President-elect Trump is leaning toward keeping his Twitter account once he enters the Oval Office, despite concerns that using his personal handle could undermine U.S. national security.
In an interview Sunday with the Times of London, Trump said his vast online following will be a valuable tool for him as commander in chief. Thus he will continue tweeting from the White House.
“I think I’ll keep it,” said the incoming Republican president. “I’ve got 46 million people right now – that’s a lot, that’s really a lot. But 46 million, including Facebook, Twitter and … Instagram, so when you think that you’re 46 million there, I’d rather just let that build up and just keep it @realDonaldTrump,” he said of his personal handle.
Trump has 20 million Twitter followers, 17 million Facebook “likes” and 4.7 million fans on the popular photo-sharing app Instagram. His massive online presence has been a particularly useful tool when it comes to combating media bias, he said.
“It’s working. The tweeting, I thought I’d do less of it, but I’m covered so dishonestly by the press … that I can put out Twitter – and it’s not 140 [characters], its now 280 – I can go bing bing bing … and they put it on and as soon as I tweet it out – this morning on television, Fox – ‘Donald Trump, we have breaking news,’ ” he told the Times.
For much of the election, Trump’s Twitter was both a blessing and a curse. The president-elect would often use the social media site to attack his greatest critics and opponents or weigh in on major events such as Brexit and the terror attacks in Orlando, Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. More recently, Trump has used his personal account to berate reporters, intelligence officials and members of Congress.
Some claim Trump’s Twitter persona could create major diplomatic problems for the U.S., particularly because of his tendency to tweet without first weighing the consequences.
“If other nations take Trump’s tweets literally … there is a real possibility of military conflict,” Jeet Heer, a senior editor at the New Republic, wrote last month after the president-elect tweeted about his phone call with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen.
“Trump’s political opposition … they need to make the case to the American public that his tweets are a threat to U.S. foreign policy, and even to its national security,” Heer added. “Otherwise a President Trump could start a flame war on Twitter that turns into a bloody war in real life.”
In a statement last fall, the White House said it would make the “@POTUS” (President of the United States) Twitter handle available to the incoming commander in chief should that person choose to use it. It is unclear whether Trump plans to make use of both accounts once he takes office.
