Social Media Case

One thing is for sure: the way President Donald Trump uses social media will go down in history. In general, the likeness of Trump’s tweets is that of a young adult. Informal, unapologetic, and seemingly uneducated. Narrowing the view to two Twitter posts, both regarding kneeling during the National Anthem at a sports event, the evidence is quite clear.

In Trump’s tweet on 23 Sep 2017, he wrote, “Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!” You get the sense that Trump is enjoying teasing and flaunting his position as President. Not to mention the lack of correct punctuation, which would be fine if it wasn’t coming from the President of the United States of America. This only adds to the opinion that Trump should not be POTUS.

While this first tweet was brash enough, his later posts are far more controversial. Not three hours after that first tweet, Trump decided to reinstate his position on the issue of kneeling between two tweets:

“If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect....” and “...our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do!”

Again with the improper punctuation. What really bothered me here was the use of his old phrase, “You’re fired!” Evidently Trump hasn’t left behind his life as a television star. The comments on this post were quite interesting to read. The top comment provided federal law stating “Per 18 US Code Section 227, it is ILLEGAL for the President of the USA to urge companies to fire private citizens”. The follow-up to this comment provided the penalties that may be imposed. And yet, even though the POTUS is breaking a law regarding freedom of speech, he remains free to continue his character.

            According to a post from The Guardian, Trump held a speech and publicly said “…Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/sep/22/donald-trump-nfl-national-anthem-protests

Oh dear, here we are again with the reluctance to drop his character as a television star. He really loves hearing those words.

            I understand the point he is trying to make, that people in a position of celebrity and athleticism should be knowledgeable of how their actions speak to the public and reflect on the nation. I do not, however, accept Trump’s refusal to see his own hypocritical stance on the issue. It seems he is blatantly ignorant of how his tweets and actions are in a similar light of unprofessionalism.

            Fast forward to current day, a year after the previous tweets, and the nation has yet to make any headway on the issue. A number of NFL players tweeted the reasoning behind kneeling, and how it has nothing to do with going against the anthem or the military. Rather, it is a move to raise awareness to black oppression in America.

https://www.newsweek.com/nfl-players-know-why-theyre-kneeling-despite-trump-tweets-1068104

This is quite reasonable, and the goal behind the protest is important. But the POTUS remains to put on the blinders and continue spouting out his uneducated opinions.

In terms of professional and technical communication, President Trump has a long way to go. Many professional social media accounts are either run by small team or have some sort of editorial process. It seems quite evident that Trump does not have any such method to regulate his social media presence. Take a look at Elon Musk and his tweets. While Musk approaches social media in a similar informal manner, he still manages to remain professional (until more recently regarding the $420 issue). Here we have a case of a person at a critical seat of power of a company, Tesla Motors, who sent out a tweet joking about his company going private. If this was Trump’s tweet, no one would bat an eye.

            And this is where it gets confusing. Why is the President not held to the same standards? The POTUS has been observed slinging verbal abuse, sexist comments (even before and during the race for presidency), mocking a mentally challenged reporter, among many other cases. But still, with his pervasive unprofessional behavior in communication, there have only been murmurs of impeachment. As far as the public can see, there have yet to be any ramifications to the behavior of the POTUS. But if Musk sends a joke tweet, he is slammed with a court case in less than a week.