Trump’s Twitter Days Could Be As Numbered As His Presidency
Donald Trump’s presidency ends on January 20, 2021. His Twitter account could end the same day.
Trump has been caught in numerous Twitter rule violations. While some of these actions would get most users banned, Trump, finally, in the last year of his presidency, was subjected to the bare-minimum sanction of having a disclaimer appended to some tweets, letting the world know that he’s purveying fake news and otherwise breaking Twitter’s rules but still allowing the tweets to remain in the public record, and allowing the president to keep this means of communication with the public.
However, Newsweek reports that Trump will no longer be guaranteed this special treatment after Joe Biden’s inauguration in January. Instead, he could have his account suspended almost immediately for the very next rule violation. It’s also possible Twitter could archive Trump’s personal account, as they did with President Barack Obama’s official @POTUS (now “@POTUS44”) account, as he has used it for official communication.
Trump, who sometimes tweets dozens of times in a few morning hours, may find himself, like other Twitter rule-breakers, relegated to other sites, like Parler. It could be devestating to his efforts to hold on to supporters, especially if he simultaneously faces legal consequences for a long list of criminal allegations.
Trump has effectively used his social media accounts to convince a core group of followers that the news media can’t be trusted, and that he’s the best source for honest information. If his direct-to-the-people line of communication is cut off, that base could be hard to keep.