Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush battle on Twitter, both lose

By Jordan Valinsky • August 11, 2015 •

A certain real estate tycoon aside, apparently Twitter trolling isn’t below the rest of the potential presidential candidates.

It all started last night when Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner tweeted about her new college affordability plan, a $350 billion proposal that would increase the number of low interest grants and loans made available to students.

Turns out, Jeb Bush, who is one of 17 people vying for the Republican presidential nomination, isn’t a fan. He slammed it as “irresponsible” for taxpayers to foot the bill. The battle extended beyond prepared statements and devolved into a petty Twitter war in four acts.

Let’s start with Clinton’s brightly colored tweet announcing the plan:

Cost won’t be a barrier to an education. Debt won’t hold you back. Read Hillary’s plan: https://t.co/A4pWb3fOf4 pic.twitter.com/KVyr8SlSVn

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 10, 2015

Bush pounced and responded with an edited infographic slamming the Democrats:

@HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/m6LAHYCLok

— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) August 10, 2015

Clinton’s team didn’t waste anytime and scribbled over the infographic in Preview claiming that he was given an “F” grade in terms of college affordability in Florida. With 6,000 retweets and 8,700 favorites, this was the most popular tweet:

.@JebBush Fixed it for you. pic.twitter.com/d4q9EWpXCA

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 10, 2015

That wasn’t the end of it. Bush tweeted one final clap back with an edited version of Clinton’s campaign logo by pointing the arrow upwards with the words “TAXES” repeated in the background:

.@HillaryClinton fixed your logo for you. pic.twitter.com/141nXHQe4Z

— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) August 11, 2015

Fin.

So, who was the winner? Judging the flood of responses tweeted at the two, it’s equally divided between the two as being annoyed and disappointed.

fixed ur bios for u @JebBush @HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/iXmVDyg9cT

— samir mezrahi (@samir) August 11, 2015

also while I’m here, this @JebBush @HillaryClinton meme war is embarrassing to all but mostly to jeb’s design team. kerning counts y’all.

— Adam J. Kurtz (@adamjk) August 11, 2015

@JebBush @HillaryClinton Fixed it for both of you! pic.twitter.com/VyJOVcRH7W

— Duncan Trussell (@duncantrussell) August 11, 2015

@JebBush @HillaryClinton ok, you two can throw shade on Twitter or you can convince me to vote for you to be president but u can’t do both.

— Tyler Huckafleek (@TylerHuckabee) August 11, 2015

.@JebBush @HillaryClinton you are both paying your twitter person far too much for this

— Bad Tweet Below (@hankhugs) August 11, 2015

.@JebBush @HillaryClinton Are you two fucking five years old?? You want to be President of the Fucking United States?? GROW THE FUCK UP!

— Robert (@Giants55) August 11, 2015

Candidates on both sides stayed out of it, even Donald Trump, who’s addicted to Twitter.

Nathan Gonzales, the editor of the non-partisan newsletter The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report, called it a “silly squabble” between the campaigns that has no lasting impact on persuading voters.

“People are more likely to remember what color tie Donald Trump wore yesterday rather than this exchange,” Gonzales said. “If you’re following Bush or Clinton on Twitter, you’ve probably already made up your mind about how you’re going to vote next year.”

He added: “This ‘fight’ is just silliness and the result of campaign staff having too much time on their hands.”

And with another 454 days until the 2016 presidential election, that leaves plenty of time for more. Yay.