US President Donald Trump has weaponised Twitter in a way none of his rival political leaders have been able to. Trump’s Twitter handle, which has 48.2 million followers, has been known to trigger boomerang effects.
On any given day, it’s difficult to know what to expect from the president on the micro-blogging platform. Trump’s impromptu social media activities have even kept Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations, on her toes, reported Chicago Sun Times.
Speaking to David Axelrod at University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics on 23 February, Haley said:
This clearly is a president who likes social media, and so for everybody that doesn’t like his tweets, it’s not going to stop. It’s who he is, it’s what he does.
During the hour long discussion, the ambassador threw light on several international issues, including peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine that are being helmed by president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, added the report.
Trump’s unpredictable tweets, have caught the former South Carolina governor off guard plenty of times, the report states, adding that once, the president even gave Haley a foreshadowing of “one of his signature Twitter monikers”.
Haley recounted a conversation with Trump, right before the latter went on to address the UN General Assembly, last September. According to the report, the president asked Haley, “What do you think about me saying ‘Little Rocket Man’ in the speech?”, while referring to the leader of North Korea Kim Jong Un.
Haley, a member of the president’s Cabinet who also serves on the National Security Council reportedly answered:
I said, ‘Mr. President, you need to understand this is a serious crowd. They’re not going to rally, they’re not going to cheer. That’s just not who these people are, so don’t take it the wrong way. Just think of it as a church.
On being asked whether the constant rush of Trump’s social media activities makes her job arduous, Haley remarked that it makes her work “all the more interesting,” the report added.
I think it’s interesting that in that when I wake up, I don’t know what he’s going to tweet about, so you know you’re alway kind of moving through life with his tweets in mind.Nikki Haley to David Axelrod at University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics
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