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Washington, United States | AFP |
Donald Trump during the presidential campaign tweeted with fierce abandon and at all hours. Would he feel restrained by last week’s presidential election victory to give his thumbs a rest?
It seems not.
The newly minted Republican president-elect let loose his latest Twitter barrage Sunday on a range of topics, from nuclear proliferation to his upcoming primetime interview, to his disdain for a longtime media nemesis.
“Wow, the @nytimes is losing thousands of subscribers because of their very poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the ‘Trump phenomena’,” the real estate mogul wrote in one tweet early Sunday, taking aim at election coverage by The New York Times, a favorite target.
“The @nytimes sent a letter to their subscribers apologizing for their BAD coverage of me. I wonder if it will change – doubt it?” he wrote in a separate tweet to his nearly 15 million Twitter followers.
In another he noted that he had received congratulatory calls from former presidents George W. Bush and his father, as well as Jeb Bush, who he defeated in the primaries.
Wow, the @nytimes is losing thousands of subscribers because of their very poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the “Trump phenomena”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2016
The @nytimes sent a letter to their subscribers apologizing for their BAD coverage of me. I wonder if it will change – doubt it?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2016
“Jeb Bush, George W and George H.W. all called to express their best wishes on the win. Very nice!”
He went on to reminisce on Twitter about the presidential debates, “especially the second and third, plus speeches and intensity of the large rallies, plus OUR GREAT SUPPORTERS, gave us the win!” he wrote.”
Lest anyone fear that Trump would find his impending ascension to the most powerful office in the world a too-dignified perch from which to freely use social media, the bombastic businessman disabused them of the notion.
Trump, who has credited the role of social media in his shock victory, had indicated he would scale back on his Twitter use as president.
“I’m going to do very restrained, if I use it at all,” Trump said of the social media platform in his first sit-down interview since the election which will air in full on CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday night.
But even as he vowed to exercise restraint, he trumpeted the virtues of a tool that allowed him to bypass the mainstream media in getting his insurgent message to voters.
“I think that social media has more power than the money they spent,” the billionaire told CBS. “I think to a certain extent I proved that.”
Among his jumble of tweets, Trump also wrote a series of posts thanking Republican lawmakers — most of whom had criticized his candidacy during the election — for calling to congratulate him.
Trump has taken flak for brazen tweets in the past — most spectacularly when he went on a late-night Twitter tirade against former Miss Universe Alicia Machado during his run against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
He also retweeted an unflattering photo of his primary opponent Ted Cruz’s wife earlier this year to which Cruz responded “Donald, real men don’t attack women.”
Trump surrogate Newt Gingrich said that in future he would advise Trump to “always have an editor” when he expresses himself on Twitter.
“It’s a technique for reaching 13 or 14 million people at no cost and gets him around the New York Times,” Gingrich said.
Past Trump tweets have labelled The New York Times “really disgusting,” “no longer a credible source,” “very dishonest,” “unfair and biased,” and “false, malicious & libelous.”
