On Tuesday, the Twitter account for Sid Miller, Texas’ Republican Agricultural Commissioner, sent out a message seriously misspelling Hillary Clinton’s name and shortening it by several letters, rendering it as a far more offensive word beginning with “C”. Fortunately, he has a perfectly reasonable explanation for it – several of them, in fact.
Photo: AP
“PENNSYLVANIA: NEW AUTO ALLIANCE POLL” wrote @MillerForTexas in the since-removed tweet. “TRUMP: 43 Cunt: 42 Go Trump Go!”
Photo: Twitter/Dallas News
Shortly after deleting the message, Miller’s Twitter sent out a followup tweet claiming the account had been “HACKED”, writing, “The disgusting re-tweet has been removed and we have changed all account passwords. Be advised.”
That was the same story given by agency spokesperson Mark Loeffler, who told the Dallas News that the “hack” was likely intended to make both Miller and Donald Trump look bad. Soon, however, the followup tweet was also deleted and Loeffler had a new explanation.
“The campaign was retweeting information on Twitter today and inadvertently retweeted a tweet that they were not aware contained a derogatory term,” said Loeffler in a statement. “The tweet was taken down as soon as possible. Commissioner Miller finds the term vulgar and offensive and apologizes to anyone who may have seen it.”
After many noted that the offending message was not a retweet, Miller himself offered a third explanation to KXAS reporter Julie Fine, telling her “the tweet did not say RT is because it was cut and pasted” – apparently, from alt-right Twitter personality Ricky Vaughn.
Somehow, Miller’s excuses weren’t enough to satisfy his fellow Texas Republicans, who scrambled to distance themselves from the tweet.
“The language is reprehensible and is an embarrassment,” said Texas Governor Greg Abbott in a statement. “No true Texas gentleman would ever talk this way.”