From June 15, 2015, when he launched his Presidential campaign, until October 24, 2016, Donald Trump fired nearly 4,000 angry, insulting tweets at 281 people and institutions. The New York Times needed two full pages of its print edition to showcase them.
Among these targets were:
- His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton
- His fellow Republican Presidential candidates
- Actress Meryl Streep
- News organizations
- President Barack Obama
- Comedian John Oliver
- Obamacare
- Singer Neil Young
- The state of New Jersey
- Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Donald Trump
During his first two weeks as President, Trump attacked 22 people, places and institutions on his @realDonaldTrump account.
Then, on March 4, 2017, Trump falsely accused former President Barack Obama of tapping his Trump Tower phones prior to the election:
“How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”
Thus, without offering a shred of evidence to back it up, Trump accused his predecessor—on Twitter—of committing an impeachable offense.
President Barack Obama
On May 9, 2017, Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey—for pursuing an investigation into Russian subversion of the 2016 election.
Just 72 hours after firing Comey, Trump threatened him via Twitter: “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”
Trump had no such tapes.
And Twitter’s reaction to such a blatant threat? Silence.
James B. Comey
On February 17, 2017, Trump used Twitter to attack the Constitutionally-protected free press:
“The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
“Enemy of the people” was a popular charge during the 30-year reign of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
On July 2, 2017, Trump tweeted a video showing him punching a man with the CNN logo superimposed on his head during a WWE wrestling match.
Yet Twitter’s Terms of Service stated:
Hateful imagery and display names: You may not use hateful images or symbols in your profile image or profile header. You also may not use your username, display name, or profile bio to engage in abusive behavior, such as targeted harassment or expressing hate towards a person, group, or protected category. We will begin enforcing this rule on December 18, 2017. [Italics added.]
Even foreign leaders were unnerved by Trump’s obsession with Twitter. As CNN Political Analyst Julian Zelizer outlined in a July 3, 2017 article:
“To have one of the most powerful people in the room being someone who is willing to send out explosive and controversial statements through social media, including nasty personal attacks or an edited video of him physically assaulting the media, does not make others….feel very confident about how he will handle deliberations with them.”
On September 25, 2017, Twitter’s top executives justified allowing these repeated violations of “Twitter Rules,” tweeting:
“We hold all accounts to the same Rules, and consider a number of factors when assessing whether Tweets violate our Rules.
“Among the considerations is ‘newsworthiness’ and whether a Tweet is of public interest. This has long been internal policy and we’ll soon update our public-facing rules to reflect it. We need to do better on this, and will.”
Only after Trump incited a mob of his Right-wing followers to attack the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, did Twitter ban him from its website.
But Twitter has never acknowledged publicly that Trump violated any of its guidelines. It rarely even acknowledged Trump’s tweets.
Trump’s apologists fiercely defended his tweetstorms, claiming they allowed him to bypass the media and “communicate directly with the American people.”
One of those apologists was former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: “I believe it’s really important to have these conversations out in the open, rather than have them behind closed doors.”
Jack Dorsey
In April, 2017, Twitter announced that it had added 9,000,000 new users, its largest quarter-over-quarter jump in two years.
“We believe Twitter is the best at showing you what’s happening in the world and what’s being talked about,” said Anthony Noto, Twitter’s chief financial officer.
“Having political leaders of the world as well as news agencies participating and driving that is an important element to reinforcing what we’re the best at.”
In short: Trump is good at attracting more Twitter users. and if the company needs to overlook his blatant and repeated violations of its “Twitter Rules,” so be it.
Twitter has been so plagued by trolling that potential investors like the Walt Disney Company have refused to taint their own reputations by partnering with it.
Cyber-bullying, racist comments, violent threats and reputation-smashing phony celebrity accounts have repeatedly brought Twitter harsh criticism.
And now its new owner, Tessla CEO Elon Musk, clearly intends to restore Donald Trump’s Twitter account.
Not content with that, Musk has engaged in a Twitter-smear of his own.
On October 28, David DePape, a Right-wing QAnon fanatic, assaulted Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in his San Francisco house.
Hours later, Musk tweeted a Right-wing slander: That DePape is a male sex worker who was hired by Paul Pelosi.
Musk later deleted the tweet.
Anyone who wanted to know what the “new” Twitter will be like just found out.
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WELCOME TO THE TWITTER SMEAR-A-THON: PART TWO (END)
In Bureaucracy, Business, Entertainment, History, Politics, Social commentary on November 1, 2022 at 12:13 amFrom June 15, 2015, when he launched his Presidential campaign, until October 24, 2016, Donald Trump fired nearly 4,000 angry, insulting tweets at 281 people and institutions. The New York Times needed two full pages of its print edition to showcase them.
Among these targets were:
Donald Trump
During his first two weeks as President, Trump attacked 22 people, places and institutions on his @realDonaldTrump account.
Then, on March 4, 2017, Trump falsely accused former President Barack Obama of tapping his Trump Tower phones prior to the election:
“How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”
Thus, without offering a shred of evidence to back it up, Trump accused his predecessor—on Twitter—of committing an impeachable offense.
President Barack Obama
On May 9, 2017, Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey—for pursuing an investigation into Russian subversion of the 2016 election.
Just 72 hours after firing Comey, Trump threatened him via Twitter: “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”
Trump had no such tapes.
And Twitter’s reaction to such a blatant threat? Silence.
James B. Comey
On February 17, 2017, Trump used Twitter to attack the Constitutionally-protected free press:
“The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
“Enemy of the people” was a popular charge during the 30-year reign of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
On July 2, 2017, Trump tweeted a video showing him punching a man with the CNN logo superimposed on his head during a WWE wrestling match.
Yet Twitter’s Terms of Service stated:
Hateful imagery and display names: You may not use hateful images or symbols in your profile image or profile header. You also may not use your username, display name, or profile bio to engage in abusive behavior, such as targeted harassment or expressing hate towards a person, group, or protected category. We will begin enforcing this rule on December 18, 2017. [Italics added.]
Even foreign leaders were unnerved by Trump’s obsession with Twitter. As CNN Political Analyst Julian Zelizer outlined in a July 3, 2017 article:
“To have one of the most powerful people in the room being someone who is willing to send out explosive and controversial statements through social media, including nasty personal attacks or an edited video of him physically assaulting the media, does not make others….feel very confident about how he will handle deliberations with them.”
On September 25, 2017, Twitter’s top executives justified allowing these repeated violations of “Twitter Rules,” tweeting:
“We hold all accounts to the same Rules, and consider a number of factors when assessing whether Tweets violate our Rules.
“Among the considerations is ‘newsworthiness’ and whether a Tweet is of public interest. This has long been internal policy and we’ll soon update our public-facing rules to reflect it. We need to do better on this, and will.”
Only after Trump incited a mob of his Right-wing followers to attack the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, did Twitter ban him from its website.
But Twitter has never acknowledged publicly that Trump violated any of its guidelines. It rarely even acknowledged Trump’s tweets.
Trump’s apologists fiercely defended his tweetstorms, claiming they allowed him to bypass the media and “communicate directly with the American people.”
One of those apologists was former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: “I believe it’s really important to have these conversations out in the open, rather than have them behind closed doors.”
Jack Dorsey
In April, 2017, Twitter announced that it had added 9,000,000 new users, its largest quarter-over-quarter jump in two years.
“We believe Twitter is the best at showing you what’s happening in the world and what’s being talked about,” said Anthony Noto, Twitter’s chief financial officer.
“Having political leaders of the world as well as news agencies participating and driving that is an important element to reinforcing what we’re the best at.”
In short: Trump is good at attracting more Twitter users. and if the company needs to overlook his blatant and repeated violations of its “Twitter Rules,” so be it.
Twitter has been so plagued by trolling that potential investors like the Walt Disney Company have refused to taint their own reputations by partnering with it.
Cyber-bullying, racist comments, violent threats and reputation-smashing phony celebrity accounts have repeatedly brought Twitter harsh criticism.
And now its new owner, Tessla CEO Elon Musk, clearly intends to restore Donald Trump’s Twitter account.
Not content with that, Musk has engaged in a Twitter-smear of his own.
On October 28, David DePape, a Right-wing QAnon fanatic, assaulted Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in his San Francisco house.
Hours later, Musk tweeted a Right-wing slander: That DePape is a male sex worker who was hired by Paul Pelosi.
Musk later deleted the tweet.
Anyone who wanted to know what the “new” Twitter will be like just found out.
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