Rogue Twitter Employee Briefly Shuts Down Trump’s Account

President Trump on Twitter in his office in Trump Tower. For a few minutes Thursday evening, his famous @realDonaldTrump account disappeared. Credit (Josh Haner/The New York Times)

This is the way the world closures: not with a blast but rather an erased Twitter account.

At any rate, so it showed up for 11 minutes Thursday evening, when guests to President Trump's own record, @realDonaldTrump, were educated that there was no such thing.

In the midst of an administration that has appeared, on occasion, to be directed principally in 140-character pieces, this was a seismic occasion — and what was left of Twitter ejected. It was a rambunctious, cutting edge town-square assembling of the sort not seen since … well, since five months back, when Mr. Trump begat another word amidst the night.

It was simply before 7 p.m. Thursday, and the web was in a state of chaos. Time ceased. The sun ascended in the west and set in the east. What, the watchers pondered, was going on? Had Twitter shut the president's record? Had a White House associate grabbed the telephone from Mr. Trump's tweeting hands? Had Robert Mueller picked this minute to rifle through the president's immediate messages? Had Mr. Trump himself — would it be able to be? — chose he'd had enough of his most loved medium?

The appropriate response, uncovered three hours after the fact, was something straight out of "Office Space." After saying in an underlying proclamation that the record had been "coincidentally deactivated because of human mistake by a Twitter representative," Twitter reported that a rebel client bolster laborer had done it on his or her last day at the organization.

A significant number of Mr. Trump's supporters were angered, with some expression the episode demonstrated a carelessness with the expectation of complimentary discourse. His adversaries, then again, were joyful. "America: Hire this individual," previous Representative John Dingell of Michigan tweeted.

The president himself returned to business as though nothing had happened, tweeting at 8:05 p.m.: "Extraordinary Tax Cut rollout today. The lobbyists are raging Capital Hill, however the Republicans will hold solid and make the right decision for America!" He at that point shot four more tweets, criticizing the Democratic National Committee and James B. Comey before welcoming watchers to watch his meeting with Laura Ingraham on Fox News.

Thus back in the workplaces and homes of the country, the general population of Twitter could just kick back and reflect.

For better or for worse, the world seemed predictable again, and one user made his prediction bold.