Trump blocks reporter on Twitter
Daniel Dale, the Star’s Washington correspondent, has been blocked on Twitter by Donald Trump.
He joins a list of Twitter users blocked by the U.S. president that includes author Stephen King, actress Rosie O’Donnell and Jimmy Kimmel Live! writer Bess Kalb.
Dale routinely fact-checks claims made by the president on social media, and his latest correction may have been the tipping point.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted: “Being nice to Rocket Man” — Trump’s nickname for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — “hasn’t worked in 25 years, why would it work now? Clinton failed, Bush failed, and Obama failed. I won’t fail.”
Dale retweeted Trump, commenting, “25 years ago, Kim Jong Un was eight,” in a post that was shared almost 80,000 times.
“I have been fact-checking every word of his for his entire presidency,” Dale said. “Weekly, I’ll call him out on a number of false claims, but I don’t know if he ever saw any of those.”
Dale said he saw the message Tuesday morning that he had been blocked by the president.
“I stared at it and just shook my head,” he said. “It was just strange and hilarious.”
“Daniel’s always been a crusader for the truth,” Star editor Michael Cooke said. “Some politicians just can’t stand that.”
Being blocked on Twitter means that Dale can’t follow Trump’s tweets directly. Dale said he will have to use multiple browsers, create another account on his phone and follow Twitter accounts that repeat what Trump tweets.
“It feels silly, but I have to,” he said. “His tweets are essential. The White House itself has acknowledged that they are policy statements, they are the most accurate reflection of his true thoughts and emotions. So you can’t cover the Trump’s presidency without seeing his tweets.”
King was blocked by the president in June after a series of tweets criticizing Trump’s government and his daughter, Ivanka. The author responded by tweeting a ban on Trump seeing the hit film based on King’s novel It. “No clowns for you, Donald,” King wrote. A long-running feud between Trump and O’Donnell resulted in the president blocking her in July. The comedian continues to tweet at the president. Seven blocked Twitter users launched a lawsuit in July, claiming that Trump is violating their First Amendment rights by excluding them from a public forum.
Last week, Forbes reported the White House has acknowledged that Trump blocks Twitter users who criticize him and his administration.