“In his first 100 days in office, Donald Trump has tweeted 500 times.” – The Atlantic
And lately, he has released a firestorm of relentless tweeting, particularly since the recent London attack. His tweets are laced with vitriol. He attacks judges, the judicial system and pretty much anything and anybody who disagrees with him. And he does this as the President of the United States.
But let’s put aside, for now, the debate as to whether Donald Trump should even be using his personal Twitter account at all. .
Later in this discussion will be some quotes and a link to CCN concerning this and the use of “social media.”
But for now:
Trump’s news conference in The White House Rose Garden announcing his withdrawal from the Paris Accord served two purposes:
- It fulfilled a campaign promise,
- It took the Russia investigation off the front burner.
It followed the Fox News Network’s editorial policy: Distort And Distract.
I really don’t think his announcement was a strategic move. It was just circumstance. He is an opportunist and is incapable of strategic thought despite this ridiculous and laughable tweet:
Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure,it’s not your fault”
On February 3, the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, said in an interview with ABC News in Australia. that in future episodes they will refrain from
…mocking everybody in government. It feels like it’s going to be more difficult,”
Parker went on to add:
They’re already going out and doing the comedy… It’s tricky and it’s really tricky now as satire has become reality…but we couldn’t keep up. What was actually happening was way funnier than anything we could come up with. So we decided to just back off and let [politicians] do their comedy and we’ll do ours.”
Once again with emphasis: “…but we couldn’t keep up.”
I once read about a theory in journalism that stated that the public’s consumption of news could handle only five major news stories at a time. This was in the late 80’s when cable news was in its infancy and there was no internet. At that time, our sources for news were print and network TV. If there were more than five major stories running at one time, people (you and me) would be overwhelmed. Too much information and details.
When a new major story broke, it would make it to the top headline in print media and #5, or the oldest, would be relegated to the back pages. Today’s front page of The Cleveland Plain Dealer (June 5, 2017) featured four stories. In the side bar were blocks for weather, Metro Section, etc.
Network TV news was, and still is, only 30 minutes. There is only so much they can cover in that time period and their coverage of a story may only be a few minutes in length.
…his tweets are policy. They are statements from The President of the United States…”
…it’s not policy…it’s social media, it’s social media.
…this obsession with everything he says on Twitter and not what he does…”
And by the way, each time he tweets, he is speaking officially as The President of the United States. He is making foreign and domestic policy whether he likes it or not. Not to mention that he is making himself a laughing-stock to all the other Heads of State.
There is so much crap coming out of the White House that it is really hard to keep up. The recent terrorist attack in London has dominated the news as it should. Anything on the Russia investigation has decreased, at least until Comey testifies on Thursday. It’s almost too much. To paraphrase Trey Parker, we can’t keep up.