How Donald Trump Uses Twitter As a Weapon of Fear

HughPickens.com writes: Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman write in the NYT that with his enormous online platform of six million followers, Donald Trump has used Twitter to badger and humiliate those who have dared cross him during the presidential race, latching on to their vulnerabilities, mocking their physical characteristics, personality quirks and, sometimes, their professional setbacks. Trump has made statements that have later been exposed as false or deceptive — only after they have ricocheted across the Internet. For example, Cheri Jacobus, a Republican political strategist, did not think she had done anything out of the ordinary: On a cable television show, she criticized Donald J. Trump for skipping a debate in Iowa in late January and described him as a "bad debater." Trump took to Twitter, repeatedly branding Jacobus as a disappointed job seeker who had begged to work for his campaign and had been rejected. "We said no and she went hostile," Trump wrote. "A real dummy!" Trump's campaign manager told the same story on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." For days, Trump's followers replied to his posts with demeaning, often sexually charged insults aimed at Jacobus, including several with altered, vulgar photographs of her face. (continued) This week, Trump sent out a menacing message on Twitter about the Ricketts family, a wealthy clan of Republican political donors, after it was reported that Marlene Ricketts donated $3 million to a group opposed to Trump's candidacy. "They better be careful," Trump wrote of the family, "they have a lot to hide!" "It's a little surreal when Donald Trump threatens your mom," Marlene Ricketts's son, Tom, later told reporters.

It is not just that Trump has a skill for zeroing in on an individual's soft spot and hammering at it. It is that he sets a tone of aggression against the person, and his supporters echo and amplify it. Jacobus sent a cease-and-desist letter to Trump and his top aide, citing electronic messages that showed the Trump campaign had courted her and not the other way around. "I have been trashed and ruined on Twitter," Jacobus says adding that Trump's lawyers had responded to her letter, but that they had not yet reached a resolution. "At what point does it cross the line into something that's defamatory and might be actionable?" says Parry Aftab, a lawyer who leads the Internet safety group WiredSafety. "At what point does it cross the line into encouraging violence against groups and individuals?"

Comments

how to

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod articles as trolls?

Obvious troll is obvious

[mjm1231]

It's been my theory all along that Trump is trolling the Republican party. I am also not much surprised that this has been an effective method for gaining support from some of their followers.

Re:Obvious troll is obvious

[Moridineas]

Seems a reasonable observation.

My personal theory (take this with a big IMHO and cum grano salis) is that one big difference between Republicans and Democrats is that by and by, most Democrats tend to like their party. Most Republicans barely stomach their own party. Thus, it makes sense that if Trump is trolling the Republican party, that a lot of Republicans go right along trolling with him.

Re:Obvious troll is obvious

[gstoddart]

Of course, there's the very real possibility that Trump is sincere in his brand of crazy, and that this resonates with a lot of people.

You should be afraid of this possibility. Very very afraid.

Boo for article selection

[Moridineas]

I was hoping that this kind of article wouldn't be showing up any more on the "new" Slashdot. I'm digging the new DICE-less Slashdot (and I even downloaded something from SourceForge for the first time in years!), and while this is obviously not a democracy, MHO is that if I want to read superficial and partisan social networking commentaries, I would seek them out (or not!) somewhere else--not on slashdot.

Re:Bad Headline

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the Century of Fear. Everybody promotes fear. It's what they use to make us willingly offer up our dignity and our freedom.

What's being described here is use of media not as a "weapon of fear", but as an all-out weapon of attack.

Hey, Not EVERYONE. Some of us watch cat videos.

Trump is an interesting character

[IWantMoreSpamPlease]

A pathological narcissist, a skilled liar, and possibly a sociopath.

But an eloquent speaker who so far hasn't actually shown any concrete plans on how he plans to guide america.
But very good at spewing mindless rhetoric that people seem to eat up, or at least enjoy watching the clown-car circus that the debates have devolved into.
I fear a showdown between him and Clinton for the highest power in the land. Or in the words of Alien vs. Predator "No matter who wins, we lose"

So he using Twitter like SJWs use Twitter

[Anonymous Coward]

So what I'm getting is that Trump is using Twitter in the exact same way the SJWs use Twitter, but because it's Trump doing it, now it's bad.

Mm-kay.

The problem Twitter has is that it's become a platform for building outrage. People use retweets as a weapon to get their followers to harass people they disagree with. They'll post small, out of context quotes solely for the purpose of building rage. When it's SJWs or the likes of [only] Black Lives Matter doing it, that's fine, and Twitter is all about how cool activism is on their platform.

When Trump does it, now it's the end of the world and we've got to stop those evil people by blocking them.

Uh, no. Either ban both, or ban neither.

Re:what a laugh

[CaptainLard]

I'd argue the guy who called a former US governor a pussy on national TV in a victory speech during his campaign for President of the United States of America is the one who could use an attitude adjustment.

Re:what a laugh

[Ol Olsoc]

Of course we got control, I turned 20 in early 1984. Now Tump and the rest of us old coots (aka former angst-ridden teen sociopaths) are going to give you little kid shits a long overdue attitude adjustment.

and stay the fuck off my lawn

If you are serious - Trump is the epitome of the Brave coward, He's the guy who will light the world on fire and will force everyone to bend to his will.

And he cannot even stand up to little Megan Fox.

And that dear sir, tells you everything you need to know about the reality show host.

Re:what a laugh

[kheldan]

Friend, I am only a few years younger than you, and believe you me, I have a sense of humor (although it's sometimes rather sick and twisted), but please, reassure me you're kidding about this!

Donald Trump needs to go. He'll destroy this country and maybe start World War 3. Not qualified in any way shape or form to be POTUS. Not that any candidate from any party is either, but he's literally the worst of the worst.

Re:what a laugh

[Talderas]

The way unemployment data was collected and gathered differed during the Great Depression and current time. Concepts like U3 and U6 did not exist but it estimated that the U3 in the great depression peaked at 25.2% and the U6 peaked at 37.6%. The current U3 is 4.9% and the current U6 is 9.9%. The U3 rate only looks at employed individuals and those currently looking for work. The U6 rate includes those who are unemployed and willing to work but not looking for work and have looked for work in the past twelve months as well as those who are currently employed part-time due to part-time employment not always being able to provide enough income to support the household adequately.

I don't know if there's a figure that includes unemployed that haven't looked for a job in the past twelve months.

The general complaint regarding the U3 is that due to how easy it is for people to fall off from being on that figure while being unemployed. If you've not currently looking for work you're not counted. This can lead to a situation where it's hard to describe the economic burden faced by the workforce in having to support individuals who are not working.