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Column: Trump’s backhanded tweets

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Nothing quite screams “fit for the presidency” like a president-elect who uses Twitter as a weapon in dueling out his feuds.

President-elect Donald Trump’s use of Twitter gives Americas insight into how our newly elected leader handles his disagreements: Not unlike a petty teenager.

Besides the fact that our president-elect has feuded with several groups over Twitter, it’s a cause for concern that our new president may be choking the reigns on the First Amendment.

While it’s true his ultimate goal is to “Make America great again,” a slogan that’s vague at best, one of the first steps to making our country great is to listen to the concerns of people around the nation.

Trump is notorious for using his Twitter account to jab and feud with people who don’t take his side. During his campaign, Trump was no stranger to Twitter, tweeting off promises for his presidency and jabs at his opponents.

Now that he’s been elected, he continues to use Twitter as a platform to duel his opponents.

His latest feud? The Broadway cast of Hamilton.

After Vice President-elect Mike Pence visited the show, he received mixed receptions from the audience. Following the performance, the cast gave a speech asking Pence to take into account how diverse America is when making decisions for our country.

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Over Twitter, Trump responded by tweeting, “The Theater must always be a safe and special place. The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!”

Trump wrote several tweets about the incident he was not present for, only to later delete them.

His actions nearly mock those of petty teenagers on the internet, subtweeting people and quickly deleting before anyone reads too deeply into them.

Unfortunately, this type of response isn’t an isolated incident. Trump has not taken kindly to criticism following his election, even before taking the oath of office.

Multiple times over, Saturday Night Live has parodied Trump, during the primaries, the general election and now following his election. Several times after Trump has been parodied on the show he has taken to Twitter to express how he doesn’t think it was funny and that the show is stale and should be cancelled.

Twitter’s popularity rose during President Obama’s term in office as a unique way for our nation’s leaders to communicate with the public. Theoretically, if a citizen wanted to, he or she could tweet directly at the president and get a response back.

Trump’s use of Twitter is concerning to Americans because it doesn’t appear that he can take criticism lightly. As Americans, we have the right to free speech, as protected by our constitution.

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It should concern the public that our president-elect seems to want to squash out the voices of people, groups and communities that don’t agree with him.

He seems to be set off by small things, calling for the cast of a Broadway show to apologize for sending a message of concern to Pence and calling for the cancellation of a long-running sketch comedy show because he doesn’t think it’s funny.

Part of taking the oath of office is knowing not every American is going to agree with his administration. However, it involves keeping the public’s interest at heart and making decisions in the best interest of as many Americans as possible.

Trump will find it’s more of an uphill climb than he might have expected, as he’s coming into office with many Americans voicing their distrust in him.

Trump’s Twitter usage is no clear indication of how he will run our country. But it’s something to keep a watchful eye on. A man who uses Twitter as a platform for unfiltered responses and backlashes raises questions as to how he will respond to diplomatic situations.

The man who said whatever he wanted during his campaign continues to do so via Twitter.

If our president-elect gets his feelings hurt by communicating with people who think differently, he’s in for a shock when he reaches the White House.


Follow Leah Gilchrist on Twitter.


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