Rarely does a Donald Trump tweet go unanswered, if not unchallenged. And his latest missive, one bearing superlative accolades for his elder daughter is no exception.

My daughter, Ivanka, just arrived in South Korea. We cannot have a better, or smarter, person representing our country. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 23, 2018

Photo: Getty Images

Within moments, the challenge to find someone better, or smarter, was afoot. Everyone from “anyone else” to Dennis Rodman was quickly nominated to take her place.

That would be true if you and she were the only two people in the world. — LiberalBookwormJim (@goodoldcatchy) February 23, 2018

Donald Trump tweeted about Ivanka being in South Korea saying “we cannot have a better, or smarter, person representing our country.” We do have a better, smarter person… and his name is Dennis Rodman. — Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) February 23, 2018

The ensuing discussion just goes to show how crucial communication style and choice of grammar can be when attempting to send a message to the masses. Within the span of 19 words and a handful of grammatical errors, Trump begged for scrutiny about Ivanka’s character, intelligence, and suitability for representing the entire population of the United States. And Twitter, above any other platform, did not disappoint in rising to the occasion.

Hey I think you meant “could not” but it’s pretty funny the way you wrote it. Thanks for the #grammar — Olie Olie (@olieolie) February 23, 2018

Well, that’s a shame. There a millions of decent honest representatives with actual government jobs available. But, if we can’t, we can’t. — Marty Thomas (@martythomasbway) February 24, 2018

Yes we can. I know at least dozens of much more capable, honest and smarter people than her. She does not represent us. — Brasilmagic (@Brasilmagic) February 23, 2018

How about Stormy Daniels? Didn’t you tell her she reminded you of Ivanka? — W Maass (@WMaass1) February 24, 2018

Is all this just mincing words? Perhaps, but words matter. By posing the declaration that one “cannot have a better, or smarter, person representing our country,” he is also effectively throwing a whole swath of officials purportedly qualified to undertake foreign diplomacy under the bus. Is this simply an example of a father’s pride, or is it a vote of the entire government, including himself, who’s supposed to be the numero uno head honcho?

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What about his own second-in-command, Mike Pence — is he not qualified to represent the United States? Or Secretary of State Rex Tillerson? What about the elected officials in Congress who are officially second and third in the U.S. presidential line of succession? How about the ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley? Technically speaking, the first person on the list to represent the United States in South Korea could have/should have been the current ambassador, but as one smart tweeter pointed out, we don’t actually have one:

Maybe the US ambassador of South Korea should’ve…. oh wait we don’t have one — donaldtrumpnewstoday (@irishrygirl) February 24, 2018

And last, but most certainly not least: What about all those athletes?

Right, because at the Olympics, it’s about the family of politicians, not the brilliant, driven, outstanding athletes. — Rick Eckle (@Targhee159) February 24, 2018

It’s a tangled web you weave when you hire your own children to work for you. Doing so in a private business is anyone’s right, of course. But to do so in public service just means all that much more scrutiny can and should be applied. The label of nepotism has a lot of negativity surrounding it, for good reason. There are laws against it in government, after all. By definition it is simply the practice of showing favoritism for relatives or friends, particularly by giving them jobs. And in one simple tweet, it seems that Trump has owned up to this notorious practice by disqualifying everyone who isn’t his daughter for one simple, albeit crucial job.

She’s not supposed to be representing us politically, she (and all your kids) are supposed to be handling business & completely independent of government to avoid conflicts of interest. — Lizardbeth ☕ (@LizardbethArt) February 24, 2018

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