At 2:18 p.m. ET on Oct. 3, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commision (FOC) sent its first nationwide presidential alert from President Trump. On Twitter, people have reacted in a variety of ways — especially with humor.
The purpose of the nationwide test alert was to inform Americans about a national emergency. Originally, the test alert was to take place on Sept. 20 at 2:18 p.m. ET. According to BuzzFeed, FEMA changed the date in the wake of Hurricane Florence hitting the East Coast of the country.
Now, here's the thing. You might think that your service provider would preclude you from receiving the alert but BuzzFeed reported that over 100 service carriers have agreed to be part of the alert program. So, there's a fairly big chance that most Americans got the message.
The alert read as, "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed." This won't be the first time that Americans throughout the country received a collective alert on their phones. In the past, people have received alerts for flash floods or other types of potentially dangerous weather. There's also the all-too-familiar alert sent out for child abductions known as the Amber Alert. Here's how some social media users reacted to the presidential text.
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Ron Swanson To The Rescue
It seems like this Mary Sue tweet spoke to quite a few folks.
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Overwhelming For Some
Some people may not exactly enjoy that alarming alert sound.
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Does This Remind You Of Something Else?
If this tweet doesn't make sense to you, here's a suggestion to read this report from 2014. What a year.
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Zero Typos
Considering Trump has committed quite a few spelling errors and verbal gaffes over time, this alert appeared to have surprised some readers. But here's the thing: FEMA sends the text, not the president directly.
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The Tone, You Know
For some people, the presidential alert read a little too intense.
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Startled
Of course, there may have been those who did not know that Oct. 3 would bring with it a loud, potentially jarring nationwide alert. This Twitter user wondered what it was for those who had no prior knowledge of the message.
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Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind
Here's a little tidbit. While some people may think that the nationwide text was a move made under the Trump administration, the presidential alert is actually part of the Wireless Emergency Alerts system. This was approved by former president Barack Obama in 2016.
The general idea, if you will, was to modernize the public alert system. Basically, if something extreme or dangerous were to happen, this system would keep Americans updated and aware.
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Meme It Out
Of course, with something as significant as this alert, people had to meme it up. And some of them were pretty clever.
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And Those Who Didn't Get It
For this Twitter user, not getting the presidential alert seemed like the greatest news of his day.
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There's some good news for people who don't want to receive Trump's tweets as presidential alerts: it won't happen. And here's why, according to the law: "The public alert and warning system shall not be used to transmit a message that does not relate to a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster or threat to public safety." So, rest easy.
