President Donald Trump’s tweets have become a part of American politics since he entered the presidential race two years ago. Now they are being recognized as an official part of the American system of government.
140
Twitter was invented to give people a quick and direct means of communicating. The limit of 140 characters allows its users to give quick shots, but it is not suitable for long, complicated issues.
In many ways the master of the tweet is #Donald Trump who has a flair for creating sayings that catch the attention of both his supporters and his opponents.
They played an important part of his campaign and he continues to do this in the Oval Office, but the results have not always been what he expected.
All hours
His habit of firing off quick series of tweets at all hours on issues that catch his attention has become a subject of interest in the newspapers, but now it has also become a subject for Congress. Now even his misspellings in tweets have created a source of official discord.
As reported in the Huffington Post, on Friday Republican Jason Chaffetz and Democrat Elijah Cummings of the House Oversight Committee wrote the White House expressing their concerns that the President was deleting tweets, even when this was done to correct misspelling.
Transparency
The issue is not as trivial as it may sound. Any Presidential communication is an official document and therefore subject to the regulations concerning government records. The matter is one of transparency in government behaviour rather than highlighting any possible grammatical errors by the occupant of the Oval Office.
In any case, the letter to the Oval Office should also make Donald Trump and his staff still even more aware of the fact that in themselves tweets are an inappropriate means of communications for the White House on sensitive issues.
Tweets do not allow explanations and are subject to misunderstandings or, worse still, create the opportunity for deliberate misrepresentation both by those who draft them as well as by those who read and share them.
Appropriate manner
Without doubt, as a form of communication between the Head of Government and the citizens tweets can be considered a part of Democracy, but it is one that should not be a channel for official communication.
The occupant of the White House, no matter who, is the official representative of the country for as long as he or she holds office. Democracy demands that its Leaders behave in a manner that is appropriate to the position and in the interest of its citizens.
While communicating with citizens may be the role as any politician, particularly with the one holding the highest position, this communication must be appropriate and complete.
Twitter is not complete and thus should not be used. Yes, it is Democratic, but it is certainly not Presidential.
