Trump's most lethal weapon: TWITTER

[superbeets]

[h=1]Trump's most lethal weapon: Badly spelt, full of fibs and often sent in the dead of night, The Donald's tweets are much mocked - but could be far more powerful than you think[/h]

• Trump humiliated politicians by deploying a lethal weapon called Twitter
• He exploited Twitter’s ability to express raw sentiment instantly, without nuance or subtext, and to remove any boundary between assertion and fact
• When he joined Twitter, he had just 216 followers; he now has 28.7 million

.

 

[superbeets]

Before Donald Trump, politics was the domain of experts. They knew everything there was to know about focus groups, opinion polls and voter targeting — and they set all the rules.


No longer. Trump has humiliated and destroyed these experts — by deploying a lethal weapon called Twitter.
It didn’t seem like much of a threat to begin with: just 140 characters to unload what was on his mind, often in the early hours.

+3



President Trump has humiliated and destroyed professional politicians in 140 characters or less by deploying a lethal weapon called Twitter, usually in the early hours of the morning


Yet his tweet-fest brought politics back to life, and played a huge part in getting him elected. Trump exploited Twitter’s ability to express raw sentiment instantly, without nuance or subtext, and to remove any boundary between assertion and fact.


And because they’ve changed America and thus affected the entire world, his tweets are a serious matter. ‘I think that maybe I wouldn’t be [President] if it wasn’t for Twitter,’ he has said, with some justification.


Trump joined Twitter in 2009, three years after it launched, to promote his books and generate publicity for his TV show, the U.S. original of The Apprentice.

At that point, he used it to flaunt his brash personality, his wealth and achievements, while basking in the celebrity of those he met, including Bill and Hillary Clinton. He was even generous about President Obama.


To begin with he had just 216 followers, and the numbers increased slowly. With good reason: his early tweets — apparently supervised by PRs — were crushingly dull.


The tone changed in the summer of 2011, when Trump began toying with the idea of running for President.
He started writing his own tweets on his Samsung mobile, making extravagant use of exclamation marks, capital letters and staccato insults that have defined his Twitter discourse ever since.

Here at last was The Donald’s unique voice. He made enemies, pursued feuds and communicated a sense of apocalyptic doom.
He could also be funny, and was often acute. ‘Wake up America . . . China is eating our lunch,’ he wrote in August 2011.

Twitter was well-suited to a campaign based largely on rage. And if the facts later exposed what he was saying to be untrue, he didn’t care. According to the rules of conventional politics, this should have been the end of Donald Trump. But instead he became President.


.

 

[superbeets]

+3

When Trump joined Twitter in 2009, he had just 216 followers. He now has 28.7 million

.

 

[superbeets]

So why did he win? He won because he bypassed hostile conventional media, secured the acceptance of his often wild assertions as fact, and aligned himself with the ‘forgotten’ masses against a powerful elite.

Plenty of other U.S. politicians have used these tactics. In the Fifties, Senator Joseph McCarthy became America’s most powerful politician by exploiting the anti-Communist hysteria of the time. He caused an instant sensation by declaring he had a list of 205 Communists in the U.S. State Department. This was almost certainly a total invention, and he never produced the list.

President Nixon, beset by political enemies in 1969, successfully used another tactic adopted by Trump. In a televised speech, he invoked ‘the silent majority’.


That phrase changed everything (and his popularity ratings) — instantly giving a home to everyone who didn’t want to protest against the Vietnam War or the police, and who didn’t reject authority, religion and family life.


Small wonder, then, that Trump tweeted in 2015: ‘I truly LOVE all of the millions of people who are sticking with me despite so many media lies. There is a great SILENT MAJORITY looming.’


The phrase was used repeatedly throughout his campaign.


Trump is truly a model politician of the postmodern age where there’s no such thing as an independent reality and all ‘truths’ are really competing narratives. (Or where, as his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway famously put it, there are ‘alternative facts’.)


It also helped that he was a seasoned television star, instinctively understanding that politics was entertainment — hence all the name-calling, the bullying and the personal attacks on opponents and critics.

 

[superbeets]

As a result, Trump has reached far beyond the normal audience for politics, speaking directly to tens of millions of Americans when he tweeted about the disenfranchisement of the working class.




And Twitter has shown itself to be the perfect medium for appealing to the ‘silent majority’. It’s completely democratic, free and open to all, with few restrictions and little filtering.

 

[superbeets]

+3

It also helped that he was a seasoned television star, instinctively understanding that politics was entertainment — hence all the name-calling, the bullying and the personal attacks on opponents and critics


.

 

[superbeets]

Through tweets, a politician can appeal at a personal level to anyone who’s against anything — and make him or her feel like part of a vast shared community.


They can give the ‘silent majority’ a voice — sometimes quite literally. (A high proportion of Trump’s Twitter output during the election campaign was made up of re-tweets from the accounts of ordinary people. He didn’t bother vetting them, even though some were run by white supremacists.)

No one can predict what Trump will tweet next. One day he’ll be spraying insults around; the next he’ll be advising mega-rich celebrities to get prenuptial contracts, or ranting that America should have taken all of Iraq’s oil.


He also majors in alarm and despondency. In fact, one of the reasons his tweets are so powerful is that they repeatedly fan people’s fears that the U.S. is under mortal threat from multiple enemies. Without the leadership of Trump, his tweets suggest, the country faces not only financial collapse but an existential challenge from Muslims who want to take over the globe.


In both his tweets and his presidency, Donald Trump continues to embody limitless contradictions that he makes no attempt to explain.
Here is a billionaire who speaks for America’s dispossessed; a Christian without compassion; a budget hawk who wants to tax less and spend more. In due course, he may well collapse under the weight of his own contradictions.

In the meantime, with more than 28 million Twitter followers and 35,000 tweets to date and counting, he still has America’s ‘forgotten men and women’ very much on his side.




Here we present a selection of The Donald’s wit, whimsy, vanity and self-promotion, with a smattering of bigotry, bile, utter nonsense — and occasional good sense — all according to Twitter.


.

 

[superbeets]

PERSONAL FEUDS, FAKE NEWS AND AN EGO THAT KNOWS NO BOUNDS


Here are some of President Trump’s most outrageous and intriguing tweets, with spelling and punctuation intact . . .



I’ve been visiting Trump Int’l Golf Links Scotland and the course will be unmatched anywhere in the world. Spectacular!
1:13pm — June 21, 2011



Bad move — @BarackObama released $147m in aid to the Palestinians . . . That money is going to Hamas. [No evidence for Trump’s claim].
1:53pm — May 1, 2012



The TIME Magazine cover showing late age breast feeding is disgusting — sad what TIME did to get noticed.
9:13am — May 14, 2012



I hope Mark Zuckerberg [CEO of Facebook] signs a prenup with his current girlfriend — perhaps soon to be wife. Otherwise, she can walk away with 9 billion.
10:58am — May 15, 2012



Let’s take a closer look at that birth certificate. @Barack Obama was described in 2003 [by a conspiracy website] as being ‘born in Kenya . . . ’
2:31pm — May 18, 2012



Everybody is raving about the Trump Home Mattress by @Sertamattresses. If you are looking for a mattress, go buy this one . . . You’ll love it!
1:19pm — May 30, 2012



It was an honor to be with @MittRomney the night he clinched the [Republican] nomination. He will defeat @BarackObama and be a tremendous POTUS [U.S. President].
3:29pm — May 30, 2012



‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me @BarackObama’s birth certificate is a fraud.
3:23pm — August 6, 2012



Have you been to @TrumpGrill in the Trump Tower Atrium? Best meatloaf in the City — my mother’s famous recipe.
9:39am — August 9, 2012


@ariannahuff [Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post website] is unattractive both inside and out.
I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man — he made a good decision.
9:54am — August 28, 2012



The dummies [U.S. government] left Iraq (and Libya) without the oil!
12:33pm — August 30, 2012

 

[superbeets]

I keep getting great feedback on new #TRUMP cologne ‘Success.’ Exclusively available at @Macy’s.
2:49pm — September 13, 2012


I never went bankrupt. Enemies love to say I did. Didn’t happen. [PolitiFact says Trump’s companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy six times].
9:37am — September 18, 2012


Why does Barack Obama’s ring have an arabic inscription? . . . Who is this guy?
3:11pm — October 11, 2012


My twitter followers will soon be over 2 million . . . It’s like having your own newspaper.
10:07am — October 17, 2012



@BetteMidler talks about my hair but I’m not allowed to talk about her ugly face or body — so I won’t. Is this a double standard?
10:57am — October 28, 2012


While @BetteMidler is an extremely unattractive woman, I refuse to say that because I always insist on being politically correct.
10:59am — October 28, 2012


The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. [There is no evidence for this].
2:15pm — November 6, 2012


. . . Make America strong, vote for @MittRomney.
4:16pm — November 6, 2012


We can’t let this happen. [Obama had decisively won the election.] We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!
11:29pm — November 6, 2012


He lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in this country!
11:39pm — November 6, 2012


Aberdeen tourism is booming because of my great Scottish golf club. [Unlikely]
12:05pm — November 10, 2012

 

[superbeets]

Why do the losers & haters always say I wear a ‘wig’ when they know I don’t. Like it or not, it’s all mine — just ask Barbara Walters [TV presenter who tugged his hair in an interview but later said she still thought it was a hairpiece].
4:41pm — March 20, 2013


So, lets get this right. [Apple CEO] Steve Jobs dies and leaves his wife everything — billions of dollars. Now his wife has a boyfriend (lover). Oh Steve!
7:42am — August 19, 2013



President Obama’s weakness and indecision may have saved us from doing a horrible and very costly (in more ways than money) attack on Syria!
5:48am — September 1, 2013


While everyone is waiting and prepared for us to attack Syria, maybe we should knock the hell out of Iran and their nuclear capabilities?
7:43am — September 5, 2013



‘We build too many walls and not enough bridges.’ — Isaac Newton.
3:11pm — October 7, 2013

 

[superbeets]

Maybe some of the dead voters who helped get President Obama elected can be brought back to life after signing up for ObamaCare. [No evidence ‘votes of dead people’ helped Obama] .
5:16am — November 18, 2013


My ties, shirts and cufflinks have never been more beautiful — THE BEST — available at Macy’s!
7:42am — November 29, 2013


Wow, it’s snowing in Isreal [sic] and on the pyramids in Egypt. Are we still wasting billions on the global warming con? MAKE U.S. COMPETITIVE!
7:32pm — December 14, 2013


The way President Obama runs down the stairs of Air Force 1, hopping & bobbing all the way, is so inelegant and unpresidential. Do not fall!
7:23pm — April 22, 2014


Many have said I’m the world’s greatest writer of 140 character sentences.
3:50pm — July 21, 2014



‘I’ve never seen anything like it, everything he touches turns to gold!’ So nice, a quote by Fred C. Trump about his son Donald (me!).
5:04am — October 11, 2014

 

[superbeets]

Remember, politicians are all talk and no action — they will never be able to MAKE OUR COUNTRY GREAT AGAIN! Controlled by lobbyists & donors. [Trump gave Cabinet positions to six of his biggest donors last December].
3:43pm — June 13, 2015


Refugees from Syria are now pouring into our great country. Who knows who they are — some could be ISIS. Is our president insane? [U.S. took 2,000 Syrian refugees].
8:54am — November 17, 2015


Eight Syrians were just caught on the southern border trying to get into the U.S. ISIS maybe? I told you so. WE NEED A BIG & BEAUTIFUL WALL!
8:11am — November 19, 2015


In Britain, more Muslims join ISIS than join the British army. [Untrue].
8:21pm — December 10, 2015

 

[superbeets]

Hillary Clinton doesn’t have the strength or stamina to be president. . .
3:00pm — January 2, 2016


I hope Bill Clinton starts talking about women’s issues so that voters can see what a hypocrite he is and how Hillary abused those women!
3:04pm — January 2, 2016


Mitt Romney, one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics, is now pushing me on [revealing] tax returns. Dope!
7:34am — February 25, 2016


[Republican rival] Lyin’ Ted Cruz just used a [nude] picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife! [Cruz’s wife apparently suffered from depression].
8:53pm — March 22, 2016


Europe and the U.S. must immediately stop taking in people from Syria. This will be the destruction of civilization as we know it! So sad!
10:55am — March 24, 2016


Wow, Lyin’ Ted Cruz really went wacko today. Made all sorts of crazy charges. Can’t function under pressure — not very presidential. Sad! [Trump alleged Cruz’s father, Rafael, had been photographed handing out pro-Castro literature with Lee Harvey Oswald, months before the assassination of JFK. There was no evidence for this].
4:02pm — May 3, 2016


Amazing Crooked Hillary can do a hit ad on me concerning women when her husband was the WORST abuser of woman in U.S. political history [Five years earlier, Trump said Clinton was ‘a great guy’ who was treated ‘very, very harshly’ over ‘the whole Monica thing’].
6:58am — May 17, 2016


Hillary’s vision is a borderless world where working people have no power, no jobs, no safety.
10:54pm — July 28, 2016


No one has worse judgment than Hillary Clinton — corruption and devastation follows her wherever she goes.
10:59pm — July 28, 2016


I love watching these poor, pathetic people (pundits) on television working so hard and so seriously to try and figure me out. They can’t!
6:43am — August 12, 2016


The media and establishment want me out of the race so badly — I WILL NEVER DROP OUT OF THE RACE, WILL NEVER LET MY SUPPORTERS DOWN!
2:40pm — October 8, 2016


There’s never been anyone more abusive to women in politics than Bill Clinton. My words were unfortunate [a tape emerged in which Trump talked about grabbing women by the p****] — the Clintons’ actions were far worse.
8:23pm — October 9, 2016


Nothing ever happened with any of these women [women accused Trump of sexual abuse]. Totally made up nonsense to steal the election. Nobody has more respect for women than me!
1:29pm — October 15, 2016


Mitt Romney called to congratulate me on the [election] win. Very nice!
9:45am — November 13, 2016


Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California [states which did not vote for Trump] — so why isn’t the media reporting on this? Serious bias — big problem! [There was no evidence of fraud].
7:31pm — November 27, 2016


How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
4:02am — March 4, 2017



.

 

[superbeets]

Alexandra12, Chicago, United States, 17 hours ago
Trump has sent ONE -- ONE -- tweet in the middle of the night! And the liberals hate his tweets because they are so effective at getting out his message without the spin of the liberal media.



cheersgif

.