While You Were Offline: Trump Is President and You're Not, FYI

It says a lot about the modern world that, in the day after a terror attack in London, the mayor of the city actually has to take time out of his day to talk about a tweet from the son of the president of the United States. Quite what that says remains unclear, but it's definitely a sign of how important social media and the internet have become in even the most dire situations. If the world is this hyper-connected, is it any surprise we can't keep up with everything in real time? This, then, is what you might have overlooked during the past seven days in our very wired world.

What Happened: President Donald Trump got to experience one of the highlights of his time in office this week: Sitting behind the wheel of a stationary big rig. It was a thrill for everyone, especially Twitter.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, media reports
What Really Happened: During a meeting with the American Trucking Association, President Trump hopped behind the wheel of a big rig. Considering the administration's health care bill was bouncing all over the Hill at the time, the photo-op wasn't exactly well-received.

OK, so those particular optics weren't great, but didn't he look happy? Twitter knew exactly what to do with these photos, thankfully:

It turns out that the mainstream media felt more or less the same way as Twitter did about this ordeal. The best report of all? That would be BuzzFeed's "Trump Got to Sit in a Big Boy Truck Because Today Was a Special Day!" Yes, that's actually the headline.
The Takeaway: But, don't you see? It's funny because… Wait. Why is it funny again?

What Happened: Remember when people thought that maybe President Trump would "pivot" and start acting "presidentially"? A new interview gave some clue as to how likely that actually is.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, media reports
What Really Happened: President Trump gave an interview to Time this week that drew considerable criticism for its many untrue statements, but also for the way Trump ended the interview. "Hey, look," he told the interviewer when asked about his relationship to facts. "I can't be doing so badly, because I'm president and you're not."

You can probably imagine how that went over.

The Takeaway: Let's bring back an old favorite for the occasion, shall we?

What Happened: Meanwhile, when it comes to political dissent on the other side of the Atlantic…
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, media reports
What Really Happened: It's not just Americans who hash out politics on Twitter, of course. Why, just this week tensions in Britain's Labour Party simmered over, prompting leader Jeremy Corbyn to put out a plea for tolerance:

The problem was, however, that the tensions were the result of concern over Corbyn's leadership to date, making this plea potentially fractious in and of itself. Thankfully, British Twitter knew just how to express its displeasure:

The Takeaway: Call us jaded, but "absurd gif" political Twitter is a lot more fun and "just plain insulting" political Twitter. Can we have more of this, please?

What Happened: According to a new survey, more than half of men are either stupid or selfish. To be fair, there's every possibility that it's both. Let's not disparage these men too much.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, media reports
What Really Happened: Here's something that's both surprising and amazingly depressing: A recent survey revealed that 52 percent of American men don't believe that they have "benefited personally from any women in [their] life having access to affordable birth control."

While some media picked this up, the best responses by far came from an appropriately appalled Twitter:

The Takeaway: Seriously, dudes. Get it together.

https://twitter.com/haleydaprincess/status/845196157538058240