Report: Trump ‘Ballistic’ After Twitter Permanently Suspends His Account

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 12: U.S. President Donald Trump departs on the South Lawn of the White House, on December 12, 2020 in Washington, DC. Trump is traveling to the Army versus Navy Football Game at the United S... WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 12: U.S. President Donald Trump departs on the South Lawn of the White House, on December 12, 2020 in Washington, DC. Trump is traveling to the Army versus Navy Football Game at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Donald Trump is “ballistic,” after Twitter finally removed his account on Friday, according to a Politico report.

The social media platform’s decision comes days before Trump leaves office and well after a good deal of damage that culminated in a deadly insurrection by his followers at the U.S. Capitol earlier this week had been done.

A senior administration official told Politico that the President was “scrambling to figure out what his options are” after learning that the social media platform which he has used as a megaphone for years — spewing falsehood and inciting his supporters to violence — had permanently suspended his account. 

Twitter cited concerns that Trump might enflame further violence in the remaining 12 days before the end of his term as the reason for his removal from the platform.

One White House official told the publication that there were initial internal discussions between White House aides and Trump about possibly doing a “last farewell interview.” The official was uncertain, however, whether or not those plans would come to fruition.

In a statement issued by the White House late Friday, President Trump said he had “predicted” his expulsion from the platform and accused Twitter executives of coordinating with “Democrats and the Radical Left” to remove his account to silence him and the supporters who had voted for him in November. 

“Twitter may be a private company, but without the government’s gift of Section 230 they would not exist for long,” he said.

In an effort to desperately hang onto the coattails of political relevance beyond his term, Trump added that he had been in negotiations with “various other sites” and would soon deliver what he called a “big announcement” as his team considers the possibilities of “building out our own platform in the near future.”

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. …building out our own platform in the near future…

    To be called Dumbfucker.

  2. Wonder if Parler is onboard with Trump’s demand to revoke Section 230, and thereby make them legally liable for what Trump’s supporters say and do on their platform?

  3. And amazingly (or maybe not so amazingly), he still doesn’t understand that without the protections of Section 230, his Twitter and Facebook accounts would have been shut down years ago.

  4. Not sure Trump and understand should be used in the same sentence.

  5. trump doesn’t understand ________.:grinning:

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

1003 more replies

Participants

Avatar for lestatdelc Avatar for jw1 Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for jackster Avatar for cervantes Avatar for george_spiggott Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for darrtown Avatar for pshah Avatar for tribalogical Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for tena Avatar for misterneutron Avatar for kimaanderson Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for coimmigrant Avatar for philmore Avatar for zenicetus Avatar for desertdweller Avatar for Thane Avatar for kovie Avatar for KalTX

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: