Trump violated my rights by blocking me on Twitter
The president of the United States, the leader of the free world, has blocked me and others who are critical of him on Twitter.
Did I make death threats against him? Did I use foul language or threaten his family? No, of course not.
I told him that the pope looked at him funny.
Ever since the election, when Trump tweeted, I would get a notification on my phone. If his tweet was particularly inane, I would reply with my own equally dumb remarks and memes. Since I started doing this, I've accumulated a very vocal group of Twitter followers who cheer me on when I reply to the president. It takes about five minutes out of my day to reply, and it makes me feel better knowing that this narcissistic, egomaniacal, misogynistic, xenophobic nightmare of a POTUS can read how I feel about him. I tend not to hold back – I mean, he doesn't. Why should we?
Saturday morning, May 28, my phone started buzzing as Trump tweeted: "British Prime Minister May was very angry that the info the U.K. gave to U.S. about Manchester was leaked. Gave me full details!"
My responses were swift and not politically correct ("bloody idiot" figured into one popular tweet of mine), but if anyone understands the need to eschew political correctness, it's our dear leader.
I then put my phone down and went about the day with what I assumed were no more tweets from the president. When I opened my computer later that evening, there were messages from multiple people on Twitter saying they had been blocked by Trump. I went to check it out, and found that I'd been blocked as well.
When I realized that he'd blocked me, I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. Then I started getting angry. It's one thing if the president blocks me; I'm just one person, and I can certainly do something else with those five minutes of my day. But when he began systematically blocking dozens of people who simply didn't agree with him, that's when I started to worry that this is something more than just one person blocking another one. This is an elected official trying to silence an entire sector of the dissenting populace. This is what dictators and fascists do. This isn't what we do here in America.
Press secretary Sean Spicer said just yesterday that Trump's tweets are consid- ered "official statements by the president of the United States." When Trump blocks people for disagreeing with him, he isn't just deciding not to hear our voices; he's cutting us off from receiving these official statements. So, by blocking people on Twitter, Trump is effectively removing the radio from his version of FDR's fireside chats, or more accurately, closing the door of a Town Hall meeting to everyone except people who agree with or say nice things about him.
When the president uses social media to communicate about government policy with millions of people and solicits their responses, he can't silence individuals in that conversation because they don't agree with him or say mean things. Moreover, when Trump blocks people who are critical of him, the only replies that appear under his tweets are glowing responses from his followers – which presents a distorted picture of how Americans really feel about our commander in chief.
If the president wants a private Twitter account to communicate with family and friends, he should be able to block anyone he wants. But this is not that: I was blocked from @realDonaldTrump, the president's most-followed account.