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10 tweets,
3 min read
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1. A tweet storm: I have a column coming from the @nytopinion soon about Facebook’s Supreme Court of Content, but related is this utterly Twitter rule-violating tweet from Trump hiding behind a quote from a truly appalling pastor about a possible Civil War if he were impeached.
2. Here it is, yet another egregious example of the kind of behavior that he is allowed on the platform that no one else is. Twitter has deemed Trump “newsworthy” and therefore not subject to its usual rules of posting that get others tossed off stat:
3. Thus, the sitting president of the United States of America is allowed to suggest what would be a violent internal war that could result in deaths if he were subject to rules and laws that have long been in place — such as the whistleblower statutes — and are fair and just.
4. Setting aside the fact that this country did survive the Civil War and major political upheavals like the resignation of President Nixon, it’s yet another violation of Twitter’s rules and points out how utterly inadequate the company is to deal with these thorny moments.
5. I recently have been trying out this very scenario on many people about what Twitter management should do if Trump lost the election and tweeted inaccurately that there was widespread fraud and that people would and should rise up in insurrection. This was a hypothetical.
6. Now it’s a reality that Trump is trying out in Baby Huey steps (using a quote to hide behind what he is actually trying to say) this tactic that is enormously dangerous and no different that various groups across the world misusing the platforms for malevolent intent.
7. Make no mistake, this is just someone claiming First Amendment right to speak is meant to harm and designed to spread a falsehood widely. A medium designed to promote global discussions has now been fully hijacked by those who slip through its porous and sloppy rules.
8. To be fair, no one would have imagined that someone in power could be so shameless and willing to cause harm in order to hold onto power and use these digital tools like this. The platforms need to figure out a way fast to stop themselves from ever more dangerous weaponization
9. If not, after we all survive this and the fever breaks, when the history is eventually written they will be judged by the future as completely failing in their duties and as citizens of this country.
10. Let me end with the words of Abraham Lincoln, who knew a thing or two about what these civil wars really mean: “Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”
