The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Murphy raises eyebrows by ‘unfollowing’ Trump
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy had his “mad as hell” moment over President Donald Trump’s tweets, branding them “hatefilled, racist and demeaning” and saying that he is “unfollowing the President of the United States.”
Murphy’s withdrawal is unlikely to affect Trump’s popularity on Twitter, where the president has 62.4 million followers. But the high dudgeon with which he announced — on Twitter, no less — that he would no longer tolerate Trump tweets on his feed left some in and out of Connecticut political circles scratching their heads.
“It makes very little sense,” said Gary Rose, chairman of the Department of Government at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield. “By not following, Murphy is cutting himself off from what is a valuable form of information, whether he likes it or not.”
In a tweet Sunday morning, Murphy said Trump’s tweets are the most racist and demeaning of the “the 200+ I follow” on Twitter, and that reading them “regularly ruins my day.”
“So I’m going to stop,” he said. “I can’t believe I just typed that.”
Through a spokesman, Murphy explained that he could never imagine a president of the United States would actually be the person on his social media accounts who is “dispensing the most hate and vitriol on a daily basis. This is not the way our politics or political discourse should work.”
Trump’s caustic Twitter commentary and repetition of nicknames (“sleepy” Joe Biden, “crazy’ Bernie Sanders and “king” Elijah Cummings, among others) have won cheers from his base, and damnation from opponents. Among the latter are Murphy and a fair portion of Connecticut’s Democratic political leadership.
Trump’s latest major foray, suggesting that four Democratic women newcomers to the House should “go back” where they came from even though 3 of them were born in the U.S., was widely condemned as overt racism.
A quick check of other lawmakers in the western part of the state showed moreorless indifference to Trump’s tweeting intolerance.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Richard Blumenthal do not follow Trump on Twitter, their respective spokespersons said.
Blumenthal follows the POTUS account on Twitter, his spokeswoman, Maria McIlwain, said. POTUS is the official White House Twitter feed, regardless of who holds the office. But Trump uses it to retweet all or most of his vitriolic commentary posted on @realDonaldTrump.
Rep. Jim Himes follows Trump but has a policy of not engaging the president through retweeting, which Himes sees as “just exacerbating the problem,” said his spokesman, Patrick Malone.
For some, Murphy’s refusal to follow Trump raises questions about whether political figures can adequately fight back against opponents if they cut themselves off from the opponents’ pronouncements.
Murphy insisted he faces no shortage of information sources on what the president thinks and says.
“I have plenty of ways to keep abreast of actual news from the White House, so don’t worry, I won’t be missing out on anything if I don’t follow Trump on Twitter,” he said in the statement relayed through his spokesman, Edward Patterson.
But Rose, of Sacred Heart, said toplevel officeholders like Murphy are virtually obligated to know firsthand what a president is saying, and should not rely on intermediaries to keep them informed.
“Every member of Congress should be aware of the president is saying, and unfortunately Twitter is now the most common form of communication,” Rose said.
Unfollowing Trump “does sound sort of strategic on (Murphy’s) part,” Rose said. It allows him to perch on “moral high ground,” he added. “But in the end he doesn’t do anyone any service, and I think most people know it’s a petty move on his part.”