President Bunker Boy Donald Trump is getting mocked mercilessly on Twitter after swearing up and down that he didn’t actually hide in a safe room beneath the White House on May 29. On the night the White House shut off its lights as protesters rallied for Black Lives Matter, the president said that he was actually just down there for a casual inspection. “It was a false report,” he told Fox Radio host Brian Kilmeade on June 4. “I went down during the day and I was there for a tiny, little short period of time, and it was much more for an inspection… I’ve gone down two or three times, all for inspection.” He earned the nickname “Bunker Boy” on Twitter for that one.
Trump says he went to the White House bunker for inspection:
“It was a false report. I wasn’t down— I went down during the day and I was there for a tiny, little short period of time, and it was much more for an inspection…I’ve gone down two or three times, all for inspection." pic.twitter.com/RFPi4aAsfX
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) June 3, 2020
Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and their 14-year-old son, Barron Trump, were reportedly rushed to an underground bunker after protesters hopped over a barricade outside the Treasury Department building, according to arrest records and “people familiar with the incident” who spoke to The Washington Post. Four protesters were detained by Secret Service between the Treasury building and the White House, prompting the security level to go from “yellow” to “red.”
The bunker, also called the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, was constructed under the East Wing of the White House during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was only used again by Vice President Dick Cheney during the 9/11 attacks. Needless to say, Twitter had a field day with Trump’s hasty denial.
I like presidents who don’t hide in bunkers and can close an umbrella.
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) June 4, 2020
“POTUS: ‘hey, guys, I think today would be the best day to do an inspection of the bunker, I don’t have much else going on, so let’s head down and make sure the toilets work and the phones are operating,'” one voter joked. “I was out there at these peaceful protests nor once did I feel unsafe or threatened by the protesters but the cops sure made me feel like that, stop lying all you do is tweet bulls**t from your bunkers golden toilet @realDonaldTrump RESIGN NOW,” an activist tweeted.
Even former Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) took the opportunity to roast him. She tweeted, “Since the cowardly president Donald Trump got caught in his bunker because he’s afraid of the American people, he is now turning the White House into a bunker. I suggest he go to Mar-A-Lago and fence it in.”
Peaceful protest isn’t “rioting”
Kneeling to call out police brutality isn’t “disrespecting the flag”
Tear-gassing unarmed civilians isn’t “keeping the streets safe”
Hiding underground isn’t “inspecting the bunker”
Employing the military on domestic soil isn’t “legal”
— Bryan Behar (@bryanbehar) June 4, 2020
Trump’s scaredy cat response to the protests comes amidst him threatening to enact the Insurrection Act of 1807 so that US troops could be deployed on Washington, DC to stop them. He allowed protesters outside the White House to be teargassed and flash bombed, as well. The president also sent tweets about those fighting for justice after George Floyd‘s death so vicious that Twitter flagged them for “glorifying violence.”
Now, Trump has been caught erecting a wall. No, not “The Wall” at the southern border. A wall covered in barbed wire around the White House premises. It’s unlikely that he’s going to get Mexico to pay for this one, either.