Early this Wednesday morning, shortly after midnight the night before, President Donald Trump tweeted out "Despite the constant negative press covfefe," and the internet erupted. Endless tweets, speculating about the meaning of the tweet, the reasoning of the person tweeting, creation of possible meanings of the word, along with rumination regarding why staff had not intervened before the president pressed the send button. Who knows how many man (should I say people) hours were devoted to the derision and speculation about covfefe.
A few hours after his initial tweet, shortly after 6 am, Trump tweeted, "Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ??? Enjoy!" At that point, the coverage and speculation erupted again.
Think of this coverage as Newsy. Real news carries real information that is new and relevant. Newsy is more -- well, news infotainment.
While covfefe was trending, real news was more than likely overlooked by the majority of the population. Just ask people you come in contact with during the coming week. Were they aware of Trump's covfefe tweet, and have they heard of the following newsworthy events:
On May 21, Trump spoke at the U.S.-Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This was an enormous shift in foreign policy. Trump raised the bar noting "a better future is only possible if your nations drive out the terrorists and extremists. Drive. Them. Out."
He challenged more than the government leaders, noting, "Religious leaders must make this absolutely clear... If you choose the path of terror, your life will be empty, your life will be brief, and your soul will be condemned." Trump challenged the nations of the Middle East to partner with the United States.
While Trump was in the Middle East, an agreement was announced among the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council to combat terrorist financing. This is a stronger and more comprehensive agreement than had previously existed and represents a serious accomplishment.
A few days later, on May 25 at the NATO Unveiling of the Article 5 and Berlin Wall Memorials in Brussels, Belgium, Trump challenged fellow NATO members to step up their funding of military spending.
"The NATO of the future must include a great focus on terrorism and immigration, as well as threats from Russia and on NATO's eastern and southern borders... I have been very, very direct with Secretary [Jens] Stoltenberg and members of the alliance in saying that NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations," he said.
Trump was referring to the two percent of GDP goal for NATO members to spend on defense. According to CNN, only five of the 28 member countries meet this goal; the United States, Greece, Estonia, U.K. and Poland. Trump noted that the underfunding has had real results. "If all NATO members had spent just 2 percent of their GDP on defense last year, we would have had another $119 billion for our collective defense and for the financing of additional NATO reserves."
In total, NATO countries spend $918 billion, of which the United States spends $664 billion or 72 percent of the total.
Last Friday, the White House announced that "in the 100 days since President Trump signed his Executive Orders on immigration enforcement, the agency has arrested roughly 30,000 convicted criminal aliens whose offenses range from homicide and assault, to sexual abuse and drug-related activity." While there is much focus in the media on the left's pushback regarding enforcing immigration law, there is little coverage on how the administration's enforcement is leading to fewer criminals on our streets and in our neighborhoods.
The White House noted that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "detailed the results of its six-week nationwide gang apprehension operation, which resulted in the arrest of 384 illegal immigrants, as well as 61 foreign nationals voluntarily admitted into the country [and]...include those arrested for homicide- or sexual crime-related charges."
On Memorial Day weekend, while many of us were lounging on the beach, by the pool or cooking out on the grill, President Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited Arlington Cemetery to pay tribute to our troops. "To every Gold Star family who honors us with your presence, you lost sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers... they were all angels sent to us by God, and they all share one title in common -- and that is the title of hero... They made their sacrifice not for fame, or for money, or even for glory -- but for country."
The next time a tweet is mentioned as news, pause and reflect, is it news or newsy covfefe.
To find out more about Jackie Gingrich Cushman, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.
