You might remember a string of sad Google search terms trending after the United Kingdom voted to leave the E.U. Well, the Brits aren’t the only ones who can go on an oddly specific searching frenzy. Our nation’s walking, talking Brexit, Donald Trump, caused his own uptick surrounding his claim that President Barack Obama founded ISIS. Supporters and detractors alike scrambled to look up the definitions of “sarcasm” and “sarcastic” after The Donald used the former term to explain away his statement.
According to Merriam-Webster, the word shot up their search list after Trump made a rare reversal on something he’d said in public. In true Trump fashion, he did it on Twitter while putting other people down.
Ratings challenged @CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) "the founder" of ISIS, & MVP. THEY DON'T GET SARCASM?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2016
The tweet caused a surge of “sarcasm” searches, no doubt from people who heard him repeatedly double-down on his statement in an interview with Hugh Hewitt. The dictionary website notes that “sarcasm” comes from the Greek word sarkazein which means “to tear flesh like dogs” or “to speak bitterly.” They add that a sarcastic person is called a “sarcast.” Well, the voting public already has a number of words to describe Trump, and he’s provided one more.
Also on Twitter, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy is trying his hand at sarcasm too. He was pretty successful.
What I'm looking for is a President who has a good sense of humor about ISIS, assassinations, and Russian cyber warfare.
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 12, 2016