Trump claims his tweets about 'Noble Prizes' were 'sarcasm' in day of erratic tweeting

(Image credit: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images)

Sarcasm is dead, but irony is still alive and kicking.

President Trump started an active day of tweeting Sunday by wishing first lady Melania Trump a happy 50th birthday, and he ended it by agreeing with himself.

In between, Trump retweeted a bunch of attacks on various Democrats (plus Karen Pence's birthday wishes for his wife), accurately noted he did not call the coronavirus itself a "hoax," insisted he isn't firing Health Secretary Alex Azar, misspelled hamburger in a tweet about his work schedule, said he wants a more pro-Trump alternative to Fox News, and went on a rant about reporters and their "Noble Prizes." He deleted the "hamberger" tweet and the Noble Prize thread.

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Some observers assumed Trump had mixed up the Nobel Prize — which does not have a journalism category — and the Pulitzer Prize, and others predicted he would claim he was just being sarcastic, as he had after speculating about injecting disinfectant and "powerful" light into human bodies to kill a virus. Both groups were probably right.

Trump, apparently irked by a report on his TV-heavy schedule, actually left the White House several times in March — rallies in three states, Mar-a-Lago, FEMA headquarters — though maybe it felt like "many months."

On Saturday, Trump blamed the media for ruining his nightly coronavirus briefings. In reality, Trump "was convinced to pause the daily coronavirus briefings because advisers concluded his performances were damaging," The Washington Post's Philip Rucker tweeted. "But instead of adjusting his pandemic messaging, he's still praising himself, attacking reporters, and airing grievances — just all on Twitter."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.