![]() His top campaign aides are embracing the outrage that Mr. Trump anticipates a bitter re-election battle and faces an impeachment inquiry by Democrats, the stakes are higher than ever before, and Twitter even more central to his presidency. The White House press office declined to comment for this article and turned down an interview request with the president. But fewer than one-fifth of his followers are voting-age Americans, according to a Times analysis of Pew Research national surveys of adults who use Twitter. His more than 66 million Twitter followers have become his private polling service, offering what he sees as validation for his performance in office. The total by the end of the month reached 11,887.) He tweeted more than 500 times during the first two weeks of October, a pace that put him on track to triple his monthly average. Trump’s use of Twitter has accelerated sharply since the end of the special counsel’s Russia investigation and reached a new high as Democrats opened an impeachment inquiry, the analysis shows. Trump’s parallel political reality - the “alternative facts” he has used to spread conspiracy theories, fake information and extremist content, including material that energizes some of his base. Using Twitter, he threatened “Saturday Night Live” with an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission and accused Amazon, led by Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, of cheating the United States Postal Service.Īs much as anything, Twitter is the broadcast network for Mr. Trump has publicly harangued businesses to advance his political goals and silence criticism, often with talk of government intervention. ![]() His targets include the Russia investigation, a Federal Reserve that won’t bow to his whims, previous administrations, entire cities that are led by Democrats, and adversaries from outspoken athletes to chief executives who displease him. More than half of the president’s posts - 5,889 - have been attacks no other category even comes close. ![]() Twitter is the Trump administration’s de facto personnel office: The chief executive has announced the departures of more than two dozen top officials, some fired by tweet. Twitter is an instrument of his foreign policy: He has praised dictators more than a hundred times, while complaining nearly twice as much about America’s traditional allies. He has taken to Twitter to demand action 1,159 times on immigration and his border wall, a top priority, and 521 times on tariffs, another key agenda item. Trump wakes to Twitter, goes to bed with it and is comforted by how much it revolves around him, the person he most often singled out for praise was himself - more than 2,000 times, according to an analysis by The New York Times. In a presidency unlike any other, where Mr. “He needs to tweet like we need to eat,” Kellyanne Conway, his White House counselor, said in an interview. And as a president often at war with his own bureaucracy, he deploys Twitter to break through logjams, overrule or humiliate recalcitrant advisers and pre-empt his staff. Trump gets an idea for a tweet, drawing in cabinet members and others for wordsmithing. But 11,390 presidential tweets later, many administration officials and lawmakers embrace his Twitter obsession, flocking to his social media chief with suggestions. Trump recalled months later at a White House conference attended by conservative social media personalities, “and, within two seconds, ‘We have breaking news.’”Įarly on, top aides wanted to restrain the president’s Twitter habit, even considering asking the company to impose a 15-minute delay on Mr. He openly delighted in the reaction he provoked. Trump cast aside more than 50 years of American policy, tweeting his recognition of Israel’s sovereignty in the Golan Heights. This summer, he announced increased tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, using a tweet to deepen tensions between the two countries. In the years since, he has fully integrated Twitter into the very fabric of his administration, reshaping the nature of the presidency and presidential power.Īfter Turkey invaded northern Syria this past month, he crafted his response not only in White House meetings but also in a series of contradictory tweets. Trump entered office, Twitter was a political tool that had helped get him elected and a digital howitzer that he relished firing. With a tweet, he could fling a directive to the world, and there was nothing they could do about it. ![]() Trump’s threat that day in early 2017, the aides recalled. “Do you want me to settle this right now?” He reached into a drawer, took out his iPhone and threw it on top of the historic Resolute Desk: In the Oval Office, an annoyed President Trump ended an argument he was having with his aides. ![]()
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