Twitter Explodes With Mockery After Donald Trump ‘Orders’ Companies To Stop Doing Business With China
Donald Trump issued a series of tweets on Friday ordering companies to stop working with China and for shipping companies to start searching all packages coming from China, and the Twitterverse can’t get enough. The social media site exploded with mockery with the hashtag “#iherebyorder” trending on Friday afternoon.
The president started the rant by claiming on Twitter that the U.S. loses trillions of dollars to China and that America would be better off without their largest trading partner.
“Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA,” he wrote.
He followed that up with a vow to address the China tariff situation later in the day before moving to the opioid problem in the U.S.
“Also, I am ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE, all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!),” he tweeted.
Social media users immediately co-opted the term to viciously attack the president’s unusual and legally hollow demand.
George Conway, husband of White House counsel Kellyanne Conway, led the charge with a tweet ordering Trump to be removed from office.
“I hereby order the White House staff to take @realDonaldTrump to Walter Reed, and to convene the cabinet under Section 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment,” he tweeted.
CNBC reporter John Harwood responded to that with a message saying that Trump would likely be removed from the position if he was running a private corporation.
Jim Fallows: "If Donald Trump were in virtually any other position of responsibility, action would already be under way to remove him. public company board would have arranged shift out of power. Navy/airline/hospital would check his fitness"https://t.co/9dN9Q9yUH1
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) August 22, 2019
Representative Eric Swalwell made a clever response of his own.
“Fun fact: #iherebyorder is socialism,” he wrote in a tweet.
Others used the opportunity to have a little fun.
“I hereby order my Great American Cat not to wake me up at 6am,” author and professor Tom Nichols wrote.
Trump’s #iherebyorder moment today holds about as much weight as this Michael Scott moment. pic.twitter.com/Rco5S2LgIN
— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) August 23, 2019
Trump’s tweetstorm comes after China announced that it was implementing tariffs on goods from the U.S. to the tune of $75 billion, according to The Washington Post.
The first wave of tariffs will hit in September, and the second wave will be in December. An additional 25 percent tariff hits in December as well. The decision could be a serious blow to U.S. companies, particularly as the country is facing signs of a coming recession.
Trump tweeted at one point that winning a trade war would be a relatively simple proposition. However, the ongoing battle and Trump’s recent response purportedly indicate that the White House is concerned about how the president’s economic agenda is proceeding.
