How Cute Puppies Got Caught Up in President Trump 'Covfefe' Drama

While social media analyzes a Twitter typo made by the president, a website for dogs has fueled the fire with some biting (barking?) commentary.

On Wednesday, just after midnight, President Donald Trump wrote, “Despite the constant negative press covfefe” and left the tweet published for hours, causing people to speculate wildly on its meaning. Later that day, White House spokesperson Sean Spicer insisted that “the president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant,” and Trump himself poked fun at the error in a follow-up tweet.

Still, “covfefe” became a trending topic on Twitter with Jimmy Kimmel and Hillary Clinton weighing in. “I thought it was a hidden message to the Russians,” Clinton remarked during the Wednesday Code Conference in California.

Then, We Rate Dogs, a website that rates dogs based on their cuteness appeal, jumped in with a hot take, tweeting a photo of a gray-and-white puppy with the caption, “This is Dewey (pronounced “covfefe”). He’s having a good walk. Arguably the best walk. 13/10 would snug softly.”

The site also tweeted that partial proceeds from its dog-themed merchandise (T-shirts, pillows, mugs) would be donated to Planned Parenthood.

Many found the tweets hilarious, but others chalked them up to a publicity stunt and the site soon tweeted an apology.

And then a full-on mea culpa, which read in part, “I let my personal beliefs infiltrate an account that’s not meant to share them…if my actions offended you, I’m sincerely sorry. Alienating a portion of my audience is stupid and unnecessary. Different opinions are good and conversations about those opinions are valuable….I’ll do my best to put the train back on the tracks to the wholesome, pure, escape-from-reality account you all have come to love.”

We Rate Dogs, founded by college student Matt Nelson, has gotten political in the past. In January, he tweeted a photo of a dog wearing a sign that read, “I wag 4 refugees” in the midst of the president’s travel ban on people from certain Muslim-majority countries who wish to enter the U.S.

A representative from We Rate Dogs did not return Yahoo Beauty’s request for comment; however, Nelson told BuzzFeed News, “When you’re trying to manage an account with 2 million people, it’s hard to make everyone happy.”

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