Trump's Twitter account played an integral role in his rise to power. He used the platform to bypass the mainstream media,communicate directly with his followers and control the daily news cycle.
It was predominantly through Twitter that he spread the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was born outside America,and therefore ineligible to be president – a false claim that made him a folk hero among conservatives.
As president,he has used Twitter at all hours of the day to vent against his enemies,fire cabinet members and announce major policy decisions. When Trump had something to tell the world – like the fact he had contracted the coronavirus – he did it via Twitter.
In recent months,he has pumped out hundreds of tweets falsely claiming he was the victim of election fraud. It was through Twitter that Trump urged his followers to travel to Washington for the rally that turned into a violent assault on the US Capitol.
Even when Twitter started to apply warning labels to his most egregious tweets,Trump continued to tweet – so addicted was he to the platform and so reliant on it to spread his message. When Twitter suspended his account for 12 hours after the Capitol riots,he came running back as soon as he could.