The Early Years
Donald Trump joined Twitter in May 2009 and began his infamous social media account by promoting his appearance on the Tonight Show with David Letterman. A fairly mundane entrance to what would soon become the subject of international attention.
For the first several years, Trump’s accounts would generally remain tame and corporate, promoting public appearances, cameos, and commercials. In 2011 however, things would take a turn, as Trump decided to rekindle his eternal feud with Rosie O’Donnell by expressing his pity for her partner.
From then on, Trump’s Twitter would get increasingly personal and would become a staple of his public persona. Posts ranged from bragging about his IQ…
… to “Birther” conspiracy theories about Obama…
… to obscure reflections.
2016 Election Campaign
But the status of Trump’s social media would only really take off following his announcement that he would be running in the 2016 election. During his Election Campaign, Trump would denounce his opponent Hillary Clinton, nicknaming her “Crooked Hillary”, and would repeatedly deride her.
He would also make use of his favorite topics, including allegations of “Fake News”, Hillary’s leaked 33,000 emails, and of course, promises to
The day of his election victory in 2016, Trump would take to Twitter to celebrate his win, promising to unite the country.
2017 – 2021: The Presidency Years
During his tenure as President of the United States, Trump would continue to relentlessly post on his Twitter, spawning countless news stories, controversies, and inevitably, memes. He declared war on the Media as the “Enemy of the People”.
He posted gifs of him taking down CNN, WWE style
There was, of course, the mystery as to the true meaning of covfefe.
There was his tenuous relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom Trump dubbed the “little rocket man” in reference to Kim’s nuclear threats to the USA.
Once more bringing up his intelligence, Trump would refer to himself as a “very stable genius”, with a very, very large… brain.
And Trump would take to Twitter to announce that he and his wife Melania had Covid-19 and were self-isolating.
Alas, Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 Election would set off the first domino towards the end of Trump’s tenure on Twitter, sparking claims of voting fraud and a rigged election amongst Republicans.
The End of an Era
After the January 6th Riots at the US Capitol in 2021, Trump’s account would be suspended from Twitter to prevent any “further incitements of violence”. In response, Trump would launch his own social media app a year later, Truth Social, which promised to allow “open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating on the basis of political ideology”.
But on the 20th of November 2022, following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, Trump’s account was reinstated to the platform. Although Trump has yet to return to Twitter since his ban was uplifted, many have speculated he will come back to the site in the run-up to the 2024 election to promote his campaign. Regardless of one’s political beliefs, Trump’s Twitter account, for all its memes, insults, and controversies, has stood testament to the fact that any publicity is good publicity. Trump employed his social media account to gain the attention of both the public and the media, pushing himself to the forefront of the political stage, to startling effect.
