VOA Special English
Donald Trump, John Lennon, and #InternetTheBeatles

    2015/12/8

    #TrumpOnCNN

    Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is all over social media today because of comments he made Monday. Trump called for the U.S. to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the country. He said a ban was necessary to protect the U.S. from more terror attacks.

    American leaders, Democrats and even fellow Republican presidential candidates quickly slammed Trump’s ideas.

    Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said Trump’s proposed ban “goes against everything we stand for.”

    Trump defended his comments Tuesday morning on CNN. Soon after, #TrumpOnCNN trended on Twitter.

    Flowers adorn the Imagine mosaic in remembrance of John Lennon, in the Strawberry Fields section of New York's Central Park, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. Thirty-five years ago, Mark David Chapman shot and killed the former the Beatle.  (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
    Flowers adorn the Imagine mosaic in remembrance of John Lennon, in the Strawberry Fields section of New York's Central Park, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. Thirty-five years ago, Mark David Chapman shot and killed the former the Beatle. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

    White House spokesman Josh Earnest answered questions from reporters Tuesday about Trump’s comments. Earnest said the proposal “disqualifies him from serving as president.”

    By Tuesday afternoon, “Josh Earnest” was trending on Facebook.

    After the White House spokesman’s remarks, Twitter threw a #TrumpIsDisqualfiedParty. People posted pictures of celebrities arriving at Hollywood parties, saying they were arriving the Trump Disqualified Party.

    It was unclear whether some Twitter users actually believed that the White House could disqualify a presidential candidate. (To be clear: it cannot.)

    But Twitter had fun with it anyway.

    The Philadelphia Daily News on Tuesday compared Trump to Adolf Hitler. Its cover photo showed Trump with his right arm extended, in a way similar to the Nazi salute.

    ​The title read: “The New Furor.”

    #JohnLennon

    Today marked the 35th anniversary of the death of British musician John Lennon. The former Beatles star was shot and killed on December 8, 1980 in New York City.

    Lennon’s widow, artist and activist Yoko Ono, tweeted today about gun violence in America.

    She wrote, “Over 1,100,000 people killed by guns in the USA since John Lennon was shot and killed on December 8, 1980.” She ended her message with the hashtag #StopGunViolence.

    ​On Twitter, #JohnLennon trended worldwide. People tweeted photos, videos, and old newspaper stories to celebrate Lennon’s life music.

    ​Another #JohnLennon-inspired trend on Twitter today was #InternetTheBeatles. People played with the names of famous Beatles songs and modernized them to include Internet-related vocabulary.

    The Twitter handle NewMen_Look came up with “Get By With A Little Help from My Friend Requests.” The original Beatles song is titled “Get By With A Little Help From My Friends."

    ​Twitter user Hal Sparks wrote “Tweet and Shout,” a play on the Beatles song “Twist and Shout.”

    And that’s What’s Trending Today.

    I’m Ashley Thompson.

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    Words in This Story

    temporarily - adv. continuing for a limited amount of time

    slam - v. to criticize (someone or something) harshly

    widow - n. a woman whose husband has died