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Let’s Not Whine About Trump Being on Twitter

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump is seen on TV from a video message released on Twitter addressing rioter at the US Capitol, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021. - T... TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump is seen on TV from a video message released on Twitter addressing rioter at the US Capitol, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021. - Trump told his supporters on Wednesday to "go home" after they stormed the US Capitol following a rally during which he repeated his spurious claims of election fraud. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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November 19, 2022 8:46 p.m.
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I see we’re back to the question of whether Donald Trump should be allowed back on Twitter, whether Elon Musk will allow him back, what it will mean? All I can add to this debate is that getting hung up on this question is undignified and unwise. Put simply, it makes the supporters of civic democracy and Americanism sound weak, helpless, lacking the courage of their convictions and beliefs, afraid. (As I was writing this post, I heard that Elon Musk had announced he was reinstating Trump on the platform.) Much of this stems from the really wrongheaded idea that Trump leapfrogged to the commanding heights of American politics in 2015 because he got so much TV coverage or because people engaged with his tweets on Twitter. That was never true. All sorts of bad conclusions flow from that misapprehension.

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