To tweet or not to tweet

By Howard J. Warner

The press is aghast with fury concerning Donald Trump's tweets. They point out the great number of tweets unrelated to policy and containing personal counterattacks. They claim he is unpresidential and undignified. This, they argue, shows mental instability – some 20 Democrats want to impeach him for mental illness. The press claims he is drumming up violence against reporters. The media even find some "so-called" Republicans to denounce him. His CNN wrestling would be comical if the media were not such haters.

His allies argue that he is a street fighter and a counterpuncher. They counter that the press is preoccupied with his tweets to the exclusion of his policy initiatives. Yet the media do not report tweets related to policy:

Donald J. Trump‏ Verified account @realDonaldTrump 11m11 minutes ago

Really great numbers on jobs & the economy! Things are starting to kick in now, and we have just begun! Don't like steel & aluminum dumping!

Donald Trump may be a unique genius. He is a successful businessman beyond anything most could accomplish. Furthermore, he defeated seasoned political forces against all odds with a small staff and one tenth the expenditure of his opponent. He accomplished this despite the opposition or frosty support of many within his own party. His political instincts are excellent, and he perceives the annoyances of the overlooked population.

Since the media do not intend to give his administration fair treatment and instead plan on making him a one-term president, Trump has decided to keep them occupied. Early on, he hoped for some fairness in reporting. It is clear that the mainstream media had no intention of providing any evenhanded coverage in their eagerness to take him down. The press he receives is worse than that of George W. Bush.

Therefore, it is now apparent that he is playing three-card Monte. Donald Trump, in my view, has decided to let the media spend their time discussing Twitter fodder while he goes about his business repairing the damage to our national institutions, which have been declining for decades.

While Republican supporters wonder about the distraction the tweets engender, Trump allows the liberals and Democrats to waste time on trivial pursuits. Quietly and with little fanfare, he makes changes that get little scrutiny and, therefore, little blowback or resistance. After all, as Mike Huckabee noted, when the press saw an actor killed while playing Trump (in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar"), there was no concern, but reporters are all upset watching a humorous video of Trump body slamming a CNN character. I think they protest too much!