Trump’s Twitter: From Strategic Weapon to Dangerous Distraction

Trump Twitter

Great observation from Mark Hmmer, via The Daily 202:

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Brilliant! Trump’s graceless and boastful tweets after the Orlando shootings clearly highlighted one danger of his easy access to Twitter: it’s an unfiltered channel straight from his Id to our eyes.

But Hammer points out something just as important. To Trump, Twitter IS his online campaign, since he’s publicly rejected the idea of systemically cultivating grassroots support via a “data processing machine” like Obama’s. After all, his tweets cowed his hapless opponents during the Republican primaries! Meanwhile, we’ve seen Hillary Clinton build a modern digital campaign determined to marry data and direct outreach to wring every bit of advantage out of each online (and offline) encounter with a voter.

Of course, Trump’s twiddling on Twitter could always end his campaign overnight, since he’s only 140 characters away from horrifying most sentient beings on the planet (I, for one, eagerly await his first glowing tweet about Hitler). But even if he DOESN’T self-destruct in epic fashion, Trump’s Twitter remains a dangerous distraction. Doesn’t a presidential candidate have more important things to do than type with his thumbs? Like, for instance, creating a campaign that could actually win a close vote.

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Photo: Donald Trump speaking with the media at a hangar at Mesa Gateway Airport in Mesa, Arizona, by Gage Skidmore

Written by
Colin Delany
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