Overview

• At 8:31 a.m. on Sunday, August 17, President Trump posted the one-word message “Bela” on Truth Social during a flurry of messages about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• The cryptic post garnered approximately 5,700 likes and 1,300 retruths and trended on platforms including X and Reddit.
• Reporters and users offered possible explanations such as a typo for “Belarus” or “bella,” an acronym linked to South Africa’s BELA law or an inside diplomatic signal, but no definitive interpretation has emerged.
• Political figures including California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office, the Lincoln Project and critic George Conway compared the post to Trump’s 2017 “covfefe” incident and used it for partisan jabs.
• The White House has not clarified the meaning as Trump prepares to meet Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy in Washington on Monday.