Psychologists have proven what many journalists and observers suspected all along: President Trump’s tweets really do operate as weapons of mass distraction, diverting attention away from embarrassing headlines and negative coverage.
International research, led by the University of Bristol and published in Nature Communications, concluded that Trump’s Twitter account was successful in combating bad news.
But it could not say whether the tweets were part of a deliberate strategy or the result of intuition.
Stephan Lewandowsky, professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Bristol and lead author, said: “Our analysis presents empirical evidence consistent with the theory that whenever the media report something threatening or politically uncomfortable for President Trump, his account increasingly tweets about unrelated topics representing his political strengths.
“This systematic diversion of attention away from a topic potentially damaging to him was shown to significantly reduce negative media coverage the next day.”
Trump’s use of Twitter is one of the defining aspects of his presidency, and soon after the election, observers noticed the way it could sometimes distract from awkward news coverage.
For example, in November 2016, soon after winning the election, he tweeted his condemnation of the cast of Hamilton when the performers rebuked Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who was in the audience. “We, sir, are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights,” said their message at the end of the musical.
[Previous coverage: Trump’s 45 Twitter follows: How to keep sweet with the tweeter in chief]
The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2016
Trump’s Twitter broadside came at the same time he settled lawsuits alleging fraud at Trump University.
Four years on, he is still using the same tactics. In July, he set off days of fevered speculation by raising the prospect of delaying the election with a tweet. However, skeptics pointed out that it was sent 16 minutes after the publication of devastating economic news showing that the gross domestic product had dropped a record 32.9% on an annualized basis as COVID-19 made its effects felt.
With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020
The study analyzed Trump’s first two years in office, scrutinizing Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion with Russia. It focused on content in two leading media outlets, the New York Times and ABC World News Tonight.
To find pivots to more favorable topics, it selected keywords that were linked to the president’s supposed strengths, including “jobs,” “China,” and “immigration.”
The researchers found that every five additional ABC headlines relating to Mueller were associated with one more mention of a keyword in a Trump tweet. Two additional mentions of one of the keywords in a Trump tweet was associated with approximately one less mention of the Mueller investigation in the following day’s New York Times.
“It’s unclear whether President Trump, or whoever is at the helm of his Twitter account, engages in such tactics intentionally or if it’s mere intuition,” added Lewandowsky. “Either way, we hope these results serve as a helpful reminder to the media that they have the power to set the news agenda, focusing on the topics they deem most important, while perhaps not paying so much attention to the Twitter-sphere.”
