I'm reading (well, listening) to a book called "Trust me, I'm Lying" about the modern news cycle, and how lies and intentional outrage at lower levels (blogs and social media) get funneled up to traditional-media, and how that is driven by people like the author.

I wouldn't be surprised if causing outrage and later deleting the tweet and following up with a half-hearted non-apology was the intent all along.

Really great book, IMO. Same guy (Ryan Holiday) had a book about the conspiracy behind the Hulk Hogan sex tape ("Conspiracy") that was also real good.