President Trump‘s TV habits being what they are, there was a good chance he’d see John Legend talking to NBC anchor Lester Holt about his work to end mass incarceration. His Twitter habits, pettiness, and misogyny being what they are, there was an even better chance that he’s tweet something juvenile, sexist, and self-absorbed in response.
Last last night, Trump launched his rant complaining that he didn’t get enough credit for signing the First Step Act into law before tagging and criticizing Legend and Holt directly but only mentioning Legend’s “filthy mouthed wife,” model and TV host Chrissy Teigen, without tagging her directly.
Teigen was not about to let that stand. She rightly pointed out the discrepancy and gave the president a brand-new sobriquet.
lol what a pussy ass bitch. tagged everyone but me. an honor, mister president.
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) September 9, 2019
That tweet blew up, and Legend and Teigen, who have as good a claim to first couple of Twitter as anyone, stoked the controversy, winking at their combined 24.4 million followers to get #PresidentPussyAssBitch trending.
no guys no please do not make this trend, for it is my fight with #PresidentPussyAssBitch, not yours!!!!!! https://t.co/hSJ0UxjbaO
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) September 9, 2019
Please don't make this foul mouthed hashtag trend #PresidentPussyAssBitch https://t.co/TMaq58hzIx
— John Legend (@johnlegend) September 9, 2019
It’s not clear if a hashtag with vulgarity can trend, but #filthymouthedwife and #TeamChrissy did.
These responses led to a flurry of replies from both sides, a torrent of GIFs and memes that mainly preached to whichever choir, MAGA-heads or Teigen stans, they were aimed at.
But a lot of them were funny! And those are the ones we like. Because if the president won’t stop wielding Twitter as a weapon he deserves the ridicule he gets—and we deserve a moment of levity. Here are some the best replies to the controversy.
attacking Chrissy Teigen is the closest twitter equivalent to invading Russia in winter
— maura quint (@behindyourback) September 9, 2019
Trump has become like every other man on twitter—desperate to get Chrissy Teigen’s attention.
— Susie Meister (@susie_meister) September 9, 2019
I JUST TOOK A DNA TEST!!!
TURNS OUT I'M 100% PUSSY ASS BITCH!!! pic.twitter.com/zj4hGWBFut— m i t h (@ManlnTheHoody) September 9, 2019
Donald Trump when he sees Chrissy Teigen in person pic.twitter.com/G8EObefM1r
— link (@1nolink) September 9, 2019
This exchange between Chrissy Teigen and #PresidentPussyAssBitch should be placed in the Smithsonian because it's a very important part of our history as a people. pic.twitter.com/O0gwa8w1YM
— Marie Connor (@thistallawkgirl) September 9, 2019
One response was so good that Teigen shared it with her 11.5 million followers directly.
I love you guys https://t.co/oQIaeBdxF1
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) September 9, 2019
Of course, these funny tweets are but a distraction from the materially awful things that are happening in the world, as Media Matters’s Jordan Uhl pointed out.
Picking a fight with Chrissy Teigen to make everyone forget you randomly tried meet with the Taliban to make everyone forget you drew on a weather map with a sharpie to make everyone forget yo—
— jordan (@JordanUhl) September 9, 2019
So while #filthymouthedwife might be trending right now, it and this feud will fade, leaving us with the still difficult fact that the president is the kind of guy eager to call out a woman on Twitter but too cowardly to mention her by name.
