Why Trump will relish a war with Twitter

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="“Big action” is coming! And Twitter (TWTR) executives no doubt have their helmets on.” data-reactid=”16″>“Big action” is coming! And Twitter (TWTR) executives no doubt have their helmets on.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="President Trump has a fresh feud, this time with Twitter, the social media platform he uses to attack enemies, spread propaganda and brag. Twitter has taken the audacious step of labeling two Trump tweets as factually suspicious, with a blue link at the bottom urging readers to “get the facts” about mail-in voting. Twitterers need to “get the facts” because Trump’s claims about mail-in voting fraud are bogus.” data-reactid=”17″>President Trump has a fresh feud, this time with Twitter, the social media platform he uses to attack enemies, spread propaganda and brag. Twitter has taken the audacious step of labeling two Trump tweets as factually suspicious, with a blue link at the bottom urging readers to “get the facts” about mail-in voting. Twitterers need to “get the facts” because Trump’s claims about mail-in voting fraud are bogus.

You’d be disappointed if Trump were anything less than outraged by Twitter’s action. Twitter, he now says, is interfering in the 2020 election and stifling free speech, claims Twitter should have labeled as bogus, too.

What’s going on here is exactly what Trump wants: A fake scandal metastasizing into yet another opportunity for Trump to indulge his persecution complex and portray himself as the victim of Deep Media. Who knows if it will help him get reelected, but it is right out of the Trump playbook.

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<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="The trigger for Twitter’s action is a shameful Trump smear addressed at MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a vigorous Trump critic. In 2001, when Scarborough was a member of Congress, a 28-year-old aide died in his Florida office in a tragic accident, apparently passing out from an undiagnosed medical condition and hitting her head on a piece of furniture. Trump claims it’s a “cold case” in which Scarborough is a suspect, which is completely false. The aide’s widowed husband has asked Trump to desist, because it’s cruel to surviving family members. Trump has ignored the request and continued with the attacks, prompting calls for Twitter to suspend his account or take some other action.” data-reactid=”31″>The trigger for Twitter’s action is a shameful Trump smear addressed at MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, a vigorous Trump critic. In 2001, when Scarborough was a member of Congress, a 28-year-old aide died in his Florida office in a tragic accident, apparently passing out from an undiagnosed medical condition and hitting her head on a piece of furniture. Trump claims it’s a “cold case” in which Scarborough is a suspect, which is completely false. The aide’s widowed husband has asked Trump to desist, because it’s cruel to surviving family members. Trump has ignored the request and continued with the attacks, prompting calls for Twitter to suspend his account or take some other action.

Trump’s bogeyman strategy

So Twitter labeled two Trump lies with the blue exclamation point, focusing not on Trump’s heartless attacks on the deceased aide but on election integrity. Better than nothing? Maybe. But it plays right into Trump’s strategy. Here’s how this is likely to unfold.

Trump can’t shut down Twitter, which is a publicly held company—and he’d be crazy to shut it down if he could. Trump has 80 million Twitter followers, and the platform is his best tool for sidestepping traditional media. He needs Twitter, and wouldn’t be Trump without it. No other platform foments outrage as effectively as Twitter’s short-form, rapid-fire posts, and that outrage is Trump’s lifeblood as a politician.

Trump will still thrash Twitter, however, because it’s a useful whipping boy for him. Three months ago, Trump’s reelection strategy was to run on a strong economy. With a ravaging recession underway, Trump can’t do that anymore. He has also earned poor marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He has little interest in the details of leading during a crisis, deferring to Vice President Mike Pence and various governors. As a politician, Trump is floundering, and his future in public life is looking short.

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So Trump needs villains, bogeymen and enemies to distract voters from the problems he can’t fix and make them think only he can protect them from imminent threats. He used the bogeyman strategy in 2016, when a central theme of his campaign was rolling back immigration. He’s demonizing China now as a way of deflecting blame for his dismissive response to the coronavirus, hoping American voters will blame foreign spreaders of the virus and forget about his notoriously slow response to the threat.

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