Trump’s Twitter Habits

It’s here. Today, Comedy Central’s Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library – a homage to his most absurd 140-character ditties – has opened in New York City. The tweets are organized by theme, and the best of the best, i.e. “covfefe,” will get a special gold frame to mark their importance.

As much as this is rooted in comedy, it’s kind of relieving to know that we have memorialized Trump’s twitter in a physical space. And we’re not the only ones thinking this way. This week, an article in Slate, Trump’s Tweets Must Now Be Taken Seriously, outlines how the 9^th US Circuit Court of Appeals is on the same wavelength. As journalist Dahlia Lithwick explains, buried in a footnote in their unanimous opinion to uphold the bulk of the injunction to lock POTUS’s travel ban, they directly address Trump’s Twitter. Here’s that footnote:

Footnote:

Indeed, the President recently confirmed his assessment that it is the “countries” that are inherently dangerous, rather than the 180 million individual nationals of those countries who are barred from entry under the President’s “travel ban.” See Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (June 5, 2017, 6:20 PM), https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/871899511525961728 (“That’s right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries, not some politically correct term that won’t help us protect our people!”) (emphasis in original).

Lithwick notes, “What’s really vital is that the footnote also does away with the claim that such tweets should be ignored or swept aside…the notion that Trump’s Twitter feed is its own binding constitutional stream of consciousness invites all sorts of other delightful legal interventions.”

Think of how many times social media, one tweet or Facebook post, greatly altered one’s reputation in our eyes. Shouldn’t we hold the President of our country to the same standard? Just this week, Harvard withdrew admission of a group of acceptance students because of their troubling Facebook messages.  We’ll just have to stay tuned to see how this plays out, but it’s reassuring to know that our President may be held accountable to the things he has said, and tweeted, just like us.