When most of us have technical difficulties, we contact tech support or customer service.
But if you're President of the United States, just ranting on social media—then having your White House Press Secretary post a screenshot of your post on a social media platform people actually use—is apparently the answer.
MAGA Republican President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Monday to rant about his technical difficulties during a teleconference with his Christian nationalist backers.
He wrote:
"I’m doing a major Conference Call with Faith Leaders from all over the Country, and AT&T is totally unable to make their equipment work properly. This is the second time it’s happened. If the Boss of AT&T, whoever that may be, could get involved — It would be good. There are tens of thousands of people on the line!"
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Trump added:
"I apologize for the long wait on the Faith Leaders Conference Call. AT&T ought to get its act together. Please pass along the word to the tens of thousands of people who are there. We may have to reschedule the call, but we’ll use another carrier the next time. AT&T obviously doesn’t know what they’re doing!"
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
The Trump administration's current White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, shared an uncaptioned screenshot of Trump's first rant on X, where someone outside Trump's MAGA minions might see it.
AT&T did see it on X and responded accordingly.
"We've reached out to the White House and are working to quickly understand and assess the situation."
But it turns out it was what tech support calls a PICNIC error: Problem In Chair, Not In Carrier.
Usually that last C is for Computer, but the acronym still works. It wasn't an AT&T problem, it was a Trump problem.
AT&T shared:
"Following up—Our initial analysis indicates the disruption was caused by an issue with the conference call platform, not our network. Unfortunately, this caused the delay, and we are working diligently to better understand the issue so we can prevent disruptions in the future."
People were less than sympathetic to Trump's struggles.
@TimmyFiveTimes/X
And some wondered if this wasn't a way to launch Trump Mobile for all future White House conference calls.
AT&T shares temporarily went down on high volume after Trump's post got noticed—after Leavitt amplified it.
Trump's teleconference tantrum about AT&T fell two weeks after Eric and Donald Trump Jr.—on behalf of the Trump Organization—unveiled Trump Mobile, a licensed deal for a mobile phone service that also sells a $499 Gold Trump branded T1 smartphone.
Coincidence?
Considering the source and his business fraud history, manipulating the market from the White House isn't an unrealistic scenario.
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