
In the past century, communications technology has advanced dramatically into new territory as American presidents have made use of new tools to reach out to the people: Roosevelt’s voice soothed us during the great Depression over fireside chats on the radio, Kennedy’s smile beamed into American living rooms from newly minted televisions. More recently, Donald Trump is pioneering Twitter as his main mode of communication with the American public. Donald Trump has taken hold of a campaign tool that is typically delegated out to an intern and used it for direct contact with his fans and to voice his personal opinions. Trump is our first president to favor communication via social media over traditional press conferences. Is this the dawn of a new era in political culture? Donald Trump has used Twitter as a campaign tool and his main communication platform as president, both of which have merits and limitations. 


With the pioneering of any movement, there are learning curves and precedents to set. So far Trump has established a dangerous one: picking fights with national and world leaders, attacking individuals and businesses that speak out against him, and general bad behavior can go without punishment. Is it because Twitter is still being established as a legitimate communication platform for politicians or because the multitude of offenses are too overwhelming to process? This is the first time we must confront controversy that is stirred up by a presidential Twitter account. New laws have to be written to decide how future presidents can interact with the platform and they have to be written quickly. If one of Donald Trump’s tweets were found out to be insider trading, treason, or another crime, could it be grounds for impeachment? 

 President Trump is already being confronted with accusations of hate speech, inciting an international conflict with Mexico’s President Vicente Fox, and violating insider trading laws. On December 12th, Trump Tweeted about Lockheed Martin’s “out of control” costs of the F-35 fighter jet, causing the value of the stock to plummet four billion dollars in a single day. If a single tweet can have a four-billion-dollar impact on the stock market in a matter of hours, a coordinated social media campaign has the potential to drive a company’s stock prices into the ground. That is a dangerous amount of power to hold, and a corporation that finds itself lacking Trump’s favor should not fear financial ruin at the hand of a targeted Tweet.

Across the border, America’s relationship with Mexico is at risk from Trump’s hostile attitude towards immigrants and his intent to repeal the North American Free Trade Agreement. To make the diplomatic issue even worse, the president Tweeted that Mexico was sending “drugs and rapists” across the border into America, and that he would force our neighbors to pay for the border wall he plans on constructing during his first term. If Twitter is to become the new broadcasting norm, it needs to be handled with care. It is too easy to publish an unrefined thought without weighing out how people will react and what the consequences are. Communication with foreign leaders requires diplomacy and tact, and if Trump cannot manage that then he should not have the access to technology that will allow him to interact with other leaders without supervision. An intern easily can be fired for an offending Tweet, the president cannot. 

With Trump’s Tweets, he casually expresses himself in a very informal, personal way. It is a first in the nation’s history. Previous presidents have communicated with the public in formal, more serious, and more thoughtful ways. They represented and respected the gravity of the position of President of the United States, that it is a cornerstone in our representative government. Trump’s careless communication style does not show the proper respect to the job, it’s an unprofessional approach to the position.  A one hundred forty-character limit doesn’t lend the hand of formality that is expected from the President.  Trump doesn’t tweet for America, he tweets for himself. He has an autocratic writing style that does not take anyone else’s opinions, concerns, or well-being into consideration.  


 If handled correctly, Twitter has the potential to become a great equalizer and change political culture for a couple of reasons. The online social networking service has given people direct access to government representatives, allowing them to voice their concerns on a platform that demands a real-time response, rather than receiving an automated response from a busy legislator. This could resolve millennials’ disillusionment with politicians, considering that their biggest complaint is that representatives are inaccessible to common people. The use of hashtags, or labels that are attached to tweets make it easy for users to find content with a specific theme, and can also be a valuable instrument in increasing political engagement. When a hashtag gains sudden popularity it “trends” on Twitter, helping it gain visibility. This feature can draw attention to important issues that could otherwise be overlooked and gives supporters a way to connect and build a community. The Flint water crisis, Black Lives Matter, and the Keystone Pipeline protests have all been extensively covered on the platform and in turn garnered support for their agendas. 

While Trump has made use of the site, he hasn’t fully tapped into all of what Twitter has to offer. He could support causes that take root in social media or respond directly to questions or comments from his followers, but much of the site’s genius is lost on Trump. A direct and transparent way to communicate with the public could be a useful tool, especially for a president that’s concerned with the spread of “fake news.” 


Trump has tapped into the fears of white, middle class, conservative Americans (especially men) and has transformed himself into a people’s hero. He’s wealthy, powerful, a family man, who is newly “self-made” from a small loan of a million dollars. How has Twitter allowed him to become a master of self-reinvention, changing his image from billionaire real estate mogul to conservative politician and presidential candidate? First, Twitter allowed him to gradually show interest in politics beyond the typical insults and derogatory remarks. Sharing his critiques of the Obama administration and other politicians as well as sharing his own political ideas let Trump garner support before pushing for an election bid. Slowly entering the political arena was a move that allowed Trump to establish some credibility as a viable presidential candidate, instead of announcing his intentions to run out of nowhere. Secondly, much of Trump’s campaign was run through Twitter. Usually, the site is used supplementary to ads, interviews, and public appearances but in Trumps case it was the juggernaut that drove his success. Having a campaign that is heavily dependent on social media was a risk, but traditional media outlets helped reach demographic groups not reached by Twitter. There was a pattern established early on: Trump unleashes a fiery Tweet in the direction of one of his political opponents, the news picks up on it, allowing him to dominate a media cycle for at least 24 hours, before it started all over again. Deviating from the standard campaign model gave Trump even more points towards his outsider status, a characteristic he used to his full advantage. Third, it allowed him to control his image in the time leading up to his announcement. Trump sold American voters on the idea that what we needed was an outsider, a businessman that could not be bought by corporate sponsors and was not beholden to any political party’s agenda to bring our country out of the red. Twitter made it easier for Trump to cultivate an image without relying on the media or a propaganda machine. He controlled how he was presented to the public and had the ability to belittle, demean, or attack anyone or anything that threatened his image. This shows how brilliant Trump really is, by spinning himself into a president who has the all trappings of the American dream with a billionaire spin: a slew of model-actress ex-wives, 5 children, and a golden tower instead of a white picket fence.   

Another example of Trump’s reinvention scheme? His presidential platform: the new interest in Christianity, a strong stance on illegal immigration, campaign time opposition to gay marriage, and the promise to stay out of Middle Eastern affairs while simultaneously defeating ISIS, were all palatable to his conservative voter base. Trump has not always aligned himself with the Republican Party. In the past 28 years Trump has been registered as a Democrat, a Republican, Independence Party member, and a Republican again after a quick stint as a Reform party presidential candidate in 2000. So, when did Trump begin to court GOP voters for the 2016 election? When he pledged to defund ObamaCare in favor of private health care? Announced his plans to build a border wall paid for by Mexico?  Without Twitter, Trump arguably could not have gone from celebrity businessman and fair-weather Republican to GOP frontrunner. 


Why do people admire Trump? His Cult of Personality is an unpleasant one, it doesn’t have the strongman appeal of Joseph Stalin, the wisdom if Mao Zedong, or commanding leadership of Augustus Caesar, not to compare Trump to some of the most ruthless autocrats in history. What he does have on his side, is his perceived honesty. He’s a departure from the career politician that American’s have come to mistrust, even if his words aren’t always honest, just insulting. 

If his personality is so abrasive, then why was Trump such an appealing candidate? First, we should look at who he engaged the most: 58 percent of Trump supporters are male, 50 percent are between the ages of 45 to 64, 91 percent are white, 72 percent earned between 50 to100 thousand dollars a year, and 75 percent believe that life is worse for people like them, compared to 50 years ago. The idea that life is worse for white, middle-aged, middle class, Republican men is simply untrue. According to the Pew Research Center, white households hold 13 times more wealth than black households. Black men are arrested at 10 times the rate of white men (New Progressive). In the 112th United States Congress, 85% of congressmen were white. If white men still hold the majority of power and wealth in America, and are less likely to end up in prison than minority men, what are they so worried about? The popularity of Trump could be the result of the “whitelash” phenomenon, when dramatic racial progress is followed by white backlash. It happened in the 1960’s with the election of Ronald Reagan and the rise of the religious right after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. The two-term administration of America’s first African-American president could be enough to trigger the support of a candidate that has far-right wing support white nationalist support. Is his abusive version of honesty an allergic reaction to politically correct culture, an unpopular movement among conservatives? Trump has pitched himself as the guardian of white male interests by promising to protect everything that middle aged, middle class, conservative, white men hold dear: closed borders, strong military, traditional family values (restrictions on abortion and anti-same sex marriage rights), and a reduced federal budget (even though the military budget jumped 54 billion dollars). White men are feel that America is under attack, at least the America they know from 50 years ago. His promise to “Make America Great Again” brings his main voter base back to times when our nation was wealthy, wholesome, and predominantly white. 

Conclusion

Donald Trump’s Tweets have characteristically strong emotional overtones. As the leader of the free world, any statements made by the President of the United States are taken seriously. It’s too easy to fire off a tweet without thinking first about the consequences of those words or the facets of a situation. No man is an island, President Trump included. His words reflect on us all, crediting and discrediting the People of The United States with an errant tweet.

As technology has expanded, American presidents have explored new ways to broadcast their messages to citizens. We’re in the midst of a shift from print media to social media as the popular mode of communication. President Donald Trump has the potential to normalize Twitter as the new choice of political communication. With this switch, we need to implement standards for etiquette and culture to accommodate the change and to establish protocols.
