Our president’s affinity for Twitter is alarming, and we should all be worried. The frequent inaccuracies in his tweets is unbecoming of the office of President and harmful to our democracy.
Twitter is meant to be a news and social networking service for the public to use openly and freely. There are thousands of accounts that push “fake news” every day. Unfortunately, this “fake news” is now coming from someone who we wouldn’t normally expect: the President of the United States.”
Now, by no means am I advocating we censor our politicians. They have a right to free speech, just like every other citizen. However, when that speech is constantly and unequivocally false, at some point, we have to question that politician’s ability to produce factual information.
The commonness of falsehoods is so egregious that many news sites, such as the LA Times and Politifact are keeping a running tally of what Trump tweets and how it compares with the truth, which is unprecedented and incredibly disheartening.
It isn’t hyperbolic to say that Trump’s actions are a threat to our democracy. And if you think otherwise, I implore you to take a closer look. The president has about a combined 43 million followers of his personal and government Twitter accounts. That is about 43 million people he has the power to influence and persuade.
Trump has truly weaponized Twitter. Yes, he carelessly lies, but he also demeans and demoralizes massive swaths of people. The American people deserve a president who will uplift and champion for them. The Trump administration has proved time and time again that it is unable to be that uplifting champion. You’ve heard it numerous times before, but Trump’s conduct is unprofessional and unpresidential.
Sure, Trump was an unconventional candidate, and he ran an unconventional campaign. Millions of people liked his tone and brash conduct as a candidate, and they didn’t mind him bringing that to the White House . They want him to “shake up” Washington and “drain the swamp.”
But nowhere did I hear from any of his supporters that they wanted him to lie more times than they change their pants. They expected more from the candidate, who was so crude and blasé with the facts, when he became president.
I would wager that they’ve been let down significantly.
Trump should try his best to tell the truth more for his own good. His self-destructive behavior has already contributed to the downfall of his first major policy proposals — the immigration ban and the Obamacare repeal and replace.
We all should demand more from our president and what he tweets. This is a major test of our democracy, and we can not fail now.
Frederick Bell is a 19-year-old mass communication freshman from Greensburg, Louisiana.