Leading up to Election Day, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump’s aides “wrested away the Twitter account that he used to colorfully — and often counterproductively — savage his rivals.” The Republican’s staffers were so concerned about his erratic and “self-destructive impulses,” they felt the need to silence him on social media before Trump could do further damage to his candidacy.As President Obama joked soon after, “If somebody can’t handle a Twitter account, they can’t handle the nuclear codes.”Americans, however, didn’t much care about Trump’s unhinged tendencies, and decided to make him the leader of the free world anyway. And so, the president-elect has now reclaimed his Twitter account.
President-elect Donald Trump tweeted his displeasure Thursday night at “unfair” protests against his election and accused activists of being paid agents egged on by the media, putting an end to a brief stretch of conciliatory behavior since Tuesday.
Yes, the president elect complained last night that “professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting” his election. This is, Trump insisted, “very unfair!”At face value, this may seem like lazy whining, and to a certain degree, it is. But it offers a peek into Trump’s unique perspective: when he sees thousands of Americans taking to the streets to protest his election, it doesn’t occur to him to reflect on deep national divisions or the damage his candidacy did to civil norms. Instead, Trump concocts yet another conspiracy: his critics must be “professional” protesters, because spontaneous outbursts of outrage from dissenting Americans are, in his mind, hard to even fathom.What’s more, the protesters must be “incited by the media” because news organizations, from Trump’s perspective, must be in on the conspiracy that only he can see.Remember, Trump said this less than 48 hours after becoming the president-elect — a time when the Republican should be taking steps to reassure the public and the world that he’s prepared to be a responsible leader.What’s more, when a candidate he didn’t like won an election, Trump had a very different perspective.
As early returns came on Election Night 2012, when he mistakenly believed that Republican Mitt Romney had lost the election while winning the popular vote, Trump tweeted: “We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty.”
Apparently, Trump’s perspective on post-election protests has evolved over four years.Postscript: And speaking of changing, earlier this morning, Trump also tweeted, “Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud!”So, last night, they were professional protesters who were part of a media conspiracy, and this morning they’re passionate Americans engaged in spirited self-expression?Dear Trump aides: it’s time to take away his phone again.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."