How has Trump’s use of twitter changed how people view him? (1 Viewer)

[bigmarc27]

Was having a conversation the other night with a mixed group ranging from people that hate him, up to people that tolerate him and will vote for him again. They don’t love him, but still prefer him to Democratic alternatives. These people made a point which I thought was interesting: if Trump didn’t use Twitter, the public view towards him would be much more favorable. He’s such a blowhard and such a narcissist and that it comes through in his various internet rambling, but if he had been constrained in this from the start he’d runaway with the next election and win easily  

Nobody could really dispute that at that time in conversation, so curious while stepping back if anyone has anything to add/detract from that argument.

 

[supermike80]

Was having a conversation the other night with a mixed group ranging from people that hate him, up to people that tolerate him and will vote for him again. They don’t love him, but still prefer him to Democratic alternatives. These people made a point which I thought was interesting: if Trump didn’t use Twitter, the public view towards him would be much more favorable. He’s such a blowhard and such a narcissist and that it comes through in his various internet rambling, but if he had been constrained in this from the start he’d runaway with the next election and win easily  

Nobody could really dispute that at that time in conversation, so curious while stepping back if anyone has anything to add/detract from that argument.

Isnt there a thread for this already?

 

[bigmarc27]

Isnt there a thread for this already?

Maybe so, I didn’t look. If so, the powers that be can feel free to delete. 

 

[msommer]

Not at all. He's justified my earlier view of him by his use of twitter.

The argument is not particularly compelling either. It's not as if he only started on twitter after he was sworn in.

 

[Osaurus]

Tweets better than Abe Lincoln ever did. Just ask him

 

[msommer]

Tweets better than Abe Lincoln ever did. Just ask him

Abe, however, may have been better at flushing

 

[AAABatteries]

I think it’s undeniable that his Twitter feed paints him in a negative light.  And it’s a much easier channel for the average person to absorb.  Most people aren’t going to watch cable news or read the News section of a paper or website but just about everybody follows some type of social media.

For me it just confirmed two things I’ve always thought about him - he only cares about himself and he’s full of crap/lies all the time.

If he manages to get re-elected there will be plenty of people that will say this says volumes about Republicans.  And while that may be true I think it says more about the flaws in our 2-party system.  No matter how bad the 2 nominees get are we aren’t close to having Gary Johnson as our President.

 

[Bucsfan5493]

As msommer mentioned, it hasn't changed much for me. More just confirming what a garbage and divisive human being he is. 

 

[urbanhack]

It makes is more clearly obvious he's only interested in having a dialogue with 1/3 of our population.

 

[Kal El]

It hasn't changed much of my view of him, with the exception that his ego is apparently really fragile, if he has to lie and put others down so often.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I forget where we talked about this but I'm fine with a new thread. 

I think this issue is fascinating as early on, I felt like Twitter was a huge liability for Trump and I was shocked his strategists allowed him to keep doing it.

Now I think it's likely a huge part of his success. 

And I think future leaders will be wise to communicate as clearly. 

It's funny as for an old guy, he completely understands the power of social media. 

We had presidential fireside chats many years ago where the President took time to "talk" to the citizens. For better or for worse, this is essentially the same thing.

The citizens loved a fireside chat years ago as who doesn't like to have the option of hearing from the leader of your thing? It's not like the boss requiring you to listen to a boring meeting. This is purely optional. If people want to listen, they can. 

Again, for better or for worse, I don't think there's a president in history who's been more clear about what he's thinking. I'm of the opinion clarity is almost always a good thing.

What I especially wonder about is how this will play out in the future. Can you imagine a communicator as gifted as Buttigieg conveying thoughts 10 times a day? Again, you may not like what he's saying, but he'd have a huge ability to influence the country. 

I think I just fall back to the idea clarity is almost always good. 

 

[MAC_32]

I thought he was ignorant, narcissistic, bigoted, and a liar long before he threw his name into the ring...so his Twitter feed just confirmed those beliefs. I stopped paying attention to it sometime in 2017, but it still finds it's way into my orbit on occasion. 

 

[Summer Wheat]

It makes is more clearly obvious he's only interested in having a dialogue with 1/3 of our population.

In here maybe, but I feel it is way more than that. 

My wife's cousin`s who have no business liking Trump are making $$$ and thinking everything is good and don`t want a change right now.

 

[zftcg]

Having grown up in the NYC media market, I've never had a particularly positive view of Trump, but my first sustained exposure to him was when I watched the first few seasons of The Apprentice. Or more accurately, hate-watched. This was way before Twitter, but I already viewed him as a ridiculous blowhard. Main difference is that I didn't see him as a threat to our constitutional democracy.

As for Twitter, I have a theory that it serves as a kind of psychological release valve for people who feel uncomfortable about supporting him. They can tut-tut him being so uncouth without having to confront the fact that they voted for a man who locked children in cages and used the power of the presidency to try and cheat his way to re-election.

 

[Sam Quentin]

George  W was attacked non-stop for years and never stood up for himself.  It made his entire second term unsuccessful in spite of some positive things he did.  

 

[zftcg]

George  W was attacked non-stop for years and never stood up for himself.  It made his entire second term unsuccessful in spite of some positive things he did.  

Bush got us into a disastrous war and twiddled his thumbs while an American city was underwater. I'm pretty sure that had more to do with his unpopularity than his PR strategy.

 

[Sam Quentin]

Bush got us into a disastrous war and twiddled his thumbs while an American city was underwater. I'm pretty sure that had more to do with his unpopularity than his PR strategy.

Bush got us into a disastrous war because he had a weak personality and was persuaded by the intelligence community and the war hawks. (Trump has pushed back on the war hawks more than anybody wants to admit and more than Obama did.) 

Bush and NOLA gets a bad rap, but that’s a whole other thread, but his PR was terrible.

 

[lazyike]

I forget where we talked about this but I'm fine with a new thread. 

I think this issue is fascinating as early on, I felt like Twitter was a huge liability for Trump and I was shocked his strategists allowed him to keep doing it.

Now I think it's likely a huge part of his success. 

And I think future leaders will be wise to communicate as clearly. 

It's funny as for an old guy, he completely understands the power of social media. 

We had presidential fireside chats many years ago where the President took time to "talk" to the citizens. For better or for worse, this is essentially the same thing.

The citizens loved a fireside chat years ago as who doesn't like to have the option of hearing from the leader of your thing? It's not like the boss requiring you to listen to a boring meeting. This is purely optional. If people want to listen, they can. 

Again, for better or for worse, I don't think there's a president in history who's been more clear about what he's thinking. I'm of the opinion clarity is almost always a good thing.

What I especially wonder about is how this will play out in the future. Can you imagine a communicator as gifted as Buttigieg conveying thoughts 10 times a day? Again, you may not like what he's saying, but he'd have a huge ability to influence the country. 

I think I just fall back to the idea clarity is almost always good. 

He is up to over 16,000 lies and many of them come from his tweets. It’s sad that he has had success by tweeting so much misinformation. As bad as I hate his tweets, hearing him boast ,lie and bully during his exchanges with the press is worse.

 

[zftcg]

Bush got us into a disastrous war because he had a weak personality and was persuaded by the intelligence community and the war hawks. (Trump has pushed back on the war hawks more than anybody wants to admit and more than Obama did.) 

Bush and NOLA gets a bad rap, but that’s a whole other thread, but his PR was terrible.

Well, if we grant your premise, it was his weak leadership that led to his unpopularity, not bad PR.

But I agree with you on not wanting to relitigate Bush's presidency. I want to push back more generally on the notion (which I hear from both sides) that any politician's unpopularity is a result of "bad PR" or "a messaging problem". There's an implicit assumption there that the public is too dumb to realize how good a job he is actually doing, and that better spin could help lift the scales from their eyes. I think that, while a large segment of the public doesn't follow politics closely, they have a general feel for how things are going. By Bush's second term, things were going pretty badly, empirically speaking, and people judged him for that. 

To his credit (I guess), Trump has never trotted out the "we just need to get better at messaging" excuse, mostly because he is incapable of admitting that anything he's done might have been less than perfect. That approach has been very effective at consolidating his base, and very bad at winning over anyone else to his side.

 

[JuniorNB]

The combination of twitter and answering questions of the White House lawn is what sealed his fate in my eyes.  When he's reading a speech written by one of his staffers, he actually comes across as intelligent and reasonable and with a touch of compassion. He should stick with that.

 

[parrot]

 confirmed 

 

[kface]

Was having a conversation the other night with a mixed group ranging from people that hate him, up to people that tolerate him and will vote for him again. They don’t love him, but still prefer him to Democratic alternatives. These people made a point which I thought was interesting: if Trump didn’t use Twitter, the public view towards him would be much more favorable. He’s such a blowhard and such a narcissist and that it comes through in his various internet rambling, but if he had been constrained in this from the start he’d runaway with the next election and win easily  

Nobody could really dispute that at that time in conversation, so curious while stepping back if anyone has anything to add/detract from that argument.

I think one news conference from him pretty much shows him as incompetent, lying, narcissist and potential mentally deficient.  Twitter just adds to it.

 

[zftcg]

The combination of twitter and answering questions of the White House lawn is what sealed his fate in my eyes.  When he's reading a speech written by one of his staffers, he actually comes across as intelligent and reasonable and with a touch of compassion. He should stick with that.

Really? I have the exact opposite reaction. When he's reading a speech he looks like he's recording a hostage video. I remember there was one time when he stopped in the middle of his prepared remarks and basically made fun of the speechwriters' words, which pretty much confirmed that he was reading them for the first time.

Don't get me wrong; when he's going off-script he sounds completely insane, even as he's enjoying himself and is totally in his element. Or maybe it's because he's enjoying himself that he sounds so crazy. Point being, neither scenario is flattering to him, IMO.

 

[JuniorNB]

Really? I have the exact opposite reaction. When he's reading a speech he looks like he's recording a hostage video. I remember there was one time when he stopped in the middle of his prepared remarks and basically made fun of the speechwriters' words, which pretty much confirmed that he was reading them for the first time.

Don't get me wrong; when he's going off-script he sounds completely insane, even as he's enjoying himself and is totally in his element. Or maybe it's because he's enjoying himself that he sounds so crazy. Point being, neither scenario is flattering to him, IMO.

Oh, he definitely reads very deliberately and appears to have very elementary-level reading skills, but at least he's repeating the thoughts of people who are much more diplomatic, classy, and intelligent. If we didn't see him interviewed or read his Tweets, we'd have no idea what really goes through his head. 

 

[zftcg]

Oh, he definitely reads very deliberately and appears to have very elementary-level reading skills, but at least he's repeating the thoughts of people who are much more diplomatic, classy, and intelligent.

Stephen Miller says hi.

 

[zoonation]

I always thought he was not well educated based solely on how he talks.  His use of twitter not only confirms that, but reveals that he has real trouble with the written word.  He writes at a grade school level.

 

[JuniorNB]

I always thought he was not well educated based solely on how he talks.  His use of twitter not only confirms that, but reveals that he has real trouble with the written word.  He writes at a grade school level.

Correct. In his first year as president, a team of experts in that sort of thing determined either third grade level or fifth grade.  I can't remember. 

 

[Sam Quentin]

Correct. In his first year as president, a team of experts in that sort of thing determined either third grade level or fifth grade.  I can't remember. 

I think the team of experts is not seeing the forest for the trees.  
 

Trump’s intellectual gift is his ability to take the complex and communicate it with simple vocabulary that is easily understood across all education levels.

The whole point isn’t to sound eloquent or smart, but to explain things to the people.  That’s the genius of it.