State Department website declares Trump's term over, throws internet into chaos

Folks online noticed something odd on Monday. President Donald Trump's biography on the State Department website suddenly said his "term ended on 2021-01-11 19:45:20." That's today.

Now, let's be clear. This almost certainly doesn't indicate Trump is going to vacate his office today. In fact, soon after people noticed the what was up with the State Department website, Christopher Miller with BuzzFeed News reported that it was the work of a disgruntled staffer, according to two "current-serving diplomats." Vice President Mike Pence's page contained a similar message.

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Mashable has reached out to the State Department for comment but has not yet received a response. In the meantime, tweets flew in as the nation waited for an official explanation. It's all people could post about. And the jokes were fantastic.

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At the time of publishing, both biographies for Donald Trump and Mike Pence were redirected to a 404 page.

Credit: screenshot/state.gov

To be clear, President Donald Trump is still president...for now. President-elect Joe Biden is, however, scheduled to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021. BuzzFeed reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had ordered an investigation into the website change, "beginning with interns and employees leaving the State Department this week and next ahead of the transition."

So while Trump reportedly isn't stepping down, it's not totally wild to think the president might resign, considering he incited his supporters to carry out a deadly insurrection on the U.S. Capitol last week. Many have called for the president to be removed from office, either by the 25th Amendment or by impeachment, which House Democrats have indicated they'll soon vote on.

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