Trump’s Tumultuous Twitter
Triton students and staff react to the Tweeter in Chief
Sophomore Alexandra Flodman reacts to a tweet by President Trump
In his first year as president, Donald Trump tweeted 2,568 times, according to the Trump Twitter Archive. That averages to about seven tweets per day, one about every four hours.
“Presidents have always used whatever type of technological medium is popular,” said Chad Richard, a history teacher at Triton.
During his administration, President Donald Trump has released false or contradictory statements, often through Twitter. Of the 629 Trump statements, spoken and tweeted, reviewed by Poltifact, only 5 percent were “True”, 34 percent were “False” and 14 percent were rated “Pants on Fire” (for being blatantly false). Many of the reviewed statement came from Twitter, as Trump has become widely known for his constant use of the social media platform.
“[It was] Roosevelt with the radio, JFK on TV, Obama on YouTube, and now Trump with Twitter,” Richard said.
The Trump Twitter Archive shows many trends in his tweets that American citizens have taken notice of. For instance, Trump has made (as of November 16th 2018) 329 tweets about “Fake News”, 277 tweets about Russia, 231 tweets about “MAGA” and much more. While some citizens have criticized his use of Twitter, others are more indifferent.
“I don’t care if he tweets. It’s his right under the First Amendment,” said junior Tyler Godfrey. “He’s exercising that right.”
“I think it’s interesting to finally have a president that’s more related to the people,” senior Eric Desprez said. “It gives him more of a real person feel, but I do think it gets out of control sometimes.”
Some students were more skeptical of both his tweets and their reception.
“Many of his tweets offer inaccurate information,” freshmen Kailey Abbot-Bishop said. “A percentage of the population actually just believes his tweets without verifying the information.”
“I think that it is super irresponsible,” junior Andrew Valienti said. “I don’t think it’s something the Presidents should be doing. I do appreciate him introducing a new form of communication, but he can say whatever he wants without any accountability.”
Trump has been criticized about his statements, both on and off Twitter, because they have been inaccurate or sometimes ideas and theories presented as facts. For instance, some have criticized his many tweets about the Republicans “Big Victory” in the midterm elections. Critics have pointed out that the GOP lost the House and several governorships to Democrats. They have wondered if it is right for him to present that as a victory for the Republicans.
Some of Trump’s statements, however, are just false. For instance, in an interview he said that the US is “the only country in the world” with birthright citizenship. In actuality, there are over 30 other countries that offer birthright citizenship.
“It may not look Presidential, but it’s his right,” Godfrey said.
“The problem [with Trump’s tweeting] is that his personality type is so unfiltered and spontaneous,” Richard said. “From the executive, it might be a bit too open of a link into his brain.”
Loading ...
Sam Bell is a junior at Triton. Yay, or something. He works at the Frisky Dog and TWS. He also kind of likes photography, videography, reading, writing,...
