WASHINGTON (AP) – Former President Donald Trump is insisting he enjoys his life on Twitter. The press statements that he is firing his helpers on an increasingly regular basis are more ‘elegant’, he says. In addition, there is no risk of setbacks if our unpleasant accounts are tweeted again.
As Trump was banned from major social media channels after he helped incite the deadly uprising on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol, his power to shape the national conversation is being tested.
Trump has transformed from a reality television star to a politician and president by bending the instruments of communication and the media to his will. He continues to liaise with his supporters through his releases and appearances on Fox News and other conservative stores, where he repeats misinformation about the 2020 election. And he remains a powerful force in the Republican Party, starring Saturday during a Republican National Committee meeting held at his Mar-a-Lago club.
Yet the swing over American life he once enjoyed seems, at least for now.
“It will never be the same for Trump unless he is a candidate again,” said Harold Holzer, a historian, director of Hunter College’s Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, and wrote a book on presidents and the press. “I do not think it is unnatural for coverage to decrease. I’m sure it’s hard for his ego, given how much oxygen he sucks and how much ink he’s generating, but it’s not unnatural for a former president to get less attention. ‘
It was a dramatic adjustment nonetheless. According to Trump’s tweets, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News regularly spend dozens of hours a week showing its missions, according to a GDELT analysis of television news archives. As he has been banned from Twitter and other platforms, Trump can no longer speak directly to large sections of his audience and now has to rely on his supporters and conservative and mainstream media to reinforce his messages.
To compensate for the ongoing eclipse, Trump assistants pumped out statements and endorsements that often sound like the tweets he prescribed. “Merry Easter to EVERYONE, including the Radical Left CRAZY who have crushed our presidential election, and want to destroy our country!” read one sent from his political action committee. (“Happy Easter!” Was the more muted version his official government office offered.)
At the same time, Trump has increased his appearance in conservative media – even sitting down with his daughter-in-law for her online program. But few of these remarks resonated because mainstream outlets, long criticized for being able to dictate Trump coverage, have become increasingly cautious about repeating its falsehoods, especially in the run-up to the 2020 election.
While Trump is still getting coverage, Google’s search results for his name are at their lowest point since 2015, as noted by The Washington Post this week. And on TV late at night, some tried to wipe him out completely, with Stephen Colbert, ‘Late Show’ presenter, refusing to name his name.
After five years of wall-to-wall Trump, the contrast is shocking.
“He was not like any previous president in the amount of oxygen he absorbed. But he increasingly looks like a very former president in the amount of oxygen he gets now, “said Ari Fleischer, who served as George W. Bush’s press secretary. While this is the reality for any former president, Fleischer argued that Trump continues to “grow up” in the party and can return to the spotlight if he chooses to run again.
And although his dominance of cable news has declined sharply from its peak in the fall of 2016, when he was mentioned tens of thousands of times a month via GDELT data, he still remains a presence on cable news channels.
“Two months out of office, he was still around in March last year when the pandemic largely displaced him,” said Kalev Leetaru, the creator of the project. “It shows that he is still big even outside the office for two months.”
While most of Trump’s statements provide relatively little coverage, some, such as one who slammed Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell as a ‘cunning, filthy and shameless political heel’, dominated news coverage, with CNN in particular providing more. as 44 minutes.
“President Trump is the greatest news generator in American history,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said, insisting, “There has never been this kind of media interest in the post-presidential careers of Clinton, Bush or Obama.”
Others see it differently.
‘I think he lost all momentum when he was pulled off the platforms. “Politics is about momentum and he has no more,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.
While Trump has tried to inject himself into news coverage, Brinkley said his comments are largely seen as additions to coverage focused on other issues. “Where he used to shoot tweets like Zeus, it was like a thunderstorm from high up, and now it’s a little peep from Mar-a-Lago’s mouse,” he said.
Yet Trump remains an important figure for the Republican Party. His endorsement is highly sought after after the Republican primary in 2022. And he continues to flank publicly again as a candidate in 2024.
And Holzer believes Trump could return if he is allowed to rejoin Twitter or approve the plan to launch his own social media, as their assistants said he is still considering.
GOP strategist Alex Conant has argued that Trump’s power ‘decreases with the day’ as other Republicans plan to get started in 2024, saying Trump can take a more strategic approach if he wants to remain part of the daily conversation.
‘If you’re the President of the United States, it’s very easy to get involved in every news cycle. But once you leave office, it has to be more strategic, ‘Conant said, arguing that Trump could announce a book, interview for the first time, or deliver a series of big speeches on the party’s future. liver.
Fleischer also argued that Trump could have greater influence by following in the footsteps of Presidents Bush and Obama, whose statements attract attention because they are rare.
‘The risk for a former president is that you see the chance to see as former senators or former congressmen or contributors who are regularly on TV. “A former president should be on an elevated stance,” he said. “But Donald Trump has always done things differently with some success.”