If there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about writing, it’s bestselling Harry Potter novelist J.K. Rowling. If there’s anyone whose tweets are rife with grammar mistakes and who has definitely not earned any writing credibility, it’s President Donald Trump.
So when Trump tweeted to boast about his “ability to write” on Tuewsday, Rowling couldn’t help but howl in laughter. USA Today reports that a now-deleted Trump tweet included a glaring spelling gaffe confusing the word “pore” with “pour.” It said:
After having written many best selling books, and somewhat priding myself on my ability to write, it should be noted that the Fake News constantly likes to pour over my tweets looking for a mistake. I capitalize certain words only for emphasis, not b/c they should be capitalized!
The error was corrected in a later tweet, but by then Rowling was already ROFL.
After having written many best selling books, and somewhat priding myself on my ability to write, it should be noted that the Fake News constantly likes to pore over my tweets looking for a mistake. I capitalize certain words only for emphasis, not b/c they should be capitalized!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 3, 2018
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha *draws breath* hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha https://t.co/gbionAPK9Z
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) July 3, 2018
Others, including Merriam-Webster of dictionary fame and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, chimed in to mock the president’s “pour over”—and his combover.
'pore over' 🔍"to read or study very carefully"
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) July 3, 2018
'pour over' ☕️"to make expensive coffee"
'comb over' 💇♂️"to comb hair from the side of the head to cover the bald spot"https://t.co/br20fgpmAb
pore
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) July 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1014261183656759296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1014261183656759296&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fonpolitics%2F2018%2F07%2F04%2Ftrump-merriam-webster-jk-rowling-harry-potter-misspelled-tweet%2F757467002%2F
While they were at it, people called out Trump for his “best selling books.”
Pssst. The internet never dies. pic.twitter.com/fhkg1N5cnd
— 💙RESIST💙 (@TheeNurseNut) July 3, 2018
In May, reports confirmed that Trumps’ aides intentionally add grammar and spelling mistakes to tweets from his account. A Twitter bot that estimates how likely it is that Trump actually wrote a tweet himself guessed that there’s a 90 percent chance the braggadocios “pore” tweet came from him. Sad!
H/T USA Today