But at least the tweet congratulated Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists (the latter two don't celebrate Diwali)! This year was also the first time in 15 years the White House had not hosted a formal Diwali event.
Here is Trump's tweet, preserved for posterity.
15 minutes later, when the mistake was presumably pointed out to him, Trump sent out another tweet:
It was my great honor to host a celebration of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, in the Roosevelt Room at the @WhiteHouse this afternoon. Very, very special people! https://t.co/kQk7IvpSFo pic.twitter.com/tYlBABg4JF
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018
It turns out the White House had hastily assembled its South Asian personnel for a small diya lighting ceremony, a week after the festival, to mark the event.
Desis could not help themselves
"Trump deleted the original Diwali tribute tweet because it left out Hindus only to post a corrected tweet and still leave out Hindus. Diwali is literally the most popular festival in Hinduism," tweeted reporter Siraj Hashmi.
Actor Ashwin Mushran quipped: "Hindus for Trump must be thrilled with the special mention."
Lol @realDonaldTrump sent a Diwali tweet missing out Hindus, got called out, deleted it, then reposted a new Diwali tweet — which also missed out Hindus... https://t.co/vUi2V6evLs
— Ashitha Nagesh (@ashnagesh) November 13, 2018
I mean Sikhs don't technically celebrate Diwali, whereas Hindus do (who aren't mentioned).
— Narinder Singh (@NSP55) November 14, 2018
But other than that... https://t.co/KYx56KqCNk
"Happy Hindu festival of lights everyone except Hindus!" - joked journalist Rahul Kalvapalle.
Being a Buddhist all my life, how did I miss this? 🤔
— Chamila Dilshan (@cdwijayarathna) November 14, 2018
This administratiom can't get anything right #WhatabouttheHindus 🤷ðŸ½â€â™‚ï¸ https://t.co/cSUzrcMo4M
— Manish (@ManishGohil_) November 14, 2018
Of course. All but Hindus celebrated this lovely festival of lights 😂🤣 https://t.co/dgjaXpjudU
— Mridu Bhandari (@mridubhandari) November 14, 2018
wow it’s like he picked all the multiple choice answers except the right one which kind of sums him up https://t.co/geBYIJLV1Y
— Aparna Nancherla (@aparnapkin) November 13, 2018
Writer Shuja Haider quipped: "Merry Christmas to all the Muslims and Jews!"
Twitter user Adarsh had some advice for POTUS: "Bro, you missed out Muslims and Christians. It's the biggest festival for them."
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