It wasn't long after Donald Trump announced his campaign for president that he used social media as his number means of communication. As part of his ongoing feud with the mainstream media, Trump took to Twitter to continue to vent his frustration on Monday night.
Trump on Twitter
One reason that Donald Trump was able to get so many Americans to rally by his side was his harsh words about the news media.
On the political right, bashing news outlets and the media has become part of the usual talking points, as distrust for reporters and journalists have only increased in recent years. Since Election Day, Trump has only increased his war of words with the news, especially after CNN broke an exclusive story last week that claimed Russia had planned to blackmail the billionaire real estate mogul. When Buzzfeed piled on the CNN report with unverified allegations of the now in famous "gold shower" sex tape, Trump hit back at the report as "fake news." As seen on his Twitter account on January 16, Trump is not finished with his attack on CNN and the media.
On Monday night, Donald Trump retweeted a comment from Twitter user @leviseveholt that said, '@realDonaldTrump I appreciate your use of Twitter to keep us informed and maintain transparency.'" Adding to the comment, Trump noted, "Very dishonest media!"
In a follow-up message on Twitter, Donald Trump took a cheap shot at CNN for running a network special on his daughter Ivanka Trump. "At 9:00 P.M. @CNN, of all places, is doing a Special Report on my daughter, Ivanka," the president-elect tweeted, before adding, "Considering it is CNN, can't imagine it will be great!"
Moving forward
Days after Donald Trump won the election, he told CBS' "60 Minutes" that he would become "very restrained" in his use of social media.
Despite his vow, the former host of "The Apprentice" has only increased his presence on Twitter, picking fights with political opponents, celebrities, news outlets, and entire foreign countries. While there has been major backlash over his behavior, it was announced over the weekend that Trump would continue tweeting once he gets into office, and that he would use his current account, and not switch to the POTUS handle.