OP-ED

Do I like Donald Trump? No. Do I approve of his rhetorical strategies on Twitter? No. Is he a genius? Yes, sadly. Donald Trump has single-handedly flipped politics upside down with his use of social media. From the insults, to the crazy names, to the slogan repetition, he has forever changed how Presidents of the United States will communicate with the public. Love him or hate him, we are witnessing social media history.

            Trump is notorious for his use of the social media platform, Twitter. When Trump was sworn into the Oval Office, people assumed he would hop off of Twitter, and if he did tweet, it would be much more presidential. People were wrong. North Korea finally has nuclear rockets capable of hitting the United States. In the midst of the scariest nuclear tension between two countries since the Cold War, Trump went ahead and started calling the dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, “Little Rocket Man”. “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man…” (@realDonaldTrump 10/1/2017) Many people argued that insulting one of the most notoriously violent dictators in recent history who possesses nuclear weapons is probably not the greatest idea, but that didn’t stop Trump. When Kim Jong-un supposedly called Donald Trump old, Trump couldn’t let it slide and had to fire back on Twitter. “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me “old,” when I would NEVER call him “short and fat?” Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!” (@realDonaldTrump 11/11/2017) . It is unclear whether these Tweets have intimidated Jong-un into backing off, or if they have only escalated tensions. Either way, this type of rhetoric is very dangerous. There is no reason to be calling other foreign leaders names on social media. You are the President of the United States, not a 10 year old.

            Another scary tactic used by Trump on Twitter is calling out “Fake News”. Since the day he started campaigning, any time a news outlet would report a story about Trump that he didn’t agree with or like, he would immediately call them “Fake news”. This has stirred up so much controversy surrounding the media in today’s society. People around the United States feel that they can not trust news outlets as much as they used to, and Trump played a huge part in this. While all news is slightly biased, most of the reporting done is pretty accurate. That being said, mistakes are made. Trump will always hop on any mistake that a news outlet makes. A semi-recent example of this was when a reporter for ABC, Brian Ross, reported about the Michael Flynn Story inaccurately. “Ross had incorrectly reported Friday that during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump had directed Michael Flynn to make contact with Russian officials before the election. Later that night, Ross read a “clarification” on “ABC World News Tonight,” saying Trump had actually asked Flynn to make contact with Russia after the election, when he was president-elect.” (Amy B. Wang) Trump immediately tweeted about the situation, calling out the error, and then tweeting again when ABC suspended Ross: “Congratulations to @ABC News for suspending Brian Ross for his horrendously inaccurate and dishonest report on the Russia, Russia, Russia Witch Hunt. More Networks and “papers” should do the same with their Fake News!” (@realDonaldTrump 12/2/2017) Again, bashing news outlets for their mistakes does nothing but make him look better and make the public feel more uneasy. ABC admitted the mistake and handled the situation internally. Be a mature person and let it go.

Alan Wirzbicki of the Boston Globe believes that Twitter should shut down Trump’s account. (The Boston Globe) I don’t think that his account should be deactivated. Every person has the right to free speech. However, I do believe that there should be some sort of screening process for when he tweets. It would not be hard to get a few people’s whose sole jobs were to look over every tweet Trump drafts before he officially posts it. This way they can filter out the inappropriate tweets, and at the same time, the public can still have that direct contact from the President that is new in this modern area. Trump is treading on dangerous water, and a Twitter slip up could be catastrophic for the country.

Works Cited

@realDonaldTrump (Twitter)

Wang, Amy B. “ABC News Apologizes for 'Serious Error' in Trump Report and Suspends Brian Ross for Four Weeks.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 Dec. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/12/03/abc-news-apologizes-for-serious-error-in-trump-report-suspends-brian-ross-for-four-weeks/?utm_term.

Wirzbicki, Alan. “Twitter Should Disable Donald Trump's Account - The Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, 25 Sept. 2017, www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/09/24/twitter-should-disable-donald-trump-account/8L3ueLmWkSjWNgi95SVqRP/story.html.