Twitter dumps Trump A eulogy for @ realDonaldTrump,
Twitter lays to rest @ realDonaldTrump
The Twitter account of outgoing president Donald Trump, @ realDonaldTrump, famous for groundbreaking stream- ofconsciousness literary style and its society- breaking post- truth rants, as well as an onslaught of neologisms wacky enough to send even the most steadfast lexicographer out for a covfefe break, died Friday. It was 11.
The account was many things to many people, but few can deny its surprising perseverance in the face of charges of hate- speech and incitements to violence. While truth and justice celebrate its passing, Donald Trump’s Twitter account will still be missed by die- hards and detractors alike, by Proud Boys and doomscrollers, revolutionaries and late- night comedy hosts. ( Mitt Romney will dance on its digital grave.)
@ realDonaldTrump was a surprisingly taciturn baby, by turns petulant and self- aggrandizing, demanding and gloating, but in its earliest years there were few clues of the damage it would eventually do. Early tweets asserted its owner’s greatness and expertise in all things, that his book was the best book of all time ( and he would know, he’d read them all). These were the entertainingly delusional ramblings of a boastful businessman. In those days, each @ realDonaldTrump tweet penned by the man himself included the signoff “from Donald Trump”: Kid twitter accounts say the darndest things.
By 2011, @ realDonaldTrump, now in its adolescence, showed the first signs of the malignancy that would mark its middle age and twilight years, promoting the racist and patently false “birther” conspiracy theory about Barack Obama’s birthplace. The account would continue to disseminate lies and exaggerations, accusing dissenters of spewing fake news in remarkable feats of meta- fake news. @ realDonaldTrump truly contained multitudes; by 2015, it would birth a new birther conspiracy: that it was @ hillaryclinton that had begun the birther movement.
Over the next few years, the account matured, becoming both more voluminous and more politically charged. It had grown out of petty feuds with Rosie O’Donnell and Alec Baldwin, and into petty feuds with John McCain and Nancy Pelosi. And despite the buffoonish character of these bizarre agro poems, @ realDonaldTrump seemed to have a genuine skill for self- marketing, propelling it and its owner to heights few observers expected.
Then, in 2017 the account became certifiable — certifiably presidential, that is — expelling misspellings and attracting new followers at an extraordinary rate. What once had been the mere microravings of a megalomaniac were suddenly foreign policy. What once had been the puckish hijinks of a master marketer were suddenly official declarations of the occupant of the highest office in the most powerful democracy on earth.
While @ realDonaldTrump often seemed comedic, in its final years, it was deadly serious.
Again and again, it undermined civility and truth, sowed hate and division, fomented unrest and undermined democracy. As it took on North Korea’s dictator in a schoolyard- style burn battle, it even seemed to bring the world to the brink of nuclear war — and not in a funny way.
Yet only after it incited the storming of the Capitol this week — an actual insurrection — were the pleas for silence from so many in America and around the world finally heeded. Today, Twitter killed @ realDonaldTrump, showing mercy, if not to the account, then at least to its readers. SAD!