The second late-night Twitter drama of Donald Trump‘s presidency—remember “covfefe?”— played out last night, when his account was deactivated for 11 minutes.
The president’s account was quickly reinstated and Twitter announced that the account had been accidentally deactivated by an unnamed employee.
Earlier today @realdonaldtrump’s account was inadvertently deactivated due to human error by a Twitter employee. The account was down for 11 minutes, and has since been restored. We are continuing to investigate and are taking steps to prevent this from happening again.
— Government (@Gov) November 3, 2017
The mystery of Trump’s disappearing Twitter account may have lasted only a few minutes, but the brief moment in Trump and Twitter history instantly became an iconic meme.
That was like .003 Scaramuccis
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) November 2, 2017
To many, this employee became a folk hero.
https://twitter.com/InternetHippo/status/926240503728926720
https://twitter.com/timb0nic/status/926239149690163200
Do it permanently next time.
— Candypants Moiston (@CandiceAiston) November 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/ZackKopplin/status/926242857001930752
It wasn't a mistake, @TwitterGov. Think of it as a new feature we all wanted.
— Robert Caruso (@robertcaruso) November 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/docuguy/status/926241796576948224
Were they accidentally enforcing your terms of service?
— Red Durkin (@RedIsDead) November 3, 2017
Moments after Twitter issued its first statement, the company revealed that the action had been performed by an employee on their last day of work, which instantly made them a folk hero.
Through our investigation we have learned that this was done by a Twitter customer support employee who did this on the employee’s last day. We are conducting a full internal review. https://t.co/mlarOgiaRF
— Government (@Gov) November 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/winterjessica/status/926270231605055488
Please get the departing Twitter employee who deactivated Donald Trump’s account on their last day a medal, a knighthood, a magnum of champagne and a small tropical island.
— feral streep (@ElenaBjxrn) November 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/DavidJollyFL/status/926257441817415685
On his last day of work, a Twitter employee deactivated @realDonaldTrump, honoring a promise Trump never could:
— Noah Kinsey (@thenoahkinsey) November 3, 2017
Making America Great Again
Even Trump, kind of, got in on the fun.
My Twitter account was taken down for 11 minutes by a rogue employee. I guess the word must finally be getting out-and having an impact.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 3, 2017
Although the employee may forever remain nameless, they will live on forever in the internet’s heart.