Trump flips out on Twitter, right after Twitter fact-checked him for the first time

boing
43

I’m not sure why folks are treating this like some sort of triumphal victory. Unless symbolism is what you are after, this is going to have absolutely no effect. If anything, it might even make it worse by confirming to his supporters that there really is a vast liberal media conspiracy against them. It isn’t like Twitter has more credibility than CNN, Washington Post, or New York Times, and those sources certainly are not having any effect on Trump’s audience.

I’m not against Twitter doing this, but I am shocked. Corporations generally try and avoid raising the ire of powerful politicians and a goodly chunk of the nation’s population. I just can’t see this ending well for Twitter. They are going to be hated by the left for every thing they don’t point out and for being a for profit corporation, and they are going to be hated by the right being “biased” and a part of the vast liberal conspiracy. I won’t hate Twitter for this, but holy shit will everyone else, left and right.

I can’t even begin to imagine how they came to this suicidal decision. Twitter’s best hope is that most people on Twitter don’t give a shit about politics and don’t care one way or another, because they are not going to be making any friends from either side among the people that do care about politics. I am morbidly fascinated to watch this play out. It’s like watching a little scrawny guy with a wiffle ball bat try and break up a fight between bikers and gangsters. Whoever wins, it isn’t going to be the scrawny guy trying to get the in the middle of it.

It’s very brave of Twitter. It also suicidally stupid; but it’s brave.

6 Likes
44

I feel sorry for the poor soul whose full time job will be to put a fact check flag on every one of trump’s posts.

4 Likes
45

I mean they’re fascists, so I doubt they mind the government coercing private business into doing whatever.

5 Likes
46

There is one thing, and one thing only, standing in the way of Twitter’s failure to enforce its terms of service against POSOTUS: Mr. Dorsey’s lack of testicles. Or perhaps Bill Murray said it best:

144

7 Likes
47

Now they’ve done it - he’s going to have the post office raise the price on their tweet delivery.

14 Likes
48

More imaginary powers. Can we add megalomaniac to his narcissist tag?

3 Likes
49

The election of the real estate swindler places the US on the list of developing nations.

3 Likes
50

I have two little girls, and the idea of having a weapon in the house used to horrify me.

But new times. I’m getting my LTC for the first time in my life. Haven’t had anything since a BB pea shooter as a kid, but there’s a practice range about a mile from my house which I’ve been looking into.

3 Likes
51

best part is I -did- stock up on popcorn months ago, so ready for this drama

only problem is that’s not a cozy fireplace to sit by and watch, that’s the country burning

seriously though, think about this, regardless if he wins or loses in november, think about what he can get away with the month after when congress goes home

really hope the last patriotic general out there hides the nuclear football from him, I’m not kidding, you -really- think he wouldn’t? after the past three years? why wouldn’t he, what’s the price?

1 Like
52

He’s throwing an authoritarian hissy fit about this

6 Likes
53
12 Likes
54

Right, just not rigged in any way that might have helped him, of course…

1 Like
55

Not long ago Trump stated that internet companies were owned by people who politically disagreed with him and this was illegal, and they’d be prosecuted.

Which was this argument? I googled around a bit, but couldn’t find a statement like this from him. If it exists, it would be helpful to know about.

1 Like
56

I wonder if Jack realizes that he is an “acting minister of propaganda” yet ?

2 Likes
57

That is eminently automatable. A robot can do it.

EDITED some time later to say if done sensibly it only ever needs doing once. Just make it a feature of his profile that all his tweets have that flag on them.

5 Likes
58

That would be punishing himself since his narcissism must be fed. He won’t do that. He will punish them any way he can instead.

Yep. All this is just groundwork for November.

If they don’t cheat hard enough and he loses, the election was rigged!

If they do cheat hard enough and he wins “again,” it will have been in spite of the fact that the election was rigged!

He’s not the cancer in the system, but he’s the leading symptom of the cancer in the system. Getting rid of him changes little. All the shit that put him in this position over us still remains and will be agitated when he’s gone, if he ever leaves.

When have they ever needed actual confirmation of anything before reacting?

If confirmation doesn’t exist, they make it up, first in their own minds and then by shouting.

There’s no way to use facts to win against that mentality. They don’t need them. They are post-fact.

Do nothing, they win. Do anything, they win. Their reality is detached and there’s no fixing it from this side of their skulls.

If only. I feel like this may have been worked out in one of their dinner meetings.

“At some point during the election year, you censor me – but not really – about something I say, I call you out on it, you ‘cave’ afterward, and then we both look good. I’m strong, and you tried.”

Only with more rambling and bloviating.

Twitter hasn’t committed suicide. They will be here for awhile yet. He needs Twitter.

Hold on to your pity. I don’t expect there to be another one. I may be wrong, but if so, I’ll be surprised.

Surely it was already there.

4 Likes
59

Not trivial to identify each lie in every unhinged tweet and provide the correct fact-check link for it. If this is easy then lets have a robo-account to do exactly that and give a fact-check response in the event Twitter does not continue to fact-check, as @Pensketch predicts.

60

He just did it again, but this is the sort of thing he tweeted previously:

2 Likes
61

That is right up there with “The sun will rise in the East” as far as sure bets. I so hate this timeline…

4 Likes
62

More to the point, many of the people with guns around the White House are highly trained and have been planning for some kind of armed attempt at insurrection there for about 100 years.

I imagine after a few MAGAs dropped to snipers the rest might lose interest in their macho cosplay fairly quickly.

1 Like