President Trump has over thirty million followers on Twitter. However, he follows only 45 Twitter Accounts. Most of those he follows on Twitter are FOX News personalities, members of his family, characters connected to the Apprentice reality television show, and a few are Trump staffers. The Washington Post points out this limits Trump. Essentially Trump is Tweeting in an echo chamber.
This narrow influence is perilous since it means that the President of the United States receives a remarkably limited pool of ideas via Twitter. Considering Twitter, by his account, is his revolutionary Presidential tool. One that allows him to connect with the people he is charged with governing; the thoughts that contribute and often fuel his voracious Twitter habit are both monumentally narrow-minded and are focused on stroking Trump's fragile ego.
The American people may want to start asking who is influencing the President?
During his speech in Phoenix earlier this week, Trump said that he relies on Fox News (he follows several FOX News personalities).
Adding they are the ones who treat him fairly. He added that he credits his use of social media with his political success. Trump's statements implicate the sway the 45 accounts he follows on Twitter has on his mindset. They are advising, influencing, and winning over the views of the president of the United States.
For example, on August 24th, the President received a Tweet originating from a YouTube personality who has made questionable anti–Semitic statements in the past. How the Tweet made its way to Trump's feed is not exactly clear. What is clear is twofold. The Tweet caught Trump's attention, and the Tweet was Retweeted to the President by one of the 45 people he follows. A move that turned out to be reckless and have the opposite intended effect.
Again, Trump looks foolish to many Americans and the rest of the world. The reaction to Trump's Re-Tweet was swift. The Tweet is based on the recent solar eclipse, an eclipse that had television news sources warning the public to not look at the sun. Quickly after the eclipse ended pictures of President Trump surfaced showing him looking up into the eclipsing sun. For example, an online news source, The Independent UK, led with the headline, "Donald Trump stares into solar eclipse without safety glasses, while aides shout 'don't look!' Experts say that looking at a solar eclipse without special eyeglasses could cause severe eye damage". Considering Trump's history of rash reactions to comments he experiences as derogatory it is understandable that Trump would be quick to Retweet the Tweet that seemed to make Trump look good.
A Tweet that may have appeared to Trump to turn the tide, and thereby causing Trump to emerge superior.
Nonetheless, the Tweet does just the opposite. Trump in the Tweet is the moon, and Obama is the Sun. Accordingly, the Tweet gives Obama the strength and viability, not Trump. It is this type of Twitter response that has many wondering about Donald Trump's fitness to lead. Causing Republican Senator Bob Corker and James Robert Clapper, former director of national intelligence, to question Trump's capacity to understand the character of The United States. "The President needs to move way beyond himself and get to a place where he thinks about what is best for this nation," Clapper said in a CNN interview. So far, the President has not taken-in the advice. Instead, he appears to be influenced by a narrow, and dubious mixture of people who Tweet to the President what he wants to hear.