There was some serious frenemy drama brewing on social media after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump commented on his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin during Wednesday night’s presidential debate.
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During the section on immigration, the subject of Clinton’s leaked campaign emails came up. She said that Russian hackers were behind the leaks, and pivoted to say that Putin supported Trump. After insisting that he doesn’t know Putin, Trump busted out this line:
“I’ve never met Putin. This is not my best friend.”
But soon enough, internet sleuths dug up a tweet sent from Trump’s official Twitter account back in 2013, pointing to a history between the two men.
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“Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow — if so, will he become my new best friend,” read the tweet.
This led to an onslaught of memes and Twitter jokes, suggesting Trump and Putin were in a bit of a friendship feud.
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Many Twitter users busted out pictures of Putin crying, poking fun at the idea.
https://twitter.com/elliekopp/status/788929243241713665
Several users took the opportunity to create fake dialogues between the two.
https://twitter.com/adamconover/status/788921892795060224
During the debate, Trump did say he would likely get along better with the Russian leader than Clinton, a former secretary of state.
“He said nice things about me,” Trump said. “He has no respect for her, he has no respect for our president and I’ll tell you what, we’re in very serious trouble.”
https://twitter.com/SamDangerous/status/788916397569142785
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Earlier this week, Trump suggested that if elected, his first meeting with a foreign leader would be with Putin.
U.S.-Russian relations have deteriorated in recent years over Moscow’s intervention in the Syrian conflict, its annexation of the Crimean region from Ukraine and concerns about cyber attacks.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who oversees 17 U.S. intelligence agencies, has suggested that recent computer hacks targeting the Democratic Party were perpetrated by Russians, and predicted that cyber attacks would be a pressing challenge for the next president.
Putin said on Sunday that Russia did not seek confrontation with the United States and was not trying to influence the U.S. election.
WATCH: Full debate coverage
– With files from Reuters
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