US President Donald Trump is the world’s most powerful Twitter user.
With a single tweet, he can dominate the news cycle, push stocks into a nosedive or send diplomats into a tailspin.
In just 140 characters, the president delegitimises political enemies, road-tests messaging, refocuses media coverage and stirs outrage from opponents – often all at the same time.
With angry outbursts and immediate responses to breaking news, Trump’s tweets are giving Americans unprecedented insight into what their president is thinking in real-time, with seemingly little filter.
Rather than tested, politically correct lines, Trump’s tweets are visceral, direct and personal.
That's partly why they have so much impact, according to UCLA political communication expert Georgia Kernell.
“His tweets are provocative – to understate it,” she said.
“Politicians in the past did not make polarising statements that often.”
Derided as undisciplined and immature by critics, Kernell argues his tweets are strategic.
While other leaders and candidates have used the platform to amplify their message, rarely have any of their tweets had the impact of Donald Trump’s account.
“He’s generated a whole new field of communications research,” Kernell said.
Why Trump’s tweets cut through
Since he announced he would run for the president in 2015, Mr Trump’s Twitter account has been integral to his breakthrough campaign.
"It gives me a big advantage over people," Trump said in a CNN town hall event last April.
The outsider candidate used Twitter to devastating effect in the Republican primary – inserting himself into the news with provocative tweets, ensuring he dominated a crowded field.
“In the end Trump’s a guy who will say things to spark a reaction, so he’s very deliberate about what he says and who he says it about,” said Matt Sherwood, head strategist at Perpetual Investments and one of the few to Trumps's November victory.
"It’s very deliberate, and he thinks very hard about the best marketing ploy," Sherwood said.
With simple, cutting insults, Trump was able to tar opponents with negatives – prying open their weaknesses.
Lyin’ Ted. Little Marco. Crooked Hillary – the monikers stuck.
Both on Twitter and in real life, Trump’s nicknames were not only repeated by political surrogates, but by everyday supporters as well.
“They became household names,” Kernell said.
Trump supporters lining up for his speeches during the campaign told me they couldn't wait to hear him say certain lines - as though his rallies were a compilation of greatest hits.
Many of his most memorable slogans appeared on Twitter long before they became imprinted in the public consciousness - and before Trump even announced his campaign.
Simplicity. Repetition. Impact.
But there’s even more at work in Trump's tweets, New York Times internet culture fellow Amanda Hess.
Putting Trump’s tweets in the rhetorical context of Aristotle and Cicero, Hess argues that Trump’s most powerful tweets employ a trifecta of logic, credibility and emotion – logos, ethos and pathos.
A basic statement grounds the tweet. Vivid imagery boosts emotional impact. Insults undercut the target's credibility.
“He doesn’t build up his rivals as aggressive or dangerous. He just feels sorry for them,” .
It’s a recognisable pattern in many of the president's tweets - such as a recent missive slamming a federal court's stay on the administration's , or his response to fellow billionaire Mark Cuban criticising him.
“The ban was lifted by a judge” – grounding statement.
“Many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country” – vivid emotional image.
“A terrible decision” – attack on credibility.
"I know Mark Cuban well" - grounding statement.
"He backed me big-time but I wasn't interested in taking all of his calls” – vivid emotional image.
"He's not smart enough to run for president!" – attack on credibility.
Fake news
But it’s not just judges and rivals that have been the target of Mr Trump’s attacks on credibility – the media has also been in the firing line.
The New York Times is ‘failing’; CNN was the ‘Clinton News Network’; and almost all mainstream outlets are part of the ‘dishonest media’.
Borrowing a term used to describe fabricated stories which surfaced during the 2016 campaign, unfavourable coverage is branded ‘FAKE NEWS’ in all-caps – whether the actual reporting holds up or not.
But Trump's offhanded tweeting also exposes his own influences.
Several tweets branded false or misleading by fact checkers appear to have originated from fringe conspiracy websites, such as and .
It often appears he's reacting to segments aired on Fox News.
Social media blackout of Clinton scandal #draintheswamp pic.twitter.com/3Bv2b6g85Q — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) October 30, 2016
As well as deriding news outlets, Trump also uses Twitter to distract and redirect the media’s attention, Georgia Kernell said.
Early in the campaign, Mr Trump described seeing his tweets appear as 'breaking' developments, instantly changing the course of a negative CNN story moments after he sent them.
"It was like, I'm sitting there, I just did this, and it totally solved the problem. I mean, it was good," Trump said.
Kernell said Trump's tweets are often an effective way of changing the narrative.
“It’s a strategic play that we haven’t really seen before," she said.
After reports surfaced that Judge Neil Gorsuch, the president's Supreme Court nominee, had described Trump's fierce criticism of the judiciary as “disheartening”, Trump responded on Twitter.
He attacked the Democratic Senator who revealed Judge Gorsuch's comments, and a CNN reporter who had interviewed him.
“Those are the facts,” CNN’s PR team tweeted in response to Trump.
Their rebuttal was retweeted 535 times, Trump's tweets were retweeted 35,000 times.
But the president's tweets still made headlines - tarring a political opponent and casting the credibility of the original story into question.
“News articles would have been different without that tweet,'" Kernell said.
“It’s really effective – it takes up some space in the news, it deflects the negative news, and it turns the issue back on [the critics]."
With a single tweet, Donald Trump can dominate the news-cycle. Source: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Tweeter in Chief
But while Trump's Twitter account has proven a powerful political platform for the Commander in Chief, it's causing headaches for government officials around the world.
Melbourne University American Politics lecturer George Rennie said Mr Trump's tweeting is a real challenge for diplomats.
“The reason why presidents normally rely on media teams to compose their tweets is because what they say is so important,” Rennie said.
“It’s almost official policy, that’s how it’s received."
A recent tweet about Australia’s refugee deal wreaked havoc with carefully formulated diplomatic messaging.
Just hours after the US Embassy in Canberra issued a statement supporting the Turnbull government by hosing down media speculation that the agreement may be in jeopardy, Donald Trump issued a tweet condemning the deal and casting renewed doubt over its future.
“It makes the job of the State Department that much harder,” Rennie said. “They are tearing their hair out about President Trump.”
“When even close allies don’t know what’s going on - and are feeling slighted - then that’s a big problem. Diplomats are finding that very, very difficult to deal with.”
Trump’s direct messaging is also off-putting for adversaries.
The that following mixed messages on the Iran nuclear deal, government officials in Tehran are treading with renewed caution.
While George Rennie said that Trump’s unpredictable tweeting is a danger in foreign policy, for the president himself it's a strategic asset.
During the campaign Trump said America had to be more unpredictable in its foreign policy.
"I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do in North Korea. And I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do with Iran," Trump told a reporter in a . "You know why? Because they shouldn't know."
It's not all negativity and uncertainty, however, Trump has also used Twitter to heap public praise on allies.
The President issued no fewer than four effusive tweets in a day spent with Japanese President Shinzo Abe.
President Trump even used Twitter in an apparent attempt to mend fences with Australia.
A businessman in the White House
During his campaign for the Presidency, Donald Trump made much of his business prowess, which he says he will use to renegotiate trade deals, cajole companies to invest in America and drive hard bargains in government contracts.
A proponent of "truthful hyperbole" in his book, 'The Art of The Deal', the president's forceful tweets against Toyota, Boeing and Lockheed-Martin all immediately dented their share prices.
But were these strategic plays to gain leverage over negotiating partners, or easy barbs aimed at portraying himself as a tough businessman to his supporters?
“I would say it’s probably the latter,” Sherwood from Perpetual said.
“It’s a way of Trump marketing to his constituents and the people that put him into that position that he is a man of action, and that US taxpayers are the ultimate beneficiaries of that approach.”
In reality, Sherwood said, negotiations would be handled by teams on both sides - not one on one - and if a dip in share prices was only temporary, business leaders wouldn't be losing too much sleep.
But Sherwood said Trump's tough-nosed approach wasn't entirely without merit.
“There’s certainly no doubt that the US Government – through the last 20 US administrations or so – did not have a perfect record in getting good outcomes for taxpayers, so Trump has a pretty low hurdle to beat” he said.
"There are numerous obvious examples in healthcare and defence where the government could negotiate better outcomes if they wanted to. Whether that’s the best place for Trump to spend his attention is another question.”
Trump made much of his shrewd-businessman image during the 2015/16 campaign. Source: DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/Getty Images
An unlikely master
Despite mastering the art of Twitter, Trump is by no means a digital native.
According to , the president rarely consumes news online, instead opting for newspapers and cable TV. It's unusual for him to send an email.
Before assuming the presidency, Trump dictated his tweets to staff during work hours, only tweeting directly in the evening.
During his campaign, it appeared Donald Trump's communications team was responsible for just under half of the tweets on his account.
that more sedate, campaign announcement tweets were coming from an iPhone, while Trump's characteristically bombastic tweets were sent from an Android.
Now that the president has taken office, the majority of tweets appear to come from Android - while links, images and videos are being posted by an iPhone.
Related Reading:
Translators are struggling to interpret Donald Trump
A direct line
When he was campaigning, Trump said he would tweet "very little" if elected.
But for a president who has cast himself as a man of the people, giving up such a direct communications tool always seemed unlikely.
“It’s free, it’s unfiltered – politicians have always loved to go above the heads of the media filter when possible," Kernell said.
Through his Twitter account, the president’s personal, immediate involvement in shaping the White House’s message is unprecedented.
“He’s the first president to use it in a way where he’s issuing policy positions first on Twitter, as opposed to rallying people behind what he’s already discussed,” Kernell said.
And his most loyal most loyal supporters love it.
Trump supporters see themselves as having a direct line to the president. Source: Olivier Douliery/Abaca
“I feel like my president is approachable and in tune with us,” said Stephanie Parsons, a Trump supporter from Alabama. “He is being open and transparent just like he promised.”
“He wants us to hear what he thinks straight from his own mouth, not twisted by fake media outlets.”
Beth Corkern from Louisiana agrees.
“I love that we can hear from our White House and president directly - without the spin of the media twisting the facts," Corkern said.
"Though I have to admit, I really wish he would stick to official business and stop blasting people.”
