President Trump confused the world by writing, "Despite the constant negative press covfefe," in a late night tweet two weeks ago. Building off of the now-infamous typo, Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois introduced legislation called the COVFEFE Act on Monday aimed at preserving the president's tweets as official records. This is some serious trolling, especially for Washington.
Following the infamous tweet (which was eventually deleted), Twitter spent the whole day speculating about what "covfefe" meant. However, according to Rep. Quigley's bill, it stands for the Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically for Engagement Act.
The proposed law would amend the Presidential Records Act, which says presidents' and vice presidents' records belong to the public and must be kept. It would expand the law to include social media, meaning all Trump's personal tweets would be archived. It could even make it illegal for him to delete tweets.
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Currently, the official @POTUS account is preserved as presidential record, but personal accounts aren't. And since President Trump refuses to give up his personal @realDonaldTrump account, Quigley wants tweets from both accounts to be saved.
"President Trump’s frequent, unfiltered use of his personal Twitter account as a means of official communication is unprecedented," Rep. Quigley said in a statement posted to his website. "If the President is going to take to social media to make sudden public policy proclamations, we must ensure that these statements are documented and preserved for future reference. Tweets are powerful, and the President must be held accountable for every post."
Quigley pointed out that Trump's tweets often make headlines, including the confusing "covfefe" comment. The president has also announced decisions on Twitter before telling members of Congress, including who he'll nominate to lead the FBI after the former director, James Comey, was fired last month.
The bill was just introduced, so it has a long way to go before it becomes law. But if it does, "covfefe," and the rest of Trump's tweets, will live forever.