One of the hot stories of the month is the purchase of Twitter by mega-millionaire Elon Musk. Suddenly, it seems as if the sky is falling and the Twitterverse has gone into full panic mode.
What’s interesting about the panic is that it does not really seem to be about Musk himself, but more about what his free speech policy means. Everyone seems to think that free speech is a good thing, but what has caused the pandemonium and even a new government department for disinformation is that free speech really means Donald Trump is back.
Yes, that’s right, ladies and gentlemen. Love him or hate him, it’s the return of the Donald.
Normally, an ex-president out of office for two years would not be front page news, yet the argument over Trump’s tweets is still ongoing. Lately, I have seen several social media posts that go something like this: “Under President Biden’s presidency our borders have been overrun, gas is at an all-time high, inflation is rampant and there is a real possibility of WW III, but on the bright side Biden has not posted any nasty tweets.”
I also remember hearing from many of my conservative students during Trump’s presidency the sentiment that they really liked what he was doing as president but just wished that someone would take away his phone. It seems possible that Trump’s greatest legacy might be his social media use, for good or bad.
Some have felt his Twitter use is undignified for someone in his office. Others had issues with what he was saying, especially when he made personal attacks. Some even worried that his unfiltered comments might put the U.S. in real danger, like when he got into a Twitter feud with the president of North Korea. At the time, there were comments about how no president had ever acted so brazen towards other nations.
While the unfiltered aspect is certainly true, historically speaking, Trump has not said or done anything different from past presidents. They just did not have a platform like Twitter. Can you imagine if they did?
There are two big questions here. First, is the use of Twitter dignified for the office of the president? Second, was Trump’s use of Twitter harmful for the nation?
As always with my articles, I am not going to try to answer these. Each must do that for themselves, but I do want to give some historical background to help clarify things.
Trump is not the first president to use new technology, but Twitter, more than TV or radio, allows the president direct and instant access to the public. Past presidents had time to consider their responses, have their aides look over what they may say in a press conference, and most importantly have time to possibly cool off. However, with Twitter and no filter, the president can fire off any statement at any time.
Trump was not even the first to use Twitter, just like Franklin Roosevelt was not the first to use the radio. However, FDR was the first to use it effectively.
Herbert Hoover almost gave as many radio addresses as his successor. The difference was Hoover did not understand the power of the radio. He believed it could only be used for generalities.
FDR, on the other hand, was a master of utilizing the new technology. What became known as fireside chats were a way for Roosevelt to reach out to Americans during the difficult time of the Great Depression and give them some comfort. He talked as if he were in their living rooms talking directly to them. He made Americans feel as if he knew their pains. He could take a difficult subject like the economy and put it in a way that ordinary people could understand, then not only understand, but trust him to fix it.
Another president who excelled at the use of new technology was Kennedy. In November of 1959, Kennedy, a year before he won his race for the White House, wrote an article for TV Guide in which he praised the new medium of television for politicians. He argued that TV could help create an image for the candidate.
“Some intellectuals and politicians may scoff,” he said, but he argued TV could give an accurate impression.
“A new breed of candidates has sprung up,” he claimed, giving TV credit for recent wins of some Republicans.
Kennedy walked the walk when it came to using the new technology. He used it like modern politicians. He even appeared on a late-night talk show and won over the audience.
He used it to address the issue of his religion. The nation had concerns over a Catholic president, so he gave a speech to Protestant leaders and the entire speech was broadcast on TV.
Once in office, one of the first things he did was call for a press conference to address the media. Probably his brightest moment came during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when he addressed the nation through TV. He not only helped rebuild his reputation from the Bay of Pigs disaster but was able to calm the American public and show he had command of the situation.
It was Kennedy’s good looks, charisma and use of TV that turned his administration into Camelot.
There were some detractors who felt, like with Trump and Twitter, that TV was turning politics into a circus. They feared Madison Avenue ad agencies would control politics. They also feared, like the founding fathers, that TV would birth a demagogue who could rally the people to his side.
Kennedy responded with: “This is not the place to discuss alternative remedies. But the basic point is this: Whether TV improves or worsens our political system, whether it serves the purpose of political education or deception, whether it gives us better or poorer candidates, more intelligent or more prejudiced campaigns, the answers to all this are up to you, the viewing public. It is in your power to perceive deception, to shut off gimmickry, to reward honesty, to demand legislation where needed. Without your approval, no TV show is worthwhile, and no politician can exist.”
Perhaps Kennedy would say the same thing about Twitter.
Tweeting, of course, is different. Roosevelt and Kennedy had time to write and edit what they would say. It is also hard to express concern and explain complex information in only 280 characters.
Then there is the fact that Americans are different today.
They do not have the attention span they had in the 1930s or 1960s. If Trump gave his own fireside chats, how many would listen?
For FDR, the nation gathered around their radio to listen to every word. How many Americans listened to the last State of the Union? Trump’s largest State of the Union drew about 47 million people, but he has almost 80 million Twitter followers.
As for the second issue, is it that Trump did not sound presidential, or that everyone saw it because it was on Twitter? Presidents in the past had plenty of controversial statements, but they were not instantaneous. There were plenty of gaffes, irreverent, insensitive and brinkmanship statements from past presidents.
An interesting thought experiment is to imagine what other presidents would say if they had the ability to send 280-character tweets. It is scary to imagine the possible inappropriate Tweets that Lyndon Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt or Andrew Jackson could have fired off.
Instead of just thinking about it, let us look at some actual quotes from past presidents and put them alongside Trump’s tweets.
It is true that President Trump liked to troll the internet, and he did make incredibly rude statements. I, for one, would have liked to see more maturity from a president, but he was not the first.
Andrew Jackson’s response to the question if he had regrets was a doozy: @oldhickery “I didn’t shoot Henry Clay, and I didn’t hang John C. Calhoun.”
How about Teddy Roosevelt when asked about the current president? @roughrider “McKinley had no more backbone than a chocolate éclair,” and they were in the same party.
What about Truman on the man who would replace him? @buckstopshere, “The general doesn’t know any more about politics than a pig knows about Sunday.”
There is no more famous line that originated from Trump than “fake news.” During his four years in office, he waged a constant war against the media, yet Trump was not the first.
Imagine some tweets from past presidents taken from actual quotes. Thomas Jefferson had a love-hate relationship with the press and might have tweeted @sageofMonticello, “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.”
Then there was Woodrow Wilson, who passed a sedition law, who might have tweeted @theprofessor, “Authority to exercise censorship over the press to the extent that that censorship is embodied in the recent action of the House of Representatives is absolutely necessary to the public safety.”
What about sensitivity or empathy, a place where a president must shine? Here are tweets from two of the three presidents that I think most closely remind me of Trump. Again from T.R. @roughrider, “Criminals should be sterilized, and feeble-minded persons forbidden to leave offspring behind them.” And then one from Hoover during the height of the Great Depression, @geoman: “Nobody is actually starving. The hoboes, for example, are better fed than they’ve ever been. One hobo in New York got 10 meals in one day.”
Trump also took a lot of criticism from his brinkmanship. This was especially true when Trump called Kim Jong-un “Rocketman” on Twitter and said his nuclear button was bigger than his.
As childish as this was, he was not the first to be aggressive. Imagine James K. Polk’s Twitter feed having something like @littlehickory, “54-40 or fight,” when referring the border between the U.S. and England in the northwest.
Once again there is @roughrider, “Speak softly but carry a big stick.”
Finally, there was the one man who actually did use nuclear weapons. He might have tweeted when talking to the Japanese, @buckstopshere, “Expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.”
Finally, and never to be forgotten, there was “covfefe.” For weeks, the greatest political mystery was what did Trump mean by that nonsensical word. Yet, as you can imagine, Trump was not the first president to trip over words, just the first on Twitter.
Here are a few possible tweets just from recent presidents. Trust me, this list could go on for pages.
From President Obama, @Barry: “I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go,” or from President Bush, @W: “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
I must think Clinton’s biggest mistake may have been @Bubba, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” or George H.W. Bush, who said, @papabush, "For seven and a half years I've worked alongside President Reagan. We've had triumphs. Made some mistakes. We've had some sex...uh...setbacks.”
We can’t forget that before “covfefe,” there was Vice President Dan Quayle, whose greatest tweet may have been @potatoe, “Add one little bit on the end,” when trying to correct a student’s spelling.
Please do not misunderstand the point to this article. I am in no way defending President Trump’s actions. There is no place in the world today for a president to make demeaning comments or bully others. I think we should hold our presidents to a high standard, and that goes for all of them, not just Trump.
I loved that whenever President Eisenhower was asked about anyone, friend or foe, he would answer with, “I don’t deal with personalities.” He always chose the high road.
My point here is to show that Trump was not alone in the way he acted. The difference between him and other presidents was the way he did it.
Without Twitter, many of his statements may have been tempered either by time or by aides, but either way Trump and Twitter will always be connected. It may be his greatest legacy.
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Dr. James W. Finck has been a history professor at The University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma since 2011. Dr. Finck teaches all time periods of American history, but specializes in the Civil War and political history.