Members-Only Article
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.
Yes, if Trump could be systematically barred from all channels of mass communication in the country his influence would probably go down. But that is hardly a realistic or even meritorious strategy, especially in a country where 4 out of 9 people want him to be President. To me it is reminiscent of Democrats’ over-reliance on courts. To vindicate rights, democratic process and civic democracy in general you have to win elections. Courts won’t do it over the long run though they certainly play an important role in our system of government. Keeping Donald Trump off Twitter is no substitute for beating him and his movement at the ballot box.
And why the lack of confidence exactly? Republicans just had a historically bad midterm election result, even at a time of significant economic dislocation, mostly because of Donald Trump. Indeed, it’s the third straight election where Democrats have either won the election or dramatically over-performed fundamentals because of popular resistance to Trump and his feral supporters.
Twitter is a private company. If I were the owner I probably would not allow him on the platform. But I’m not. And it’s folly to rely on the whims of owners of a private corporation like that. Indeed, we should resist everything rooted in the pretensions that Twitter or any other private social platform is or ever could be the national or global town square.
The only dignified response to this is a studied indifference.
