In recent weeks, the press has speculated that Donald Trump would have to tone down his presence on Twitter once he takes office. Today, the Huffington Post reports that the opposite may be true. In November, the president-elect stated that after the inauguration, he’d be “very restrained” on the platform. That translated to roughly a tweet per day since Trump began his staff's transition period. With no signs of him slowing down, many are bracing for a very different @POTUS presence on Twitter, come January 20.
“You know what, the fact of the matter is that when he tweets, he gets results,” incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on ABC’s This Week. Spicer indicated that we can expect the new President to tweet about a range of things, including major policy issues.
Trump’s tweets have been the subject of much scrutiny, leading him using Twitter to respond to the media at large. Spicer said that Twitter is one way for Trump to get his message directly to the people without going through reporters. Currently, President Obama uses daily televised briefings to provide insight into government policy and the administration. Spicer added that "no decisions have been made" regarding the continuation of those daily press briefings.
“I think it freaks the mainstream media out that he has this following of over 45 plus million people that follow him on social media, that he can have a direct conversation,” Spicer said. “He doesn’t have to have it funneled through the media. This is the, this is going to be ― business as usual is over, as I’ve said before. There’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s going to do things first and foremost for the American people.”
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