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The Public Is Growing Tired of Trump's Tweets, Says Voter Survey (arstechnica.com)

President Donald Trump is the tweeting president. His @realDonaldTrump handle has 31.8 million followers and "35K" tweets. While the president claims to use Twitter to "get the honest and unfiltered message out," many Americans aren't so fond of his favored form of communication. According to a new voter poll (PDF), the public is growing tired of Trump's tweets. Ars Technica reports: A Morning Consult, Politico survey published Wednesday found that 69 percent of voters who took the online survey said they thought Trump tweets too much. That's up from 56 percent from December, months before Trump took office. The survey said that 82 percent of Democrats polled thought Trump tweets too much, up from 75 percent in December. Republicans came in at 53 percent saying the president used Twitter too often, an 11-percent increase from December. Overall, 57 percent of voters who took the survey said Trump's tweets are hurting his presidency. Another 53 percent said his Twitter use undermines U.S. standing in the world. The poll found that 51 percent of all voters said Trump's tweets imperiled national security. What do you think of Trump's tweets? Do you think they are getting old, or do you find them particularly useful?

26 of 489 comments (clear)

  1. Maybe but... by burtosis · · Score: 5, Funny

    100% of late night comedians think he tweets just the right amount or not enough.

    1. Re:Maybe but... by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Funny

      Actually, they're mostly pissed off, because no matter how outrageous a scenario they dream up, Trump keeps topping them.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:Maybe but... by msauve · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not that he tweets too much, it's what he tweets. Twitter could be the modern fireside chat, except Trump has no sense of history, no communications skills, and no philosophical foundation for his political beliefs. He's more likely to have read John le Carre than John Locke.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    3. Re: Maybe but... by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The media has always been interested in whatever the current sitting president has to say. Even the most boring president ever becomes a news story just by saying something in public. So of course, if you have a twitterphiliac in office the press is going to be looking at them all.

      Now, someone in the white house administration says she doesn't want the media to obsess over the tweets. Trump on the other hand does indeed want the press and the public to to read every single tweet, it's the reason he tweets. He's not tweeting something private like "Honey, I'll be home late tonight", he's tweeting stuff he wants you to see.

      "Mom! It's private! Don't look at my twitter account!"

    4. Re:Maybe but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      > no communications skills

      The dude literally bullshitted his way to the presidency. He might not have a real foundation for his believes, but his communication and persuasion skills are top notch.

    5. Re: Maybe but... by lgw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The news media has been interested in every president, but it hasn't been this obsessed with a president since JFK, and perhaps not ever. CNN and MSNBC are, from what I can tell, 24/7 Trump coverage for the past 6 months. It's bizarre.

      Trumps tweets are equally bizarre in that they're honest, as far as I can tell. Honest in a "yes, honey, that dress does make you look fat because you're fat" kind of way (socially dysfunctional, but honest). An honest politician is so outside my experience that it's almost hallucinatory.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    6. Re: Maybe but... by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, they're also obsessing as Trump is the most bizarre president too. He coul be more honest with himself, in the sense that he needs to realize that he's not the super genius that he thinks he is and that it's not always a good idea to say out loud whatever random thought crossed his mind at the moment.

      Or as the saying goes, better to be quiet and let people think you're a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

    7. Re: Maybe but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      While Trump dumb tweets like a maniac, the rest of the republicans sell parts of your country to the highest bidder and destroy the last shred of a social security system. And when you impeach Trump, you get Pence. The US is really fucked. Sorry.

    8. Re:Maybe but... by Xest · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yep, engaging in an online flame war with the Mayor of London for trying to reassure Londoners right after a terrorist attack really won us Brits over too, top notch communicator you have there. When we'd heard about how 48 people had been butchered, 8 of which were killed the first thing we thought was "You know what? It'd be great to hear Donald Trump's view on this, especially if he blames the Mayor of London and start slagging him off", so we're glad that he focus on a multi-day flame war, rather than just shut the fuck up or offer something nice, but obviously his mother failed as a parent and never taught him the adage that if you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything at all.

      I'm engaging in British sarcasm here if you didn't get that. He's probably the worst communicator of any world leader I've ever seen because his comments are ill thought through, often barely literate, and usually just objectively wrong. He's basically on par with the rhetoric filled drivel that spills out of fat Kim's mouth over in North Korea.

      All hail King Covfefe, king of the uncommunicators.

    9. Re:Maybe but... by gtall · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Worse than either of them would be Pence. Pence could rally the Republicans in Congress to do serious damage whereas el Presidente Tweetie is too busy inhaling nitrous oxide in the hopes of inflating his ego just a bit more. And the end of a Pence presidency, he'd lead a Republican congress in prayer sessions to take away the last shred of freedom in the U.S.

    10. Re: Maybe but... by gtall · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Trump honest with himself? Do you realize how odd that sounds? He's shown he's incapable of distinguishing what he wants to believe from what is true. The concept of being honest with himself simply doesn't apply for people like him.

    11. Re:Maybe but... by Maritz · · Score: 5, Funny

      Say all you want about Trump, but one thing is for certain, he doesn't shy away from who he really is.

      Trump has no fucking clue who he really is. All he knows is that he's the fucking greatest.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    12. Re:Maybe but... by Flea+of+Pain · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "The President of the Universe holds no real power. His sole purpose is to take attention away from where the power truly exists."

      I used to agree, then I saw how many people he screwed with his 'Muslim ban', the industries he has thrown for a loop with his tweets, the pulling out of climate accords basically unilaterally, and I'm now amazed at how much power you put in the hands of one man.

      --
      Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
  2. They're very useful by vadim_t · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He does great at sabotaging his own schemes. It's really great that he lacks a filter.

    I would love to be a fly on the wall on his lawyers' office. It's got to have a thick covering of hair of all over the floor.

    1. Re:They're very useful by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Which of his own schemes has he sabotaged?

      A few examples:

      1. Trump fired the FBI director for reasons that appeared to be tantamount to obstruction of justice. His staff defended his actions, and said the reasons for Comey's firing had nothing to do with the Russia probe. Then Trump tweeted that he did indeed fire Comey for the exact reasons that his staff had denied.

      2. Trump outed an Israeli intelligence asset in Assad's inner circle by blabbing to the Russians about it. Several of his staff said they were in the meeting at the time, and no such information had been discussed. Trump then cut them off at the knees by saying that he did indeed blab to the Russians during the meeting, and that he had a right to do so (and legally, the president probably does have the right to betray an ally).

      In these tweets he admitted to actions that were at the least stupid, and possibly criminal, but were also incredibly disloyal to subordinates that went out on a limb to lie to the American people in an attempt to defend him.

    2. Re:They're very useful by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

      Trump did the morally right thing to do, and for that I respect him as a leader even more.

      The morally right thing to do would have been to fire the liars. Trump didn't do that. He fired Comey ... for refusing to lie.

  3. Just proves democrats aren't that smart by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Trump keeps making a fool of himself. Why would anyone opposed to his agenda want to muzzle him? Even with both feet in his mouth, he keeps proving that his mental faculties are questionable, that he doesn't understand how the real world works. and that Republicans nominated and elected the worst-qualified president in history.

    The Saudis are now laughing at how easily he was manipulated.

    Even William Henry Harrison, the 9th president, had a better first 100 days in office, and he died after one month.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  4. I think they are great! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They have been particularly good at exposing how petty, dimwitted, bigoted and foolish he is, not just as a president but as a person. I think it's important for people to understand just kind of a person they vote for, even if it's after the fact.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  5. Could not care less by willoughby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    However, I am fed up with the foaming-at-the-mouth, frantic, OMG! reaction of the US news media to every tweet. Let President Trump Tweet away and shut down the news coverage of every tweet & I'd be happy.

  6. They're very useful - agreed. by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He does great at sabotaging his own schemes. It's really great that he lacks a filter.

    I would love to be a fly on the wall on his lawyers' office. It's got to have a thick covering of hair of all over the floor.

    And while everyone is running around with their hair on fire over "covfefe" and his other tweets, he's been quietly getting his agenda done.

    For an example, Jeff Sessions rolled back the Obama-era drug sentencing guidelines, resulting in the harshest possible sentences for drug offenders... which went almost unnoticed by the MSM.

    Trump withdrew from the Paris accord, and Covfefe was the more searched term than Paris Climate Agreement.

    Your side thinks he sabotages his schemes by these tweets.

    The rest of us know (and Trump himself knows) that the tweets are meaningless and valueless in and of themselves, but they distract the MSM from what is really going on, and in a way that makes the left look like gibbering imbeciles.

    He's been doing this since about *a year* prior to the election, and your side hasn't caught on even yet!

    1. Re:They're very useful - agreed. by quantaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The rest of us know (and Trump himself knows) that the tweets are meaningless and valueless in and of themselves, but they distract the MSM from what is really going on, and in a way that makes the left look like gibbering imbeciles.

      He's been doing this since about *a year* prior to the election, and your side hasn't caught on even yet!

      Has Trump tweeted as a distraction? Definitely, there's some evidence that he was deliberately doing outrageous things to grab media attention during the primary.

      But for the most part Trump is usually Tweeting nonsense and usually involved in policy actions that are really bad news, that the two often coincide isn't by design, it's just math.

      But this image of Trump as some brilliant schemer who plays the fool is nonsense.

      There's a model of Trump that does a really good job of explaining pretty much everything he's done.

      1) He's a pure bullshitter, you talk to him and he'll tell you everything you want to hear, regardless of its connection to reality.

      2) He has an extremely short attention span. He doesn't know the first thing about major policy issues because he can't dedicate sufficient attention to understand them. This also makes him impulsive because he can't resist the instant gratification of saying (or tweeting) something stupid. (This may not apply to real estate or certain aspects of business that do genuinely interest him, but I don't have sufficient information for that.)

      3) He has no ideals. His only reason for running for President was to do well in the primary (and then the general election). He probably doesn't have a single policy he wouldn't flip if you surrounded him with the right set of advisors. And because he doesn't have ideals he evaluates people through extremely shortsighted personal measures, like choosing personal loyalty over competence and adherence to duty.

      4) He is at least partially aware of 1-3, and he's extremely insecure about it.

      That really is about all there is to Trump and it was pretty obvious from the start.

      The relevance of the Tweets is they show his current train of thought, and because of his impulsiveness that train of though can turn into policy.

      --
      I stole this Sig
  7. Re:Questionable by RyoShin · · Score: 5, Informative

    Okie dokie, here ya go. Table POL17 starting page 164, I included select "conservative" breakdowns to give a better idea of potential bias.
    Do you think President Donald Trump uses Twitter
    Demographic | Too much | Not enough | About the right amount | Don’t Know / No Opinion | Total N
    Registered Voters | 69%(1372) | 4%(79) | 15%(308) | 12%(241) |1999
    PID: Rep (no lean) | 53%(361) | 6%(38) | 30%(205) | 11%(77) | 681
    Ideo: Conservative (5-7) | 57%(394) | 4%(25) | 28%(194) | 11%(75) | 689
    2016 Vote: Republican Donald Trump | 51%(400) | 6%(50) | 30%(240) | 13%(101) | 791
    Strongly Approve | 39%(161) | 8%(35) | 42%(176) | 10%(43) | 415
    Somewhat Approve | 58%(267) | 4%(18) | 20%(94) | 18%(84) | 462

    BONUS! Table POL18, starting page 167.
    And, do you think President Donald Trump’s use of Twitter is (POL18)
    Demographic | A good thing | A bad thing | Don’t Know / No Opinion | Total N
    Registered Voters | 23%(456) | 59%(1172) | 19%(372) | 1999

    I leave the breakdowns as an exercise for the reader. (This formatting brought to you by the characters /.)

  8. They're awful by mr100percent · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Trump's tweets are awful, they embarrass America, they embarrass himself, they are tremendously unprofessional and demean the office he occupies. Republicans used to fume that Obama "demeaned" the office by not wearing an acceptable suit in the White House, yet let this guy act like a buffoon and with awful language? Please.

    As much I love watching Trump self-destruct his own administration's policies with his tweets and his big mouth, demolish his own court cases because he can't help blurting things out on Twitter, and watching Sean Spicer and his staff try to twist themselves into logical knots trying to explain that Trump never makes mistakes or that those typos were just new words he invented intentionally, it's exhausting and at some point we have to stop him before he wrecks the office of president for good.

  9. Re:A valid comparison by rahvin112 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Imagine if we had this kind of wall-to-wall negative coverage of Obama

    I have no problem imagining it, I witnessed it. According to Fox News and every conservative media outlet he was the worst president in history and every single thing he did was the worst and most awful thing ever including things like trying to improve nutrition in schools.

    That alone make the entire rest of your comment not even worth reading.Obama was treated worse than an president in history by the press, did you see him complaining as vociferously and stupidly as Trump does? You didn't because he's a fucking adult, not a man baby.

  10. Trump covfefe investigation expanded to new AF by WaffleMonster · · Score: 4, Funny

    [waffle@krusteaz ~]$ ping6 www.whitehouse.gov
    PING www.whitehouse.gov(2600:1406:13:28a::c0:fefe) 56 data bytes
    64 bytes from 2600:1406:13:28a::c0:fefe: icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=13.9 ms
    64 bytes from 2600:1406:13:28a::c0:fefe: icmp_seq=2 ttl=56 time=12.8 ms
    64 bytes from 2600:1406:13:28a::c0:fefe: icmp_seq=3 ttl=56 time=18.4 ms
    64 bytes from 2600:1406:13:28a::c0:fefe: icmp_seq=4 ttl=56 time=12.3 ms
    64 bytes from 2600:1406:13:28a::c0:fefe: icmp_seq=5 ttl=56 time=19.5 ms
    64 bytes from 2600:1406:13:28a::c0:fefe: icmp_seq=6 ttl=56 time=13.7 ms
    64 bytes from 2600:1406:13:28a::c0:fefe: icmp_seq=7 ttl=56 time=12.9 ms
    ^C
    --- www.whitehouse.gov ping statistics ---
    7 packets transmitted, 7 received, 0% packet loss, time 6007ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 12.398/13.618/19.594/2.710 ms

  11. Re:Strategy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can't believe people actually attribute strategy to this guy.

    You mean despite winning the election, being a multi-billionaire, being a successful TV star, having a gorgeous wife who's also smart, raising well-mannered kids, and having a cohesive, loving family?

    He got all of that without having any strategy - is that what you're saying?

    Yes. He managed to get richer from his initial silver spoon in a rising NY real estate market that lifted all boats. (The Economist showed that he did much worse than average in that market, however.) Outside of that, his record is very spotty with three bankruptcies carefully isolated from his personal wealth. As to his "cohesive, loving family" I take it you are picturing the image of his third wife and writing off the others? Do you really think she has any interest beyond his money? She isn't even living with him any more...