Trump's use of Twitter really is innovative.

[gulliver]

It may be the future for Presidents. Or should be. News conferences with spokespeople were fine before the Internet hit and disrupted journalism. That approach is obsolete at this point. At best it is a backup, an opportunity to provide details and add nuance and spin.

Trump is doing us a favor. He's breaking in Twitter as an approach to presidential communication. The instant responses create a true argument, one that happens in a short enough time that people can track the plays. People can see who won.

I'm not saying Twitter is the only way to do this, but it's pretty good. Imagine if Obama had used it against Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. We might have seen what we saw when Obama went to that Republican retreat just before ObamaCare passed: a rhetorical butt kicking by Obama of Republicans. Obama benefitted by being able to immediately communicate smack downs.

Twitter is good enough for presidential candidates, presidents, and ex-presidents. I'm hoping we see some Obama/Trump Twitter exchanges in the near future. Should be funny.

[brush]

1. Novel idea. Let's see if it catches on.

[gulliver]

3. Good one.

(See?)

[kacekwl]

19. More like the GREAT AND ALL POWERFUL

Oz.

[rgbecker]

4. Twitter works great for the middle school jokesters who can put down people

with a few well placed words. There is no nuance on Tweeter and complicated issues like healthcare insurance coverage is never going to get a fair hearing.

Great for name calling, cursing and getting a response from people with short attention spans.

That said, Trump is eating up the media who hang on every word and no one, including me, can believe what's coming to America on Jan 20th. Is it a death star or a shorted out R2-D2?

[gulliver]

5. It's good for that too.

It's good for anything that needs fast interplay. Don't let the fact that it can be used in a juvenile way hide the fact that it can be used well.

[RKP5637]

9. Twitter, at his level of power, can also be a one way street of communication with in essence

no interactive dialogue 'in one setting' with push back. No facial expressions, no visible emotional content. There is nothing like a harsh hard-nosed investigative press conference to get information out, but most reporters today no longer know how to do that. Hence, Twitter becomes an effective tool in the hands of a dictator. I think that is what we are seeing, not some clever use of Twitter by Trump than an authoritarian tool.

[gulliver]

14. I never said Trump was clever, by the way.

Just innovative. What he is doing works. I don't care if he got to it by being basically a bullying child. It works.

[RKP5637]

16. Yep, agree!!! n/t

[global1]

6. Right - Nuclear Winter In 140 Characters....nt

[gulliver]

8. Only a no-class numbskull like Trump...

...could make a change this big to presidential communication.

[spanone]

7. one-sided conversation. no pesky media. no body language.

no thanks.

[RKP5637]

11. Exactly, see #9. n/t

[spanone]

12. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. You're kidding, right?

[gulliver]

13. Nope.

I'm not saying Trump's some kind of genius by the way. He's like a child. He doesn't see why he shouldn't use Twitter all the time to knock heads together. Imagine how good that power would be in the hands of a non-idiot.

Trump? Yeah, he makes an ass of himself and may quickly come to be universally laughed at. But someone like Obama using the same communication channel (the name "Twitter" makes it seem stupid and juvenile) would do well.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Twitter is stupid even when used by people who aren't.

Nuance is a good idea in politics and governance.

[gulliver]

17. Nuance is great. Debate is often better.

You can get a lot of nuance in a Twitter debate over the course of several tweets.

What's the other way to fight with communication that we can use that isn't stupid? Op-eds? Books? Yeah, as reference material. As background. But a live debate happens fast. That's just the way people experience debate. Twitter is a way to facilitate it.

[brush]

21. Come on! You're talking "1984" and Newspeak, but with trump and Twitter it's dumbed-down speak

What's next, telescreens everywhere with trump's face issuing dictates via Twitter?

The screens of course will also function as security cameras to catch any dissident activity, which would include, of course, negative response tweets.

One-way communication from the "leader", IMO, is a slippery slope to dictatorship.

trump is not brilliant but has instinctually hit upon a dangerous and powerful way to install neo-fascist goverance through 140 character edits that just happen to fit his limited vocabulary and will help him avoid having his limitations being exposed in the glare and scrutiny of regular press conferences.

That is if the press does its duty by holding the president accountable as he faces the nation instead of just lobbing softball questions designed to insure their continued access.

[gulliver]

24. "if the press does its duty"

And you're telling me, "Come on!"

Trump's Tweets are oxygen to the press. They'll argue with him some, they'll just retweet or rebroadcast some.

They'll try to ask him tough questions, but it won't matter. The next tweet storm will erase the memory of the last news flare-up every time.

The only way to beat Trump is to have qualified people like Obama or Clinton (with standing) just take him on in the Twitter arena. He won't go there if he keeps getting beaten up there.

[brush]

25. Maybe, but I don't think Twitter will become the dominant means of government communication ...

anytime soon.

China just said they won't be recognizing it.

[ecstatic]

18. If President Obama started "clapping back" regularly, it would be epic

and the media would eat it up.

That being said, the media always misses the point and Obama's message could easily get lost in their bullshit false equivalencies. They'd accuse him of getting in the gutter with Trump, yada yada...

[Are_grits_groceries]

20. No it's not. It's a continuation of his mind and his campaign.

He puts complex ideas into "soundbites" that have zero nuance or substance.
He can remain obtuse while doing things like roiling the markets when he talks about companies he lies or doesn't like.
Trump can piss off other world leaders by making statements that lack any explanations.

It's innovative in that it is getting people to look at bright lights on one side when something may be going on elsewhere. It plays right into his hands.

This is NOT the way to conduct business if you want people to understand anything. It is the way if you can only hold 140 character thoughts in your head.

[bdamomma]

22. China will not respond to

or acknowledge tRumps tweets. They know he's not experienced and has no knowledge.

[gulliver]

23. They'll pretty much have to.

Sure, they might try to ignore his tweets. But those tweets will be going to billions of people, either directly through Twitter or through every single news-starved news medium that rebroadcasts it. If the Chinese (or anyone) don't respond, billions of people will think Trump got the last word, however stupid it might be.

There is a small chance that people will just start to ignore him and assume he's just an idiot. A very small chance in my opinion. We live in a world populated by people.

[bettyellen]

27. Nope, he'll start claiming he was hacked again when he fucks up- we need to see him speak and

Answer questions. Anything else is just propaganda and unreliable at that.

[Worktodo]

26. Not innovative in a good way

Trump's phone hacked via twitter! I told him computers are bad. Didn't listen!