Uh, so, okay: This is real.
President Donald Trump is going to take part in a live Twitter forum when he visits Saudi Arabia on Friday, according to National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.
Here's video from a Tuesday briefing that proves this is more than an idea:
So the plan appears to be that young people in Saudi Arabia will have some kind of dialogue with the president, and the youngsters can live-tweet whatever the president says.
And now, an incomplete, ongoing list of questions, in no particular order:
- Someone approved this?
- Someone with enough influence in the White House woke up one morning and thought: "What if we get a bunch of teenager-ish people to live-tweet the president's remarks—off the cuff, no less— and then, let's do that in a predominantly Muslim country during the president's first trip outside the U.S.?"
- And then, someone else considered that idea, and approved it?
- And now, it's happening?
- The same week we learned Trump reportedly revealed classified information to Russian government officials just because, and without knowing where the information came from?
- Did anyone think Trump's reception among young people in Saudi Arabia wouldn't be so great, given Trump's many disparaging remarks about Islam and his very arguably unconstitutional actions against Muslims?
- Do folks in the White House think he won't get any questions about Islam at all?
- Maybe the questions are pre-screened?
- But Trump veers off-script so much it doesn't matter if the questions are pre-screened?
I'm not alone in my confusion.
I'm sorry, Trump is taking part in a live Twitter forum in Saudi Arabia? Who. Who thought this was a solid plan.
— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) May 16, 2017
A Trump "twitter forum" in the Middle East. What could go wrong?
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) May 16, 2017
Donald Trump is doing a "Twitter-forum" where young people will be able to "tweet his remarks to people all over the world."
uh?— Justin Ling (@Justin_Ling) May 16, 2017
Trump is going to take part in a Twitter forum with young people during his first trip abroad.
The internet will break.— Kyle Feldscher (@Kyle_Feldscher) May 16, 2017
So!
Your big takeaway: This has been planned, and it's an actual thing, and one that's going to happen.