#WOKE Trump the Troll: Using Social Networks as a Megaphone & Who’s There to Turn Off His Wi-Fi
Donald Trump, the keyboard warrior himself, has built quite the online presence ever since joining social media platform, Twitter, in March 2009. Trump’s Twitter activity has spiraled into a spotlight of controversy ever since he was elected as the 45th President of the United States. His opinions and statements have not only been deemed as negatively affecting his agenda but are also all mostly far-fetched and false. With his reality TV show identity and inclining presence on mainstream media, it’s safe to say that social media has provided Trump with effective leverage to get his thoughts across effortlessly, and to a large crowd as well. This presidency as shown the Western world a new and affordable method for politicians to communicate with the public: social networks. By May 2017, Trump has trumped the online world with an audience of over 45 million followers.
Demagogues, as covered in the lecture, is a politician seeking support from the public by appealing to prejudices and controversy. Undeniably, Trump is notorious for projecting his prejudices in the form of troll-like tweets. ‘As of November 2017, Trump had insulted 394 people, places, and things on Twitter, ranging from politicians to journalists and news outlets to entire countries.’ Above everything else, Donald the Demagogue proclaims all reports critical of him, are in fact, “fake news”, and should be disregarded as so.
It’s for certain that a mainstream, reality TV character would use social media to gain even more popularity as a politician, and if it means throwing in a few disses here and there, Trump is all for it. But what deep dives Trump from an asshole to a demagogue is his sly choice of retweets. Trump “has a history of retweeting controversial supporters, including white supremacists and neo-Nazis.” In short, this platform allows him to not only address anyone or anything in whichever manner he pleases in front of almost 50 million people, but he also has the ability to retweet other racists, homophobic, extreme right-wing individuals.
His presence on this platform is exactly what leveraged him to win the election and is exactly why the man went from roughly 7.8 million followers prior, to a mass of 47.2 million. In fact, the chooch himself doubts he’d be president without it, in a ‘The Independent’ news article, they quote that “social media was a ‘tremendous platform’ that allowed him to bypass what he claimed was unfair media coverage and speak directly to voters’. In an interview due to air on the Fox Business Network channel, the President added: “Tweeting is like a typewriter — when I put it out, you put it immediately on your show.”
The social media age is now. It’s growth and popularity is uncanny and unpredictable. Everyone is always tuned in- and now, everyone’s head is turned to Trump. But, not in the way he wants, exactly.
The impact of this age is most dominantly emphasized by generation Y, also, the newest generation of voters. Donald Trump claims his presidency would be faulty and non-existent without his activity online, which is true. But it is highly likely that his presidency will also not last through a second term, thanks to social media, as well. With reconcilers like Oprah Winfrey, it is very hard to convince future voters, generation Y’s social fighters and left-wingers, that this clown is worth electing again. Especially when the rest of this generation is sitting back, laughing and pointing their fingers. With all of his flaws indirectly projected through mainstream media like the Academy Awards, generation Y turns its nose at Trump.
It is for certain that Trump’s presence on social platforms has enabled him to speak openly of prejudices and other ridiculous things. But it is even more powerful for reconcilers like Oprah Winfrey to indirectly take down demagogues like Trump on social platforms. This generation is the audience that wants to hear calls to action. We want change. We didn’t want Trump.
There is always two sides of this desperate, almost comedic political horror story. We have aggressors like Trump, but we also have social justice warriors like Oprah Winfrey- ones who use the very same method of social media blasting, to attempt to restore social balance in North America and the rest of the world.
