Trump Says He’ll Be ‘Restrained’ With His Twitter Use As President

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016, in Golden, Colo. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
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During an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” set to air in full on Sunday, Donald Trump defended his use of Twitter during the campaign but said that he will be “restrained” with his social media use as president.

CBS’ Lesley Stahl noted to Trump that he used his Twitter account to launch attacks throughout the election cycle and asked if he would do that as president. In response, Trump launched into an endorsement for social media and noted that is was a great way for him to keep “fighting back.”

“It’s a great form of communication. Now do I say I’ll give it up entirely?” he said. “I’m not saying I love it, but it does get the word out. When you give me a bad story or when you give me an inaccurate story or when somebody other than you and another — a network, or whatever, ‘cause of course, CBS would never do a thing like that right? I have a method of fighting back.”

Stahl then tried to clarify that he would do that as president.

“I’m going to do very restrained, if I use it at all, I’m going to be very restrained,” Trump replied.

He then touted his use of social media again.

“It’s a modern form of communication. There should be nothing you should be ashamed of. It’s where it’s at. I do believe this, I really believe that the fact that I have such power in terms of numbers with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et cetera — I think it helped me win all of these races where they’re spending much more money than I spent,” Trump said. “I think that social media has more power than the money they spent, and I think maybe to a certain extent, I proved that.”

Watch the clip via CBS News:

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Notable Replies

  1. Trump loves the ease with which Twitter allows him to share his puerile comments and petty insults with the American people.

  2. I’ll only horrify you with my unfiltered insanity once a week, whether I need to or not.

  3. Avatar for gateau gateau says:

    Yeah, just like he’s restrained with the gold leaf and fomenting hatred.

  4. While most Presidents choose press conferences, Trump loves Twitter because it removes all form of critiquing from his pronouncements: no fact-checking, no follow-up questions, no requests for clarification. It’s not a dialogue and makes no pretense thereof. The id in all its glory, unrestrained and unfettered.

    The fact that the American public is not uniformly repelled by this man’s pathetic tweeting is Impetus Number One for considering a new international address.

  5. I most certainly hope he is not restrained. For goodness, sake, Mr. Trump, your peeps voted for you because you bark and snarl!

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