President-elect Donald Trump, whose aides reportedly wrested control of his Twitter account days before the election, launched his first caustic tweet in weeks Thursday night, suggesting he’s back in charge.
Ten minutes after Trump’s account sent a tweet that called his White House visit with President Barack Obama a “good meeting” with “great chemistry,” he tweeted again, blasting protests that have flared up around the country in response to his presidential victory.
He blamed the media and “professional protesters” for the demonstrations, and seemed to criticize people for exercising their First Amendment rights. “Very unfair!”
Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016
Hours later, he reversed course, praising the protesters’ “passion” and throwing shade at the size of the groups.
Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016
Trump’s unscripted Twitter rants, whose targets have included media personalities, a beauty queen and the parents of a soldier killed in combat, reportedly prompted his campaign staff to gain control of the account in the closing days of the race, presumably to keep him on-message.
After that, Trump’s feed appeared more calm, sparse and scripted ― a marked change from his usual barrage of anger-fueled, late-night tirades. The calm continued even after Tuesday, when he was elected the 45th president of the United States.
President Barack Obama made fun of Trump days before the election for being banned from his own account, saying “if somebody can’t handle a Twitter account, they can’t handle the nuclear codes.”
Now, with Twitter back under Trump’s command, we’ll see whether victory has changed him.
Watched Saturday Night Live hit job on me.Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016
