TRUMP’S YEAR IN TWEETS
UNITED States President Donald Trump used Twitter more than ever in 2017 to not only directly communicate with his followers, but to send out mighty big whacks to everyone from Kim Jong-un, the NFL, Barack Obama and the media.
When a rogue Twitter employee deactivated Mr Trump’s account for a blissful 11 minutes in November, many breathed a sigh of relief – depending on your position – but the social media silence didn’t last long. Here are some of Mr Trump’s 2017 Twitter highlights, for good and bad.
‘ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE’
In February, Mr Trump took his dislike of the media to a whole new stratosphere by labelling prominent US news organisations the “enemy of the American people”.
“The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @ABC, @NBCNews, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
Mr Trump’s animosity towards the media came days after the firing of his adviser, Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
TRUMP BLAMES OBAMA FOR WIRE-TAPPING
In March, Mr Trump fired off early-morning tweets, blaming former president Barack Obama for allegedly wiretapping him during the 2016 election.
“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” he wrote.
“How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/ Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”
On March 20, then-FBI Director James Comey testified before the House Intelligence Committee: “I have no information that supports those tweets. And we have looked carefully inside the FBI.”
THE COVFEFE DEBACLE
Perhaps Mr Trump’s best tweet of the year concerned a word none of us had ever heard before, but which is now part of the vernacular — covfefe.
“Despite the constant negative press covfefe,” Mr Trump tweeted, prompting social media to ponder whether he had actually fallen asleep.
Ex-White House press secretary Sean Spicer didn’t provide much clarity either. “The President and a small group of people know exactly what he meant,” he said.
SAN JUAN MAYOR
After San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz criticised the Trump administration’s Hurricane Maria relief efforts, Mr Trump attacked her and Puerto Rican officials for “poor leadership”.
“The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump,” he tweeted.
Ms Cruz had a crack back: “The goal is one: saving lives. This is the time to show our “true colours.” We cannot be distracted by anything else.”