziest signs that have no problem informing visitors how how they’ll die.

President Donald Trump sent a tweet this morning reiterating support for his pro-life, anti-abortion position combined with an instruction to vote.

So far the primary response seems to be rage.

The Trump administration’s abysmal handling of the coronavirus pandemic—with 200,000 dead Americans, after having written off the old, sick, and obese as acceptable losses—brought a lot of flack, with Twitter users emphasizing how incompatible that approach is with any claim at a pro-life philosophy.

Trump’s personal actions, like his widely-criticized drive outside Walter Reed this weekend.

Some focused on the number of abortions paid for by members of the Republican Party—including one allegedly administered without the pregnant person’s knowledge or consent.

Meanwhile, the experimental drug Trump is taking to treat his COVID infection is created using human embryonic stem cells—a byproduct of abortion.

So it’s easy to see why people might be bothered by his words.