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The Week on Twitter | President-elect Trump, Katie Hopkins, & Toblerone

By Jade Hayden

This week, Donald Trump won the Presidential election. He is now the President-elect of the United States. This is not the only thing that happened this week, but it is certainly the worst thing.

Other things that happened this week were RTE deciding to book Katie Hopkins on the Late Late Show, Toblerones getting small, and Buster the Boxer finally getting his trampoline for Christmas.

Trump wins US Presidential election #ElectionDay #NotmyPresident

President Donald Trump. The words that so many never wanted to say and that so many more genuinely feared. On Tuesday night (early Wednesday morning) it was clear that Trump had won the US election. By about 7am Irish time, Trump had gained the necessary amount of college electoral votes to secure a win. In his victory speech he declared that it was time for America to come together as a nation. After over a year of actively ensuring that it was as divided as possible.

Trump won the election with just under 60 million votes. Clinton recieved over 60 million, making her the winner of the popular vote. The next day she delivered her concession speech, in which she thanked every one who voted for her, remained hopeful that a woman would one day soon take her seat in the White House, and apologised for not winning. Later on, President Obama was pictured meeting with Trump in the White House, staring blankly into the distance as he shook the billionaire’s hand, a dead look in his eyes.

Trump’s victory is terrifying. It caused the Canadian immigration website to crash. It led to thousands of non-white people tweeting their fears for the days, months, and years to follow. It has already allowed for hate crimes and racial attacks across the country. It begged the question; how could an arguably untrustworthy yet incredibly profficient woman be beaten by a xenophobic, ill-informed, unqualified, hateful man?

https://twitter.com/IAMKRIS24/status/796259113776873472

Following Trump’s victory, people took to Twitter and to the streets of the US to protest the presidency. #NotMyPresident trended throughout the day as thousands upon thousands of non-Trump voters emphasised their disgust, fear, and upset at what had happened. They marched through the streets protesting the electoral college system and Trump himself, exclaiming that a racist billonaire and a man who thinks conversion therapy can cure homosexuality do not belong in the White House.

Trump responded to the protests in his first tweet since the election. He called the protests “very unfair” and claimed that they were “incited by the media.” Those involved took little noticed, and continued marching throughout the night.

Twitter complains to RTE about #KatieHopkins booking

Something else fairly shitty also happened on Wednesday; RTE announced that ex-Apprentice contestant, Daily Mail colunmist, and self proclaimed hater of fat people and parents who name their children after a location Katie Hopkins was going to appear on the Late Late Show.

Very few people like Katie Hopkins. She’s not a likeable person. But what makes her somewhat appealing (?) to a lot of people, is that she “tells the truth,” “says it like it is,” or “what we’re all thinking.” Which is true if you think of the world as nothing more than a cesspit of millenials being offended by absolutely nothing featuring thousands of refugees arriving on your doorstep ready to steal your benefits and your land and your wife and a lot of fat people just waiting for their chance to ruin the NHS. Which it isn’t. So there.

RTE booked Hopkins for ratings. To get a rise out of their audience. Probably because they had no one else to book. Many people on Twitter decided fairly early on that they were going to boycott the show by not tuning in. Others took things a step further and wrote complaint emails to RTE, explaining why giving a hateful bigot airtime this week (of all weeks) wasn’t the best idea the broadcaster ever had.

Some others suggested that maybe silencing Hopkins wasn’t the way to go, that free speech existed, and it was our duty to sit and listen to somebody be horrible just so we could debate her… An issue which would never have arisen if she just hadn’t been booked in the first place. Since 2014, Hopkins has been on the Late Late Show about 87 (three) times. None of those weeks also included a racist, mysogynistic, and hateful person becoming the president of the United States due of lies, fear mongering, and a fuck load of media coverage. This week does. And yet, RTE are still (most likely) going to put her on the air.

#Toblerone changes their triangle

Y’know the way Toblerones are great? They’re big and they’re tasty and they’re a weird shape that’s sorta hard to eat but that makes them a bit quirky and you’re all about quirks so you buy ten of them on your way through duty free on the way home from Magaluf because last night you did body shots off a Spanish male stripper and you’ve lost control of your life.

Well, Toblerones have changed. They have bigger spaces between triangles now. They are smaller. They are no longer as good. And in the UK, they will be sold for the same price.

This decision came after the rising cost of ingredients and the weakness of the pound post-Brexit. And according to some economists who know lots about this sort of thing, making popular foot stuffs smaller and more expensive is only going to continue.

But never fear, because the Sun have released a handy guide on how to make your own Toblerone if you’ve got a ruler, some nougat, and a lot of time to waste.

#JohnLewis Christmas ad is nice #BustertheBoxer

In a welcome break to the horror of the week, the John Lewis ad came out. Thursday morning saw Twitter awash with gifs of Buster the Boxer, a pleasant creature who receives a delightful gift on Christmas day.

The ad features Buster looking on sadly as some foxes, birds, and badgers have fun on a trampoline the night before Christmas. Then Christmas comes and a little boy is real excited to go on his new trampoline but Buster runs out instead and jumps a lot and it’s good.

Aldi also did an ad with a carrot which is arguably even better.

https://twitter.com/Toby_Fletcher/status/796681763707817984

Featured image source

Jade Hayden 144 posts 0 comments

Jade Hayden has an MA in journalism, a degree in English, and a house rabbit who sleeps in her bed sometimes. You'll often find her wearing glasses, fixing her fringe, and complaining about the amount of time she spends on public transport. Jade is also the editor of HeadStuff's topical section, and she'd love if you sent your submissions over to [email protected].

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