Obamagate

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Part of a series on Spygate. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Obamagate refers to the controversy surrounding various events by the Obama administration believed to be scandalous, particularly referencing attempts to discredit or frame Donald Trump’s presidency (associated with Spygate). In mid-May 2020, President Trump began tweeting about the controversy using #Obamagate on Twitter, causing the hashtag to begin trending online. His statements, which were covered by several news outlets, resulted in a mixture of support and backlash, prompting some to use the hashtag to defend President Obama and make accusations aimed at those pointing fingers.

Background

On May 10th, 2020, President Trump tweeted over 100 times referencing the investigation of collusion between his campaign and Russia, particularly surrounding his former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Throughout the day and into the morning of May 11th on Twitter,^[1] Trump posted numerous articles, retweets and his personal thoughts on the case surrounding Flynn, claiming that it was an attempt to frame his administration (seen below).

The flurry of tweets from the President follows in the wake of another hashtag that trended on the platform previously: #TrumpsJealousofObama, which also appears in his Twitter^[2] feed (shown below) alongside “Obamagate.” The term itself follows the formula of past scandals in the U.S., which tack on "gate" to the end of a particular keyword, originating with the infamous Watergate Scandal.

Online Reactions

Following Trump’s tweets, the statements began stirring up various discussions and reactions from users across a wide array of social platforms and websites, either criticizing him or supporting him. One such example comes from Twitter^[3] user SethAbramson, a columnist for Newsweek, on May 11th, 2020. The tweet (seen below) received over 3,300 likes and 800 retweets.

In support, Twitter^[4] user Pipes2494 tweeted an image of “the #ObamaGate family” on May 11th, 2020. This tweet (shown below) was liked over 7,200 times and retweeted another 4,100 times.

Once the hashtag began trending on Twitter, several users also began tweeting that the platform was burying mentions of “Obamagate” attempting to hide the controversy. On May 11th, 2020, Twitter^[5] user walterkkrunkite tweeted an image stating they were suppressing the trend. The tweet (seen below) received over 21,000 likes and 10,000 comments.

Other users then attempted to disprove this notion, seen in a tweet from Twitter^[6] user SWCFellsPt later that day (shown below), receiving more than 600 likes and 300 comments.

Some also simply posted memes regarding the hashtag trying to make light of the situation. One such example was tweeted the same day by Twitter^[7] user GrrrGraphics. The image (seen below) was liked over 2,500 times and retweeted another 1,100 times.

On Reddit,^[8] #Obamagate was later discussed in the r/OutOfTheLoop sub when Redditor Twistervtx asked the question, “What's up with #ObamaGate and why is it trending on Twitter?” The thread generated over 7,000 upvotes and 1,500 comments in roughly 24 hours. The top comment, from Redditor DukeMaximum (shown below) received more than 6,600 upvotes.

Answer: "Gate" is a term that is often tacked on to the end of a term to refer to a political scandal. For instance, if a politician embarrassed themselves while eating a sandwich, it might be referred to as "Sandwichgate." This started after the Watergate scandal, wherein operatives for the Nixon re-election campaign were caught breaking into Democratic National Party HQ, which was located at the Watergate Hotel and office complex in Washington, D.C. A common claim that is made about President Obama is that he lead a "scandal-free" presidency. Vice President Biden who is, of course, running for president now, has re-stated this claim. As you can imagine, there is some disagreement. Recently, the hashtag #Obamagate has been used on Twitter and elsewhere to reference various events and actions by the Obama administration that are believed to be scandalous. Knowing that the hashtag is getting attention from Republicans, Democrats are using the same hashtag to make accusations about Republicans, and making defenses of President Obama.

The Daily Show Instagram^[9] account also poked fun at the hashtag on May 11th, 2020, posting a video of Obama using a selfie stick (seen below) with the caption, "Today in Obama Scandal History: The Selfie Stick | Is #Obamagate about the time Barack Obama used a selfie stick in the White House?"