Over the weekend, President Donald Trump spent his time at the big G7 meeting being friendly with Boris Johnson, the United Kingdom’s new prime minister, and reconsidering his trade war with China. As predictably head-scratching and asinine as these (and many other) tidbits were, though, it was his decision to take a break from an otherwise globally significant meeting of world leaders to tweet out birthday announcements for Sean Connery and Regis Philbin that really turned heads. Because, you know, one is an American treasure and the other was a game show host.
“Happy Birthday Sean!” he exclaimed in the first tweet, which shared another account’s birthday wishes for the 89-year-old retired actor and former James Bond star.
Happy Birthday Sean! https://t.co/iQgY6RTWST
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2019
As for Philbin’s tweet, Trump made it just a tad more personal. “Happy Birthday Regis,” he tweeted, adding: “a truly special man!”
Happy Birthday Regis, a truly special man!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2019
Needless to say, politicos, pundits and fellow Twitter trolls alike were equal parts amused, disgusted and frightened as Trump’s tweets, which were posted during the early evening in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France, where the G7 meetings were taking place. “The president breaks away from a hectic day at the G7 to … RT birthday wishes for Sean Connery?” wrote one reporter. Another observer quipped, “His mind is right where we need it for these G7 meetings!”
Respect to the first commander in chief brave enough, and connected enough to how real Americans live, to wish Regis Philbin a happy birthday online. https://t.co/FkpziHha0r
— David Roth (@david_j_roth) August 25, 2019
Trump doing birthday reminders is the last stage in the process of Facebook and Trump merging into the same thing https://t.co/vZ8vR8r5ZC
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) August 25, 2019
Breaking statement from the U.S. from the G7 Summit… https://t.co/4lPUyjWOIL
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 25, 2019
https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1165653520848162816
https://twitter.com/CillizzaCNN/status/1165652595664445442
https://twitter.com/RegisAndanar/status/1165657067832528897
(Via CNN)