Since he became President of the United States, Donald Trump’s Twitter account has drawn considerable interest. Several GOP members have suggested that Trump’s tweets may hurt his presidency; nevertheless, President Trump continues to use Twitter avidly. In an interview, President Trump told Mark Leibovich of The New York Times Magazine “They want to take away my voice” referring to his Twitter account. Trump himself, or an aide, removes some of President Trump’s tweets after several hours or several weeks.
White House Director of Social Media Dan Scavino is named in a lawsuit, which claims that President Donald Trump is unconstitutionally blocking his critics from his Twitter account. First Amendment advocates say the Trump’s eight year-old Twitter account is a public forum, however, White Hose officials say that President Trump’s tweets are official statements from the President. If this is true, then tweets have to be preserved according to the Presidential Records Act, and they cannot be deleted.
President Trump also has a Facebook and an Instagram account, plus a YouTube account that has very few videos left on it. It appears that President Trump has little free time, except for composing 140 character statements. Trump either tweets himself or dictates what to say to his staff, leaving him little time to spend hours a day on various social media platforms.
With more than 18 million followers on Twitter, President Trump has a greater reach than Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC combined. President Trump speaks his mind instead of simply posting links or repeating the same information from press releases. His remarks speak directly to the people, which news channels will never be able to accomplish. The question is whether Trump’s tweets are official Presidential statements or simply a man stating his opinions on Twitter, who happens to be the President.
