Don’t Expect Trump To Be Restrained On Twitter Once He Takes Office

RNC communications director and chief strategist Sean Spicer leaves Trump Tower, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
RNC communications director and chief strategist Sean Spicer leaves Trump Tower, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
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Newly-named White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that Donald Trump’s Twitter use will be a “really exciting part of the job” for the incoming president.

“I think that his use of social media in particular … is gonna be something that’s never been seen before,” he said in an interview with Rhode Island news station WPRI published Monday. “He has this direct pipeline in the American people, where he can talk back and forth.”

Shortly after the election, the President-elect promised to be “very restrained” with his use of the social media platform, but said he would continue to use it to push back against media coverage he felt was unfair.

Trump has gone far further than that in recent weeks, using his account to criticize major corporations by name and disagree with the Obama administration’s stance on a UN resolution regarding Israeli settlements. An Indiana union leader received death threats after Trump personally targeted him on Twitter, and nuclear experts panicked after he called for the U.S. to “greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability.”

Spicer, who will also assume the role of communications director after Jason Miller abruptly withdrew himself from the job, told WPRI he was unconcerned with the shockwaves Trump routinely unleashed with his 140-character missives.

“He can put his thoughts out and hear what they’re thinking in a way that no one’s ever been able to do before,” Spicer said. “I mean, he does communicate in a much bigger way than there’s ever been before, and I think that’s gonna be just a really exciting part of the job.”

h/t Politico

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Notable Replies

  1. Wasn’t Obama forced to give up his cellphone when he was inaugurated? Now I just wonder why that rule no longer applies to His Ass-Holeyness?

  2. I wonder what the Secret Service will have to say about this.

  3. Avatar for joriep joriep says:

    So, no need for a press secretary I guess?

  4. Would you let your lawyer negotiate a messy divorce settlement, one with large sums of money, homes, cars, businesses, children, alimony, etc at stake, 140 characters at a time? No? Why in the hell is it OK for a President to presume it’ll work in shaping and maintaining peaceful, beneficial relationships with vast, nuclear armed nation-states? WTF?

  5. “I think that his use of social media in particular … is gonna be something that’s never been seen before,” he said in an interview with Rhode Island news station WPRI published Monday. “He has this direct pipeline in the American people, where he can talk back and forth.”

    Rump is NOT looking to have a discussion. He bleats out these tweets with total disregard as to how they’re interpreted. Whether it’s a beauty queen or an entire foreign nation, he uses Twitter as the mouthpiece for his NPD.

    @joriep I think that’s a good point. Rump isn’t going to have news conferences, he’ll tweet constantly and do periodic YouTube videos. Given that, why not just send Conway out there to explain the latest outrage? Why have an extra position?

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