Donald Trump rode a populist wave to the White House in part by his effective, outrageous, and manic use of Twitter. Trump's combative, stream of consciousness tweets garnered him millions of votes and the adulation of a like-minded segment of the American population. But it's time to kill his Twitter habit.

Too many pitfalls

Whether you are a Trump supporter or not, now that he is actually President, Trump's continued use of Twitter has too many potentially harmful consequences. Anyone who's ever used Twitter knows how easy it is to become outraged by some other tweet, some troll, or some bit of actual fake news.

Within seconds, you take the bait, not thinking, embarrassing yourself for all to see. Maybe it was a poorly chosen word or angry, biased sentiment, one that doesn't fully reflect who you are. You regret your words, but it's too late now. The tweet is there for the world to see, part of your permanent record.

For Trump, the temptation to respond, as President, poses enormous risks. What if he attacks a private company? Or promotes one? The president should not be inserting himself into specific business concerns or markets. What if, heaven forbid, Trump tweets something that contains classified information? Or, he tweets about a policy he is merely considering, but which is not yet fully formed?

The roll-out of his original "travel ban" was shot down in large part because it wasn't thoroughly vetted.

Congressional inquiry

But there may be an even greater need for Trump to kill his Twitter habit: national security. Several members of Congress have formally requested that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee look into Trump's use of an old, insecure Android Phone.

Apparently, our president is using a "insecure, consumer-grade" Android phone, rumored to be a Samsung Galaxy S3, to blast his tweets.

No matter your views of Trump or his policies, the congressional request clearly reveals the problem: "the use of an unsecured phone risks the President of the United States being monitored by foreign or domestic adversaries, many of whom would be happy to hijack the President's prized Twitter account causing disastrous consequences for global stability."

It gets worse.

If Trump's old Samsung phone were hacked, he might not know it, certainly not right away. What if a hacker sent him fake information -- pretending it was from the Vice President, or a homeland security official? As a journalist, I love to read each and every President Trump tweet. As a citizen, I appreciate the President communicating directly to the people, unfiltered via the media. But in this case, the consequences of harm are simply too great.