Editorial

Will Trump’s Twitter rants continue after he takes office?

Twitter+is+a+popular+social+media+site+many+people+access+from+smartphones.

Frlickr\Esther Vargas

Twitter is a popular social media site many people access from smartphones.

It’s not a secret that President-elect Donald Trump has a profound presence on Twitter. All throughout his campaign, he has taken to the social media site as a platform to speak to his supporters, rant about issues that bother him, and even attack his opponents.

One of his most notable episodes on Twitter occurred this past June shortly after President Barack Obama formally endorsed Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House.

Trump tweeted “Obama just endorsed Crooked Hillary. He wants four more years of Obama—but nobody else does!”

Hillary Clinton’s official Twitter account responded with “Delete your account.”

Shortly after, Trump fired back with “How long did it take your staff of 823 people to think that up–and where are your 33,000 emails that you deleted?”

Twitter has also exposed Donald Trump as a hypocrite, especially in the days since he was elected. Individuals who did not support President-elect Trump began protesting after he was declared the winner, and it did not take long for him to respond on Twitter.

On Nov. 10, just two days after the election, Trump tweeted “Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!”

However, when President Obama was reelected, Trump was all for citizens protesting. On Election Day in 2012, shortly after President Obama defeated Mitt Romney, Trump tweeted “We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!”

The media was quick to point out Trump’s change of heart when it came to protesting a presidential election, and many responded to him on Twitter.

Just about an hour after Donald Trump tweeted about “professional protesters,” David Axelrod, who is a former senior advisor to President Obama, posted “Not a good look for the POTUS-elect. Instead of reaching out, he reaches for his Twitter account. Again! Winners don’t whine. They heal.”

Meghan McCain, daughter of U.S. Senator John McCain and a FOX News Channel contributor, also tweeted that night “I mean this sincerely, with emotions in this country so raw, whomever is in charge of Donald Trump’s twitter needs to stop him from tweeting.”

President-elect Donald Trump.
Flickr\Gage Skidmore
President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump tried to make amends for calling out protesters when on Nov. 11 he tweeted “Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud!”

So how does he really feel? Does he like the fact that Americans have spoken out, or does he think that it is “unfair” that people have protested his election?

This isn’t the only issue in which Donald Trump has appeared to change his viewpoint about on Twitter.

Following the 2012 reelection of President Obama, Trump tweeted “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.” The tweet was sent out on Nov. 6, 2012.

Now we fast-forward four years later and the Electoral College elected Donald Trump, despite the fact that he was behind in the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. As expected, now the president-elect has a different opinion on the system.

Just this past week, on Nov. 15, Trump tweeted “The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!”

It appears that Donald Trump’s campaign staff saw how destructive his Twitter etiquette was.

The day before the election, The Washington Post reported, “during the final stretch of the presidential race, Trump’s campaign staff has taken control of his social media persona.”

The New York Times had also reported, “Aides to Mr. Trump have finally wrested away the Twitter account that he used to colorfully — and often counterproductively — savage his rivals.”

Given that Trump has appeared to return to Twitter since the election, will he continue to post his unfiltered opinion once he takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2017?

Donald Trump said in an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” which aired this past Sunday, that he would be “very restrained” on Twitter once he’s in the White House.

However, even since this report came out, Trump has had more rants on Twitter.

In fact, the day his “60 Minutes” interview aired, Trump got into a back and forth with The New York Times, over what he called “very poor and highly inaccurate coverage [by The New York Times] of the ‘Trump phenomena.’”

What will Donald Trump’s Twitter feed look like after the inauguration? Given his history on social media, it is hard to believe that he will stop posting his unfiltered opinion, and who knows what kind of effect it will have on his presidency and the country as a whole.