Trump and his Twitter Tirades
Educate yourself, before Trump educates you.
You know that one weird relative you have on Facebook? The one who is always posting their long, ignorant rants and sharing their ill-informed opinions. If you look at the comments on their posts, the majority of their Facebook friends are in agreeance, with a plethora of thumbs up reactions. You think to yourself, am I the only one who doesn’t agree? I consider Donald Trump and his dangerous Twitter rhetoric a more prominent example of this.
You’re probably thinking, Twitter + Donald Trump = A match made in comedy heaven. Platforms like Twitter allow politicians to address the electorate in an unmediated way. This freedom combined with millennials increased consumption of content from easily digestible platforms, disguises inaccurate information as a political discussion.
According to Pew Research Centre, “31.3 million votes from the 2016 U.S. Election came from Millennials,” that’s quite a significant increase compared to past elections. What may have caused this sudden shift? Well, digital technologies — (particularly social media) are playing a pivotal role in the way millennials consume politics. A 2015 study from the University of Hawaii found Millennials tend to stumble upon political information rather than seek it out; having “serendipitous encounters with political information both on — and offline.” These online interactions heavily shape their views, opinions and voting preferences.
The Power of Twitter
Millennials are considered digital natives, the social media realm fosters participatory politics, allowing co-creation and involvement. Twitter, in particular, has played a fundamental role in delivering news with the added element of real-time conversation. However, the emergence of politics in non-political spaces can have damaging effects. Take for instance the personalisation of web searches during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Due to various algorithms, the news and political positions that individuals saw online blocked exposure to diverse viewpoints, leading to political polarization within society.
Trump’s main method of communication is not press conferences and interviews, but his social media. Calculations suggest Trump tweets approximately 11 to 12 times a day, and although he calls the Whitehouse home, it is clear he lives on Twitter. The language that Trump uses on the public record is within the 140 — character limit. Scholars have long theorized that computerised communication, in this case, social media more closely resembles speech rather than writing. When breaking down his punctuation, his tweets are carefully curated to remain ‘speech-like.’
“Trump does not ask us to read, rather he forces us to hear.”
In recent times, politicians have embraced Twitter as a tool to “engage more and broadcast less” Not only are they able to facilitate political dialogue on this platform, they are presented with the opportunity to form a two-way relationship with individuals, one which bypasses the media.
Although Twitter can be used as a positive platform, it can also be abused. By sharing his own opinions on controversial topics like immigration, racism and white supremacy, Trump has blurred the line between his own opinion and his government’s policy. Ezra Klein in an article from Vox calls Trump, incoherent, delusional and self-aggrandizing. His tweets are not backed up by any academic or statistical information, which results in the spreading of ill-informed political opinions. Ever heard of fact-checking?
Blurred Lines
The blurring of private and public discourse has resulted in Trump’s tweets both upsetting and offending some, but why is it that others are lured by his humour and willingness to speak his mind? It seems Trump’s twitter manipulation has not gone unnoticed by emerging platforms like ‘Politifact.’ This clever website presents a steady stream of all of the falsely informed tweets, allowing his audience to check their accuracy. Hey Trump, check yourself before you wreck yourself, am I right?
It is alarming to think that generations to come will grow up surrounded by the deception the media affords. The consumption of untrue information is not only damaging to the next generation of voters but also the future of America. Hence, we can only hope platforms like Politifact gain momentum and pique public interest.
‘Make America Great Again’ by unfollowing Trump on Twitter
Social media has been and continues to be, a turning point for millennials in understanding politics and facilitating political ideas. New media forms of political communication encourage increased dialogue between political representatives and the public. Therefore we must conduct self- research when gathering information on topical points of discussion before taking our stance. When powerful figures, or in this case, the leader of the free world, — feeds the globe misinformation, online politics gets dangerous.
It is up to us as millennials to break Trump’s Twitter cycle, it is time we label him as fake news.
