For years Donald Trump’s Twitter account has been an endless barrage of sometimes nonsensical and outrageous but always controversial claims. From claims about the birth of President Obama, to insults hurled at celebrities, news organizations, and politicians, the only thing the President-Elect has not done when it comes to Twitter is hesitate. While many have called his understanding of social media genius, and one of the driving forces behind his win in the election, the time for letting him roam free and say whatever he wants is over.
Now that Donald Trump will be the 45th President of the United States of America, he has to understand that his words carry immense power. They can spark outrage, riots, and violence if he is not careful, at home and abroad. This is especially true when you consider the hypersensitive world we all live in today. Comedians and celebrities can face backlash and ruined careers for comments taken completely out of context. The country and the world today sits on a powder keg of rage and revolution, and frankly many are waiting for the event that will set it off. Many believed it would be Trump’s election, and considering the riots and protests in recent weeks, that was not far-fetched.
This weekend, Trump took to Twitter to make the outlandish claim that millions had voted illegally. His claims were unfounded, and caught the attention of the media as well as the public. Trump does not seem to realize that his tweets will be taken as gospel by millions, therefore he must put every story and statistic that he comes across under incredible scrutiny in order to maintain his trust with the American people. He can’t just retweet people without seeing who they are first, or make a story that has no factual basis public to millions without doing some background research. He is the President of the United States and his actions have immense consequences.
I think the Trump team should restrain his Twitter usage and rope in the President-Elect so he is not such a loose cannon on social media. After all, it isn’t like they haven’t done it before. Trump’s team restrained the usage of his Twitter account in the week leading up to the election, and it undoubtedly helped. There was no media outrage over a controversial tweet in the entire week before the election, which had to have had an influence on the undecided voters who had Hillary’s email scandal fresh in their heads. Without some oversight, there is no telling what consequences a 3AM tweet from out next President could have.
