It is very difficult for me to be mean. I have an excess of empathy. But that is changing since I joined twitter to speak out against Trump and his behavior and policies. After being viciously attacked numerous times by his supporters and bots, I learned to be callous and snide. I don't like the new me and look forward to the departure of the man who spews hate like a sick person vomiting. My solace is nature and off to the woods I run.
22
No worries- Melania is on the job- working the " be best" mantra and no doubt her influence on curbing cyber bullying will yield tremendous results.
28
As usual Ms. Dowd hits all of the right notes. However it is ironic, perhaps tragically so, that after making the valid case for unplugging from social media, her piece ends with the invitation to join her on Twitter. (Is the legitimacy of a critique of opioid addiction undermined if it ends with an offer to join the author in taking a pill?).
13
Sorry, but the media is also addicted to Trump tweets. And his lies, his invective. I finally turned the TV off the other day after muting constant replays of his Montana stump speech. Once again- boycott those daily briefings, ignore the tweets. A day, a week, ....focus on the results of his policies. Try a front page picture of a vast, empty prairie- caption “Where is Our High Speed Transcontinental Rail?” Or a picture of a voting machine with no paper trail....along with the state using it, the company selling it....and the people running for office in that district. And why they should be seated in any office.
So many stories out there. The NYTimes can’t cover them all, but dump the tweets at least. Liars don’t deserve any attention.
30
This is just plain silly. Trump is keeping his promises. He’s not doing anything that is different than what’s expected. He is tweeting bc that’s the only way he is heard. He rallies to directly talk to the American people. 40% of his latest rallies were democrats and independents. His Hispanic approval rate is up 10%. Jobs are coming back. Manufacturing is coming back. Things are getting better for the regular American citizen.
So nothing Dowd (I’d bet a socialist) says is getting traction in the real world.
6
So why does the NYTs link everything to Twitter and FaceBook and why are reporters pretty much universally glued to their phones. It looks to me like the news media is the number one facilitator of so-called social media's negative societal effects.
Even as the press cries foul over the usurping of its roll in our democracy. Which it should as gullible fools rely on FOX and Facebook for their news.
25
I am not on Twitter. I would know nothing of Trump’s Tweets were it not for the news. Watching Morning Joe and Willie comes in with a hot off the press Tweet which must send a tingle up the leg of the Head Troll. I click on an article in the WaPo assuming it includes well- sourced reporting. Nope it is an article based on Trump’s Tweets made longer by not only including the screen shots of the tweets, but also including the text of the Tweet in the article. Insanity! We need to stop this.
As for the question of whether Trump is causing the vitriol or it is a coincidence - please. The anger is on Trump (and Fox) for sure. His adolescent trolling, lying and treason is unbearable. Worse - the anger has spread from Trump to his unrelenting supporters. On talk radio and at the rallies. The Lock her Up chants. The mocking of John McCain. All the while he has done nothing for their lot in life. I have lost any sympathy I ever had and trying very hard to not be angry with Trump voters, but I am.
23
Maureen I wish you would write an apology to Hillary Clinton. I was NEVER a fan of the Clintons, but I think we can safely assume she's not a big Tweeter. We can also assume children would not be separated from their families, Roe v, Wade would not be in jeopardy and North Korea wouldn't mess with her. But all you could do was complain about her before and during the election. Now you don't like Trump? Too late smart.
44
America has gotten mean again! No! America, as a whole, has always been mean.
Case in point: Many years ago, in Washington state I worked with an African American man, who was a war veteran and an engineer. He told me that in the 1950's, while living in Louisiana, he was hired by Boeing in Seattle. To make the trip there, he and his family had to drive straight through to LA to stay with relatives because no hotel along the way would let them stay. Then he had to drive straight through from LA to Seattle for the same reason.
Make America great again?
84
Problems, problems.....
So far Mueller, 2018 and 2020 elections are the only solutions.
The terror and destruction this so-called president has shown he is capable of inflicting seem to DEMAND MORE CHOICES.
30
"He proselytized against drinking and smoking, warning his kids away from those vices. Even with his casinos, Trump wasn’t a gambler, either, saying he’d rather own slot machines than play them."
Sounds good to me. The President of the US as a role model to children. How many of those in Hollywood and the music industry that our children use as role models can claim the same?
The elite media such as NYT, WaPo, and major networks had until Trump controlled the flow of news. They got to determine what the public could see or not see.
Trump with his 54 million followers on twitter has changed the power dynamic. The elitist media is no longer relevant.
I would very much love to see a column by Ms. Dowd that went to the Midwest, to the South. Clinton only won about one-third of working class white women, and even only half (51%) of college educated women.
Ms. Dowd should be certain to speak with married women, especially those with children at home, why they voted Trump and not Hillary.
A leading white woman NYT columnist interviewing white women in the Midwest and South why more of them didn't vote for white woman Clinton and instead voted for white man Trump.
That would be a useful column to see Ms. Dowd's insights after leaving her comfortable tower and going to speak with white women like her.
Why would anyone vote for a twitter addict?
2
I know a lot of Millennials and none of them waste their time on Twitter. Maybe there's hope.
44
Oh for the days when we went without waking up to the president attacking someone. Ever. Now it is every day all day long.
No America, this is not us. It is this man.
26
Maureen forgot about the treason Trump is involved with and the fact that disrupting the West is his shared objective with Vladimir. The serendipitous coordination of Trump's treason and the racist hate of the Trump voters, is strangely fascinating. PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
41
Donald Trump exemplifies America's "Old Soul". The racist,
misogynist, xenophobe, and Cowboy Bully that our country
has worshiped since the beginning. His six-shooter has buttons that are like bullets to push out into "Yonderville".
Hopefully this will begin to finally go away with the death of the Silent Generation and (sad to say because I am one) more of the Baby Boomers. A lot of Baby Boomers were and are pure hypocrite's when it came to the drastic Social Changes that more of us than not worked so hard to achieve.
America's "New Soul" is beginning to develop. Hopefully it won't take hundred's of years to be born. We worked too hard
to loose those things like equality, civil rights and gay marriage to then have to go back to living like the puritan
pilgrim's did in the 1500's. God Help Us.
7
This is the culmination of an undercurrent in US politics that is decades old. The racism, xenophobia and sexism is not new. Nor is the anti-intellectual views that denies knowledge and science. Make America Great Again is Make America 1950s again where minorities knew their place, women stayed home and immigrants were other, and those with knowledge were pointy headed intellectuals, a time when white men were dominant and earned a living with only HS in factory job. Things began to turn with the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement and all kinds of advances. Minorities, women and immigrants have demanded equal treatment and opportunity. This is a knowledge economy. The uneducated feel left behind and badly done by. Rather than retraining, they focus on those getting ahead as if life is a zero sum game. Their hatred and resentment has been mined before by George Wallace and Nixon's Southern Strategy. It has reached its apotheosis with Donald Trump who has unleashed the prejudices and hatred simmering behind closed doors and given permission for that to be voiced in public led by him. He is a troll in every sense. He appeals to the worst in people and over 60 million people agree fed by his version of Pravda on Fox News, ironically the epitome of fake news. He is a willful narcissistic child, all id, and all ego, amoral, without conscience, and an envious admirer of dictators. Americans register, vote, take back the House and Senate for the Dems, then oust Trump in 2020
157
Even without the internet, Trump has increased the level of divisiveness and meanness. At every one of his carnival like rallies, he bellows his message of xenophobia, racism, misogyny and contempt for the media ( of course with the exception of the Fox and Friends stenographers). He is incapable of opening his mouth without his bitterness and hatred spewing out. Twitter has become his weapon of choice, but the crudeness, the ignorance and malevolence are part of his DNA.
59
it's not just social media. Trump is making the country cruder and ruder because 1. he is a sociopath who has no empathy for anyone except Ivanka, who he views as an extension of himself, 2. He is the most corrupt president we have ever had, and he wears it proudly, when he should be in jail, and 3. He is aided, encouraged and enabled by the republican party. My own congressman, Mr. Bishop, has not yet condemned the government action of ripping children from their mothers arms when their mothers are seeking asylum in this country (and then losing them!). The Democrats meanwhile, are still supine, still wondering why they lost in 2016, and they still can't find three quarters of the country on a map. Yes, Maureen, there is evil and in the world, and willfull ignorance-- and they act in our name.
41
Maureen Dowd gave up the right to complain about Trump when she allowed her vitriol toward Clinton to make her a member of the Trump team. Dowd helped elect Trump. Elections have consequences.
55
Still waiting for the NYT and writers like Maureen to acknowledge their role in elevating Trump as a subject of fascination while denigrating the Clinton's at any opportunity. The "both sides are the same" argument lies in tatters and it interesting to watch as the NYT timidly calls out Trump on his "falsehoods." A lie is a lie and should be branded as such when blurted out. Trump uses an unsecured phone and pretty much everyone in the administration uses personal emails whenever they feel like it, so the "but her emails" line of attack is now rendered pathetic. Looking forward to the mea culpa...not.
36
Just the headlines of now--U.S. attitude gangster-like, how to lose a trade war, health insurers warn Trump of turmoil, officials alarmed by Trump's solo private calls with world leaders....gas prices rising, healthcare costs up....
And you check Trump's twitter---he's spending the weekend at his golf resort.
Still tweeting about 'witch hunt;' bullying and name-calling, sounds nervous about Mueller; 1st time he mentioned the Thai kids in the cave was today---and acted as if the U.S. is rescuing them when it's the Thai government/Thai Navy Seals taking the agonizing lead.
And this president, ready to repeal the 1st amendment, has tweeted that Twitter will end The NY Times and The Post because of' 'fake accounts." The man never realizes he's a tiresome bore with the same one liners, and the same 'stories' as heard by workers in dementia care facilities.
56
This cannot possibly just about Trump. The large number of people who support him belie that notion. It is the country at large wich has this character. There is no prioritization of values. It is OK if you snatch babies if Gorsuch gets selected to Supreme court. Or if there is a big tax cut, or evangelical agenda is front and center. There are a large number of Americans who are complicit
86
No Mo, Trump is not addicted to Twitter. Twitter is simply a tool to reach his minions and the news media. It works really well for that, don’t you agree? A closer look at Trump reveals his psychopathology, Narcissistic Personality Disorder. In the simplest of terms, Trump’s underlying character is primitive. That’s why you have all of the name calling and lack of empathy. What is of greater concern is that America elected this person. Yet America tolerates mass shootings, endless war, drug abuse, rationing of health care, racism, xenophobia and income inequality. No wonder things are a mess. Trump is a byproduct of America’s disorders. And lurking behind all of this is the nuclear option! The only thing stopping Trump from lobbing a few nukes somewhere is that he might destroy one of his hotels or golf courses.
26
I wonder how many bullies in addition to Trump are protected by Twitter. When social media platforms favor the thugs and bullies that weights the entire platform in favor of such behavior by other participants. And, as Ms. Dowd points out, we are a nation of addicts. Many are chomping at the bit for an opportunity to lash out, punish, and abuse, just like their chosen role model of physical, mental and emotional decay and dilapidation.
15
Trump’s no saint, that’s clear. The media, however, absolutely has played a part in the national discord. Trump could tweet that he loves puppies, and your headline would say “Trump Hates Kittens”. We know he’ll never change, the the Times needs to. Work to be a part of the solution, not part of the problem.
6
Ms. Dowd, you keep knocking President Trump but the alternative would have been Hillary Clinton.
I mean, come on, those e-mails!!
14
What the media hates, is that this President wants and is able to communicate to the public without the filter of the news media.
The Media hate the fact that he is transformal, and is able to get his message out without them.
7
I blocked him in November 2016 and never looked back.
6
re: media addicts of The Addict. I'm wishing for a total absence of headlines (and articles, for that matter) about our president on the front page. Can't we have a Politics section at about page A 12 or so for much of what is on the front page about him? I can't be the only person who's tired of seeing his name and reading some article that's not really about news and wouldn't be on that page if anyone else said, tweeted or behaved as he does. If you're struggling with news for the front page that's really fit to publish, grab some of those great articles from other sections, the Arts, Sports, Style, that are also important. I'm sure the headline writers can hint at scandal in some; others of them already have that.
5
Our local newspaper likes to post a "Thought for the Day" on the back page of the front section. Today's "Thought for the Day":
"Fools are to be feared more than the wicked." (Queen Christina of Sweden, 1626-1689)
Looks like we got a twofer with Trump as president.
138
Quit saying the misogynistic, disgusting, mean-spirited, incompetent, trash-talking 45th won the election, and American voters are to blame. This is not my circus.
Blame non-voters and the 77,000 votes in three states the Electoral College used to overturn the will of the majority (and its three million more votes). The notion of one citizen, one vote is out the window. It’s a numbers game for con men, and they won.
When I see the count of “Likes” for a Trump tweet, I figure it took a lot of bots to get there.
49
Trump is the personification of the GOP base, and perfect fodder for the GOP politicians. He possesses a unique blend of characteristics that make him a compelling witch's brew: proudly ignorant, hateful, hypocritical, delusional (GOP base); greedy, double-dealing, lacking in morals (GOP politicians). Add being a well-known, semi-charismatic "reality star" and failed businessman, and you've got the Pied Piper's magical pipe. His base doesn't just support him, they idolize him. They love it when he makes brash decisions and shoots from the hip rather than take the time to learn policy and history before making decisions with devastating effects. They gleefully applaud his "brave honesty" when he makes racist statements. His base thinks he's running the show, but he's just a clown at the GOP circus. He's throwing pies in faces, and dropping his pants, while the GOP politicians scurry around behind the scenes, executing their agenda as Trumpers clap and eat cotton candy. Social media has replaced the traditional circus tent. Places like Twitter and Facebook, as well as online news outlets, are raking in the dough, turning it into elephant ears, and selling it back to the public. They feign concern about the role they play, claiming they're doing what they can to put the genie back into the bottle. They could implement effective solutions if they wanted, but they'd rather stay on as barkers at their own circuses.
18
>
>
Let us for a moment imagine that the liberal anti-Trump optimistic pipe dream were to come true, via one of two ways:
1] Impeachment followed, by conviction followed, by a helicopter ride out; or,
2] DJT loses the next election in 2020, followed by a helicopter ride out.
Does anyone in their right mind believe that DJT is going to get on that helicopter and suffer the complete world wide public humiliation of being on the wrong side of "you're fired"; of letting the Dems have the last laugh; of being seen as LOSER?????? This would be a complete repudiation of his entire life; his father will come back from the grave
You think he's tweeting now just imagine the tweets following up to and after options 1 or 2 !
He'll go crazy. What we've seen so far is "child's play" for lack of a better term.
In Nov 2016, we got into the car of a deranged old cranky. The notion of an uneventful and low suffering ending to this story is absurd on its face.
7
Who are we that a man whose speech contains Word Salad is allowed to run our country?
("I have no organ, the only msical is the mouth, the brain is much more important.")
Many have pointed out that if Grandpa did this at Thanksgiving, the family would start considering whether he can continue to live alone.
Yes, Maureen, we must ask who we are .
66
More than 200 years before Twitter existed, Alexander Hamilton warned the new American nation against embracing a leader like the current occupant of the White House: "When a man, unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper.... despotic in his ordinary demeanour—known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty—when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity—to join in the cry of danger to liberty—to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion—to flatter and fall in with all the nonsense of the zealots of the day—It may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may “ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.” The full text can be read on the National Archives website.
192
Until I read this article I did not think that in addition to Trump as the Twitter addict , he probably also wasted hours a day reading the responses. His mind must be mush.
7
my dearest New York Times. as this opinion piece implies, we are in a downward spiral, and you must shoulder a good part of the blane. I don’t think there was one day that didn’t go by in the last 400 days when you didn’t trumpet Trump’s latest nonsense front and center in bold print on the top fold of the first page.
Please stop!
Focus on policy, not the man! do not give in to this need of his to be in our face every waking moment.
18
It's been a long time, Maureen Dowd! This time, you got it exactly right, not only on Trump, but on those who report on him and those who follow him. An adict bully who runs our country, and you got it so right.
108
The problem is not Twitter. The problem is Trump. But there is a deeper problem. A country where some 40% of the people worship this vile ogre is a country that has lost its way and is unlikely to find its way back. That is the horror of living under this administration. It has revealed the worst about ourselves, and boy is it ugly.
25
If search engines can decipher our requests, why can't Twitter learn to recognize extreme speech and refuse to allow it?
Thinking back to when public discourse was somewhat more civil and less barroom-brawl-ish... What would happen if Twitter did not allow anyone to have more than, say, 100 followers? That'd be like ye olde publick square.
What if a person could have unlimited followers (as now) but any tweet by that person would go only to a randomly selected subset of them, not to exceed, say, 100 at a time?
The point is to temper virality. It's worth remembering that the "viral" metaphor is not a good thing. Viruses make us sick.
8
Dowd and others who complain about Trump's Twittering forget or ignore that they are the enablers who allow his trolling to continue and grow. His followers are the reason he trolls, and they keep him going. They could stop following today if they wanted, and deprive him of his audience. It is possible to live a life without following Trump, after all. Without his audience, there is no Trump.
11
Anyone who believes that Donald Trump is a new phenomenon rather than a manifestation of an existing trend hasn't spent much time on the internet. It's been well documented that the anonymity and distance the internet creates between people interacting on it, emboldens people's worst behavior: name calling, bullying, sexual harassment, doxing, etc, and it's a phenomenon that's been common on the right AND the left.
Try suggesting that maybe a sovereign nation needs to control its borders, and you'll be promptly labeled a racist (and worse). Or come out in support of universal healthcare and you'll find the right calling you a commie among other less savory invectives. So what gives?
My personal theory is that the internet acts as something of a padded room where people can go wild and indulge their worst impulses without doing too much damage to themselves. But the problem is, the more we indulge the worst side of our nature, the harder it is to restrain that part of ourselves. It starts out by compelling us to spend more and more time on the internet, but the scary part is that our worst self can come alive off the internet.
That's what happened with James Hodgkinson and Edgar Madison Welch. And that's what we see happening with Trump who's gone from calling immigrant members of MS13 "animals" to treating immigrant children like animals. In a climate of polarizing fear and anger, we've let the internet skew our perception of our ideological opponents into caricatures.
7
LEE HARRISON: Your interest is appreciated. Attributed the quote about 7/8ths of the world in poverty to Jesse Jackson, whom I first met in 1973 while on assignment with LS, and attended a rally of PUSH. "Fella" is an interesting word, comes from the Arabic meaning "peasant!"Col. Marcel Bigeard, who had Larbi ben Mhidi executed, hanged on his orders because of his role in plastic bombings during "Bataille d'Alger"was considered by De Gaulle to be France's finest soldier, which was subject to another interpretation since he was accused by his troops of killing more "fells," innocent peasants, than "fellagha!"See my latest video,"Son,acjnowledge your Anglo Welsh Roots "in which I make a reference to Bigeard,Larbi ben M'hidi and his successor, Yacef Saadi, his successor, whom I interviewed some years ago. But I digress. Name calling does not constitute a valid argument. Give us who support The Donald alternatives to his policies, and then an intelligent, informative debate is an eventuality!
As a recovering alcoholic with 27 years sober, I recognized Trump as an addict immediately. He is a "dry drunk" a term for people with no recovery who are not using a substance. He also has the personality problems of grandiosity, self aggrandizement, lying, inability to listen to others, lack of ability to empathize- the list goes on. He is also, as many addicts are, a victim of trauma which is why he lives in ego defense mode constantly. Unrecovered addicts are often workaholics or are addicted to adrenaline rushes. Many eventually implode or cause themselves a breakdown mentally or physically.
19
Thank you Ms. Dowd. What is Twitter? I was on it for three days. Could not take the belligerence a moment longer. It was like a feeding frenzy. Anger, hate, ignorance is best done with Spot Thoughts and Soundbites. Twitter accommodates that.
4
Best insight is how the media allow, even
better to ignore them rather than indulge his limitless ego.
1
Ms. Dowd, you should spend more time in saloons, sporting events and places where men go. Trump talks like most real men's talk. The day of pretending and image are over. Look where it got us. I'd rather spend an evening with a blue collar guy than an evening with James Reston or Joe Alsop or David Brooks. Spend a night at McSorley's.
3
Those who think that America is a meaner & coarser place now than it has ever been in the past are just mistaken. America since WWII has been a beacon of light & democratic values in a world of tyranny & oppression. Trump's policies may have diluted that a bit but have not significantly overcome America's penchant for good in our relations with other nations.
The facts are that America has progressed from a rural nation of hardy pioneers, many of whom gave no thought about enslaving African-Americans and killing Native-Americans, in their quest to build this nation. Our ideals have always exceeded our actions. It is only with the passage of time and as new generations developed that we have regretted the actions of our forbears and sought to ameliorate the consequences of racism & genocide.
We have too much history and a democratic tradition to forestall the authoritarian impulses of our president, and the collapse of our Republic. Too many people believe that a fascist dictatorship is around the corner and that Trump is leading the way. America, and its 325 million people are better than that.
8
You're right, Maureen - Trump IS an addict, and his trolling/bullying/lying habits meet the criteria for behavioral addiction, which are:
- The person struggles with mental health or physical health issues as a consequence of the behavior and/or the inability to stop.
- The person has difficulties in significant relationships at home and, in some cases, at work because the behavior is so disruptive.
- The person experiences other negative consequences that are directly caused by continued, extreme, or chronic engagement in the behavior. For example, a person with a gambling addiction may gamble away the house, lose a job, and be forced into bankruptcy due to the extreme nature of the gambling.
- The person is unable to stop engaging in the behavior despite these consequences.
We can - we must - "do better than that".
4
And it's the media's addiction to report trump's tweets. What would happen to the nation's temper if the media didn't begin each broadcast with his latest tweets? Why are his rallies constantly reported on?
It was stated somewhere that Obama's and Bush's speeches and tweets (if Bush tweeted) were not reported on with the same magnitude as trump's. Hillary was pre-empted constantly during the campaign to report trump's latest and inflammatory speech or tweet.
Whether it's the media's fascination or disgust with trump, it doesn't make a difference. He's captured their attention and become their addiction.
21
Yes, his tweeting has brought great embarrassment and shame on the office of the POTUS and this nation, but like the dualities in everything else in life, there is a positive side as well. For instead of siccing the IRS and other government agencies on his detractors, Trump so far seems to be satisfied with disparaging them on Twitter. Or at least I hope that is the case. For given his power and mental instability, he is likely to do far more harm to his detractors than Nixon ever did!
6
I really think that Fox News played and plays a bigger role, both on Trump and the electorate. TV is also plenty addictive and they have found a unique recipe. Trump will someday go away, but the electorate won’t. Will the moral cost ever outweigh its profits? Could a better, rival conservative network eat into those profits... but could one compete without using misinformation?
11
Thank you for highlighting this, Maureen. The comments are also instructive, but I appreciate the insights you gleaned from the book as well as your own distinctive point of view. Very scary.
4
Eyeballs and engagement. If social media didn't need to feed the advertising beast, then the driver for putting high engagement posts at the top would go away. As it is, no matter how many positive things are happening on a daily basis, if it bleeds, it still leads and leads and leads while bleeding our kinder souls dry.
9
Twitter and Trump: a perfect marriage. A master of simple insults on a platform for those who are addicted to anger.
It's caused me to think more about boring stuff like sentence structure and grammar.
Has this media form itself eliminated thoughtful preparation and attention to meaning? No need to offer an argument -meaning reasons for a position. No space for that! The attention span is too short.
Advertising used the brief moment, image or slogan as a shortcut - In twitter - Trump has eliminated the need for ads as we have gotten used to the abbreviated barrage of( often incoherent) words. It suits a largely poorly educated and non-reading public.
4
Democratic, please wake up to Trump and his Tweets. The bell tolls for Democrats. If they refuse to wake up and vote, Trump wins, again. He dominates the media, still! Hello!
For Whom the Bell Tolls, John Donne
===========================
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
6
No one seems to have identified the most important Trump statement as a way to criticism: his signature campaign promise.
"Make America Great Again."
It seems to me that we should all be asking the question, "How does some action or statement help Make America Great Again? Example: How will repealing Obama help to to do that?
There seem to be thousands of those questions since the 2016 election.
14
Anything that helps to reveal the Leftist bias of the Media and destroy their credibility does "Make America Great Again"
For too long the Conservative voice in America has been demonized by the Mainstream Media that Trump has now tagged as the #FakeNews Press.
And until Trump, we conservatives and Republicans just took it. No more. Now that Trump has forced the Media to show their true colors as propagandists for Democrats instead of the objective journalists they have always claimed to be, we can finally fight back and with authority call out the entrenched Leftist bigotry of the 4th Estate.
Every day, Trump's comment that the "#FakeNews Press is the enemy of the American People" is proved correct in 93% of the segments on CNN & MSNBC, and on the front pages of the NY Times, WaPo, and numerous other liberal rags around the country.
2
In the interest of countering the invective and mean-spiritedness that Twitter broadcasts and propagates, and that even the comments on this excellent piece spread, I’ll use some words we too rarely see but that for me hold great and enduring value: bravery, valor, virtue, reliability, wisdom, consideration, magnanimity, generosity, compassion, empathy, eloquence, and welcome. Anyone care to join me in focusing on these qualities in public discourse, private conversation, and public and private conduct? The prevailing tenor is almost entirely negative; it would be great to see and participate in making the positive qualities we value speak louder in our civic lives than the negative ones.
13
Banning Trump from Twitter would make for an interesting social experiment. What would he do with his time if forced to unplug?
8
Maureen, thank you for your column. Reminded me of a book I read a long time ago, When Society Becomes an Addict, by Anne Schaef.
2
I do not consider President Trump an addict in any form of the definition. He does use his Twitter account a lot but this is his way of communicating at a time where we have an anti-Trump media constantly attacking his every move and action. He uses this as a coping mechanism against a dishonest media that often fabricates the truth. He has been very successful in getting his message across to the American public who would otherwise not know what to believe. We want the truth and if this is his way of telling us what he is achieving we will accept this.
Many of us are very pleased with the success he has accomplished in his short time in office and support his actions. We want him to continue making America great again.
6
The 2018 deficit is going up after the Trump tax cut by almost double - $600 Billion is going to around $1 Trillion by 2020.
Most people I know will be getting about $1,000 a year for 7 years.
That's about $20 a week.
But after ten years, we will have added $12 Trillion to the national debt or about $80,000 for each tax payer.
I wouldn't mind if Trump voters got fleeced. But I am getting fleeced, too.
Reagan cut taxes and got 16 Million jobs and a huge increase in the deficit / debt. It’s the reason they put the debt clock in Manhattan.
Clinton raised taxes and got 23 Million jobs, almost 50% more than Reagan and balanced the budget, zero deficit.
W Bush gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators" and we got 3 Million jobs. He took Clinton's zero deficit and gave Obama a whopping $1.4 Trillion deficit. And he also gave Obama the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Obama got us through the Great Recession and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. He gave us the "jobs killing" Obama-care and we got 11.5 Million jobs, almost 400% more than W Bush. And 20 Million people got healthcare.
And now with Trump, Republicans have done it again, cut taxes and increased the deficit / debt. And I expect worse job creation than Obama.
Already the 2.06 Million jobs in 2017 was the lowest since 2010 when the recession ended.
9
Contrary the myths we have spun regarding the character of America, it didn't take Twitter to make us meaner, we were there already: Twitter didn't exist during Jim Crow when African-Americans were regularly lynched, or in the extremely repressive period during and after World War I for instance. A cursory scan of American history reveals that meanness has been a central character in the American story from the beginning.
Like much else that marks this president, he is less a source of what ails us than a mirror reflecting who we really are.
32
The state of U.S. politics does make me sad. The U.S. has everything to lead the world and make it better. And right now, it's doing the opposite. Perhaps this is only an aberration in time. And then the U.S. can return to being a leader in the Free World.
11
Most of media is liberal and incensed Donald Trump is president. What seems to aggravate you most about his tweets is that he defends himself. It's a new ballgame and the president you don't agree with is no longer laying down while the media, Hollywood and academia go on and on with shots at him and his family and his policies. And that, together with his success at defining his opposition in compelling terms is what really bothers you, isn't it?
7
The internet is an amazing and powerful tool, but it has many dangers. Anonymous postings encourage abusive Troll behavior without adequate consequences. No one is immune. We've become a nation of Zombies - starting at our phones without any regard to the physical world around us, drying in crosswalks, or dangerously reaching for the ultimate selfie. Wake up and be kind to each other! Our humanity depends on it.
5
One reason Trump continues to tweet and tweet and tweet is that the media reports them, even fully uses them as art within articles, thus giving him exactly the type of attention his ego demands. Let his Twitter followers read his every word, but you do a disservice to the rest of us when you feed Trump's adolescent desire to be recognized. If he has something "important" to say, make him do it publicly and preferably in the glare of media that will expose the lies. By the way, also stop the euphemisms for outright lies -- they are not "incorrectly stated" or "claimed without facts."
11
Some commenters are saying there's nothing new about twitter. That is laugh-out-loud funny. People said the same thing about telephones when they came along and then TV and then the internet. Social media, including twitter, have changed the equation. There are no - zero - filters for reaching millions of people. To equate Page 6 of the NYPost in the 1980s and 1990s entirely misses the meaning of social media. Page 6 never reached as many people, was one-way traffic and was carefully edited by several people with lots at stake for their professional careers. None of that is true about twitter. As for the commenter saying he wants to hear it straight from the president - ok, great. And when he spews racism, outright laws and ignorance one hopes that will then lead people to say, This is disgusting. That is the part that scares me most. If nothing else, Trump's constant lies and meanness are making these people happy. They laugh it off and excuse it with a few honest ones saying, I wish he didn't tweet. There is something seriously wrong with that.
5
I am conflicted on this. I wonder where we'd be if the media had decided from the very beginning to not cover Trump's tweets. What if they had declared that if it's not said from the podium or an official release from the WH, it's not news? What if the ground rules were it must be on policy or it's not news? If it's a personal attack it's not news? Instead the media has become an indirect arm of the Trump propaganda campaign by merely repeating any random thoughts, even thought they are usually scurrilous attacks and false statements.
On the other hand, his tweets have magnified his complete unfitness for the office, his lack of knowledge, his crude mind and his lack of capacity for deep thought and analysis. I'm still hopeful that in the end, his constant rants on Twitter will convince enough voters he is unfit and will be a critical factor in his 2020 demise.
22
I'm hopeful that the Mueller investigation will make a 2020 run a moot point.
8
Shaping the narrative or straight-up propaganda? From what I see the fox works hand-in-glove with the administration and its bullhorn is magnifying twitter posts and vice versa. Caluculated, well-funded red meat propaganda for most of the day, with few exceptions among the fox folks, to their credit. Totally agree there's a Skinnerian component and miller and bannon get that in spades. Twisted, basically cruel and very supportive of the pootin agenda. What exactly is in it for those 2 - you have to wonder. They obviously have no decency and will stop at nothing for whatever THAT is. Pitiful circumstances and the situation begs for brave leadership. Where are they, not in congress that's clear. In the judiciary the balance is gone. Time to be a hero - each and every one if us who bothers to vote. Go to the polls, watch chain of custody with the ballots, observe the count and get involved to rid the process of electronic voting machines.
3
Ms. Dowd, I do not agree the _Problem of Trump and Trumpism_ was either created or fostered by the Internet. The conditions that precipitated Mr. Trump's election to President of the United States existed prior even to the existence of Mr. Trump himself. The problem is and has always been that, in The United States of America, if you were not white male, then no matter what your accomplishments, no matter how honourable your contribution, you had no rights to full participation as a citizen of The United States of America, especially if you were not also wealthy. In a precise sense, everything that is evil about The United States of America could be traced to that. From school segregation, to Jim Crow laws, to the demand for a "work requirement" in order to qualify for Medicaid, to the unwillingness to invest in public goods and infrastructure, to the unwillingness to continue to fund in public education and public universities.
Mr. Trump may be an addict, and he may also have other psychological problems. I am not qualified to make any credible assessment of that, but Mr. Trump is definitely a product of the society he was created in. The Internet had little to do with it, except to exacerbate what was already there.
13
Many people created in the same society do not behave as the president does.
3
I will gladly sacrifice my anonymity to agree whole-heartedly with Ms. Dowd's appraisal of Trump's "addiction" to Twitter. As a recovering alcoholic with more than a little working knowledge of
the disease of addiction, I can posit that Donald Trump exhibits – on
a daily basis – the behavior of a dry drunk: someone who injects
chaos into situations he has constructed so that he can appear to
have the only answer. In other words, he thinks he is the final
arbiter possessing "the divine right" to solve problems with personal
fiats. It is delusional behavior which has destroyed families and
ultimately, social institutions.
11
And we can certainly thank people like yourself in the printed world, as well as those in the cable world, for unleashing this monster upon us. Everyone in the media (yourself included) thought he was a joke, but all the free media just gave him that the attention that he desired. The more he made fun of people, lashed out, etc., the more you covered it. So I hope you all take great pride in how history will treat all of you and the role you played in electing 45.
14
Trump will never change. Hopefully, we as a nation can.
10
I don't use social media and would prefer sites, NYT included, not to use facebook, twitter, or other sm sites for exclusive content.
It's also disconcerting that so many articles include captures of inane twitter comments.
6
I have not looked at Twitter for months and months, I do not have a Facebook account. I do not watch the News other than NY1 in the morning to get the weather and Transit. I scan the NYT Times on line briefly to get the jist of the latest insanity of this world.
As a result I am happy go lucky most of the time, painfully aware we are all doomed this century, but enjoying these last days as much as I can
17
Trump didn't invent bullying. Saul Alinsky did, and his progressive playbook, Rules for Radicals, has been hammering opponents for years with impunity. Republicans got tired of being hammered and decided they needed a bully, albeit a less sophisticated one, in their corner.
4
When Republicans fix poverty, get people educated and working and paying taxes, I'll vote for them.
8
Why must we accept the tweets from Trump as presidential dictum? Why not simply classify them as the murmurings of an addicted mind? After all, presidential pronouncements come from the oval office with proper authentication. We have allowed ourselves to become dupes to a deranged mind.
7
Trump is not addicted to tweeting. The Media and Democrats are addicted to his tweets.
Like any successful drug dealer - Trump is just giving his "addict" customers what they want. Trump knows better than anyone that the guy with the supply controls the addicts lives - and on twitter - that means Trump gets to control the narrative 24/7.
Trump’s tweets have literally made the Press, Democrats & “Never Trumps” go completely insane - taking positions in support of harassment and violence, putting the interests of illegal aliens before those of American citizens, and moving the Democrats so far to the Left that they are now doomed to lose the mid-term elections.
Can there be any more of a gift to the GOP than the Democrats new battle cry of “Abolish ICE”? I don’t think so.
What is amazing to this Trump supporter watching as it all has unfolded is how the Media still keeps falling into Trump’s “twitter trolling” traps - expressing “knee jerk” outrage after outrage over every single thing Trump tweets - if he trashes North Korea it’s bad; if he sits down with North Korea it’s bad. Whatever Trump says, the Media unfailingly takes the contrary position.
And while the Media fact check crowd sizes and other irrelevant minutiae - so busy playing "gotcha" over everything Trump says, they never actually hear him at all. But we do. The mostly silent majority of hard working, patriotic Americans and Legal immigrants, hear Trump loud and clear.
7
Did you hear loud and clear the Trump / Republican tax cut?
The 2018 deficit is going up after the Trump tax cut by almost double - $600 Billion is going to around $1 Trillion by 2020.
Most people I know will be getting about $1,000 a year for 7 years.
That's about $20 a week.
But after ten years, we will have added $12 Trillion to the national debt or about $80,000 for each tax payer.
I wouldn't mind if Trump voters got fleeced. But I am getting fleeced, too.
Reagan cut taxes and got 16 Million jobs and a huge increase in the deficit / debt. It’s the reason they put the debt clock in Manhattan.
Clinton raised taxes and got 23 Million jobs, almost 50% more than Reagan and balanced the budget, zero deficit.
W Bush gave us two "tax cuts for the job creators" and we got 3 Million jobs. He took Clinton's zero deficit and gave Obama a whopping $1.4 Trillion deficit. And he also gave Obama the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Obama got us through the Great Recession and cut the deficit by almost 2/3 to $550 Billion. He gave us the "jobs killing" Obama-care and we got 11.5 Million jobs, almost 400% more than W Bush. And 20 Million people got healthcare.
And now with Trump, Republicans have done it again, cut taxes and increased the deficit / debt. And I expect worse job creation than Obama.
Already the 2.06 Million jobs in 2017 was the lowest since 2010 when the recession ended.
But some people never learn.
22
Almost half of Americans are mean, crude and lacking in empathy. Trump and social media gave them a voice and a platform, respectively.
26
The other half believe that the govt should care for them from cradle to grave for free.
So much for the Jeffersonian ideal which founded this nation.
Now the liberal entitlement left is crying because the bill has come due.
More chilling than Trump's tweets is watching the faces of his fans as he slings insults and mauls the truth. He entertains them and they thrill to it. They laugh, they applaud, they reinforce both his attention addiction and each other's approval of him.
They're also addicted, and as we have seen in other dictators' adoring crowds, extremely dangerous. We're in trouble.
57
I doubt Trump's issues are all or mainly about his Twitter use. He was a known bully and cheat for years before the general use of the Internet.
But yes, Twitter certainly amplifies his bad tendencies. Social media sites like Twitter also amplify negativity in their users.
The biggest problem for most users is that social media is pulling people away from the real world and real relationships. (And we've heard that Trump himself doesn't do much in the area of human bonding.)
5
Steve Jobs' gift to the world was a little glowing, handheld endorphin pump and operant conditioning device. Billions of the things have descended upon us like a plague. Making the things, selling the things, feeding 'content' to the things, providing 'bandwidth' to the things, selling stuff via the things have become the most prolific and profitable industry of our age.
There is nothing more disconcerting than standing on a street corner and watching waves of humanity waltzing erratically down the sidewalk, heads down, arms just above the waist, in 'text mode' - except crossing the street on foot yourself and watching as cars erratically approach the intersection, the drivers with heads down, arms just above the waist...
6
Okay, Trump and his loyalist band of GOP gangstas really is our "Lord of the Flies" moment in American history.
But I still maintain there are more of us than them.
Trump really is our final exam as a democratic nation. Every relationship gets tested at some point by seemingly unresolvable conflict; either things will get better or even worse.
However, the culprit is not really social media--used for good and evil. The big culprits are:
Citizens United and campaign financing in this country that put big donors & lobbyists over the good of the citizenry and the country
The GOP, which has only really cared for decades about protecting the 1%$$ and big corporate, but figured out (thanks to Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, et al.): (a) it needs live bodies to vote at election time; & (b) the way to do that is not to bring out our better angels, but to go as low as one can go by ginning up bigotry, hatred, self-pity, and nostalgia for the punishing religious Dark Ages in the form of culture wars. Cue Murdoch's Fox News and well-funded crazed right-wing media.
The extremist right-wing populist movement now has reached its crescendo with Trump, who is part shock jock (Stern) and part raving, over-the-top right-wing media mouthpiece (Rush, Jones). Only Trump really is far more powerful, knows no shame, is completely conscience-free, and runs this country like his cult.
The Big ?: Who will stop Trump, conspicuous corruption, and the trashing of America & human decency? We will!
14
Fortunately, the shallow, condescending, self-involved thinkers of today's Progressive left are the primary consumers of mindless social media content.
While the Progressive left obsesses over Trump's tweets, the rest of us pay attention to his policy implementation.
Life is in balance
2
I'm not on Twitter so I don't know how much Trump uses it but apparently it's a lot. I am trying to wrap my mind around people like him, constantly sending out angry, spiteful messages, and getting support from presumably normal people who should have a more realistic view of the world. He is the social media equivalent of people who write mean and often nasty diatribes on public restroom walls. These are often inside the stalls, done out of boredom and anger. That's how I envision Trump. How can someone like that make any rational decisions? And Trump's public speaking events are the weirdest stream of consciousness ramblings I have ever heard. Why do people go out of their way to listen to his lies and self-important boasts? Are their lives so empty? I know we all get conned from time to time, but this is entirely too much.
18
Psychologists around the country were warning Americans that Trump was psychologically damaged and unfit for the office of POTUS. But, everyone told them to shut up and sit down. Just like they did to the entire community of National Security Advisers who warned us that Trump was unfit to serve as commander-in-chief.
Hey Trumpers, sometimes the experts are right.
14
The fish rots from the head, the Tweets are only the resulting stench.
7
You want so badly to define Donald Trump as crazy kook, or worse, but most observers of news outlets, especially yours, appreciate the spotlight that the president has shone on what we have suspected for a while: the press does not play 'fair', and worse, manipulates, or occasionally invents, the day's news to support an agenda that certainly leans left.
Moreover, you despise the fact that he fights back- hard, in some cases- and that your own shortcomings may be exposed. It's been a long run for all of you, expecting civility in response to unending attacks, and today he is a 'Twitter addict'. But like it or not, it is effective, much more than the tired brand of media you are stuck on
3
The lack of empathy originated way before Twitter. The 40% who love Trump's coarse and mean delivery were given a platform with your St. Reagan and the Republican party. Dog whistle racism has been part of the GOP strategy for 40 years. Anyone remember "welfare queens," or "willie horton?" How about Lee Atwater? The John Birch society? Nixon won by peeling off George Wallace's supporters with coded racism. Trump and Twitter simply emboldened this sad, angry, incoherent part of America. They didn't created it.
17
Apart from the occasional “breaking news” tweet (e.g, Scott Pruitt’s resignation), Doanld Trump’s tweets are no longer newsworthy and I see no good reason for the Times or other serious new organizations to assist Trump in distracting the public from truly newsworthy matters (such as the human suffering and environmental devastation that his administration is wreaking) by publishing so many of his tweets. Justifications for publishing his rants suggesting they provide useful Insights into his “thinking” or “state of mind” no longer hold up. His provocative tweets reveal almost no actual thinking (certainly not thinking that reflects an accurate perception of objective reality), and as for his “state of mind”, reveal only his need for attention and his willingness to sacrifice anything to occupy center stage. Certainly neither of these are news to anyone who has been paying attention to his career. I suggest that instead of repeating his non-newsworthy tweets, the Times simply report, “The president tweeted many false, misleading and offensive things over the past 24 hours. For readers who wish to read them, they are available on this link”.
21
I totally agree with this. I also don't understand why his rallies are covered and I always turn them off. They are nothing but Castro-like stream-of-consciousness rants and there is nothing newsworthy about them. Even worse than his words, the facial expressions and cheers of his crowds for his greatest hits thoroughly depress me. It's all ego, all the time.
8
The "pump was primed" to make much of the country "meaner,coarser and less empathic" by the leaders of evangelical Christianity.They were more interested in money and political power.The evangelicals have become a political party rather than a religion and they make up 30% of the population.They have given Trump a religious flag to wrap himself in.Remember his statement "my favorite book is the Bible".The internet has only given Trump a way to prove his conversion.
Remember, during the sixties, Michael Harrington disclosed the extent of poverty in America and religious leaders led the movement to change this condition.Religious leaders were at the forefront of the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement.Civic morality and religious conviction were alive and well and functioned to help the poor and the disenfranchised.
Evangelical minsters on the national stage now preach" Prosperity theology" and guarantee physical well-being to the converted.Trump is the new Jesus and his tweets are his "sermon on the mount."It is no wonder the young are turning to atheism.Religion, as it exists in America today, has let them down.
17
Ms. Dowd, it sounds like you are finally waking up to the destruction The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren are doing to OUR United States of America and the world.
The internet and "digital" companies should have been severely regulated years ago - before the Robber Barons could take over all levels of communication. They have invaded OUR lives and privacy at all levels - for pure profit. We need to fear them - not OUR government.
Media at all levels were instrumental in the destruction by allowing The Con Don to "call in" to television shows and splashing his name/photo 24/7. He was "fun" to cover - not boring as politics and politicians who actually love OUR United States of America and want to manage it for 99% of us are.
The media is still reporting his "tweets" like it's actually news. They are simply messages from his demented ego.
Thankfully social media had some unintended consequences for the Robber Barons. Look at the Women's March - organized by two women via facebook and web pages. Look at #MeToo. Look at the instant response by Socially Conscious Americans to revolt against immigration and other monstrous actions by the Robber Barons since they installed The Con Don in OUR white house.
WE THE PEOPLE - collectively - will not allow a few insatiably greedy, demented, socially unconscious Robber Barons to destroy OUR country and lives. WE will not allow them to start WW3 with their sick greed/lust for power.
Not now. Not ever.
20
Putting aside what he says and what he tweets, despite his enemies in the media, Hollywood and academia his accomplishments are amazing.
5
I think you meant that his accomplishments were revolting.
8
If by “accomplishment” you mean burning the nation down. He has built nothing.
8
Is Trump to blame? Is the Internet to blame for our headlong spiral toward incivility and the public policy that incivility spawns? Partly perhaps. But the issue is far deeper and complex than that.
Human history has been plagued since Day One with the seven deadly sins. Neither America nor the Internet invented avarice, fear, loathing, covetousness or the kaleidoscope of other character flaws we expect parents, teachers and spiritual leaders to teach emerging generations to avoid.
What we really inculcate, individually and collectively, stems from what we do with the tools available to us. The Internet is powerful, for sure, and our current political leadership operates in a moral wasteland, but we call our system of self governance a "democracy."
If we wish to make this word mean something, then the future strength of our national fibre is on us. If I ever again hear another hollow politician proclaim that "We're better than this," or "This is not who we are," I'll scream.
As a country at this particular moment, we're NOT better than this, and this IS who we are. Democracy offers us the ultimate tool of redeeming our national identity only if we are better than the electronic tools we use, addicted or not.
21
This is a much-needed op-ed. Although I could never claim to be an authority on addiction, I have read widely about the subject since doing a research paper on alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous as a student, when an undergraduate more than 60 years ago.
In addition to reading about the subject--Addiction and Grace by Gerald May, M.D. is one of the best books--I existentially know about the subject, because of an addiction to nicotine, which I eventually gained control over, and dealing with a family member addicted to alcohol.
Although I used to scoff about stories of demonic possession, I stopped my scorning once I gained a better understanding of the subject and participated in 12-step programs. Being addicted to anything is certainly analogous to the demonic possessions narrated in Scripture and sensationalized in books like The Exorcist. Addicts are not really in control of their behavior, and, especially at 12-step meetings, some will refer to "the addict" that is controlling their irrational behavior as if they have been overpowered by a malicious entity that has taken possession of their mind and will.
Addicts are endangered, and, unfortunately, they endanger others, as is now the case with POTUS, a man clearly addicted to harassing and enabled by Twitter and his base. An exorcism rather than an impeachment may be the remedy.
14
With all of the important issues our country is facing, has Maureen Dowd's Sunday column been reduced to this? That rather than being addicted to alcohol or other maladies, Trump uses Twitter so profusely that it is worrisome and alarming? You should do better than this. Maybe the anti-Trump rhetoric is just getting tired. I do not personally like Twitter, but I do like how Trump and other users are disinter mediating the media who strives to control how event and politics are framed.
7
Time for confession?
I began trolling shortly after I began playing MMORPG. I'm fortunate though. After about 3 years I had some heavy surgery and a very long recovery and rehab. It was difficult for me to grasp and hold on to or really focus on the complicated ongoing stream of chatter so whenever I could manage some time to play my game I turned off chat. Then when I went back I noticed how angry long time players seemed. I realized I had been the same and now I wasn't, again. I've worked diligently to not to be drawn into that type of trolling.
My adult children wanted me to join Facebook so I could hear about my grand-kids and see photos/videos of them. I kept my circle of friends restricted to family. I noticed that as the circle grew so did the rancor. After Trump it became much worse. I deleted my account.
It is so easy to be really snotty and hateful when on the internet. It makes the world a meaner, crueler, more dangerous place. I still play games, but my chat is seldom on. When I turn it on, it's to ask a question or chat with a friend and then it's back off.
I've come to believe that everyone is a troll and we keep that lock up because it is not acceptable behavior after the terrible 2s. Social media opens the door and few can resist. It permits people to be their worst without being sent to their room without tv, cellphone, or computer. Want to know where all this populist movement is coming from? Social Media.
36
It's only a digital outlet, Susannah,
and populist psychosis doesn't need it to spread like wildfire, as we so painfully witnessed in western Europe in the last century. Blaming a 21st technological advancement for promordial human nature is a philosophical swing in the dark, and a convenient distraction to the inner work ALL off us need to embark beginning every morning.
9
Uh, kstew, it's not "only a digital outlet." It is a force that is changing society and rarely if ever for the better.
Shut down your social media.
I've never been on and not only do I not miss anything, every time I hear of someone's travails or problems or anger due to FB, I shrug.
Family? Email works great, as does MMS texting.
4
Too late, Jus' Me, I shut it down 6 yrs ago before it was fashionable to be un-social media. I don't dispute what you're saying, EXCEPT, that social media is benign without human intention behind it. The potential is there for good to be a byproduct, as well.
It is extremely difficult -- if not impossible-- for one to express complex issues in 140 characters or less. The end result is a barrage of "non-information bits", the only purpose of such "utterances" is to re-enforce preconceived "notions". This has absolutely nothing to do with thoughts, since it is not part of the thought process-- just as reality TV shows have nothing to do with reality. It all goes to prove that if you say or do something over and over again, about 38% of the people -- that's the size of Trump's loyal base-- will believe it. The question is do we really want these people running our country?
49
If you wanted to sit down and design a platform for demagoguery, you couldn't do much better than Twitter, with its whole leader-follower concept and the tweet limitations, over which only the simplest ideas can be communicated, the more inflammatory the better. Following Trump on Twitter is just like being part of mob, only less sweaty, and with the added benefit of convenient mob metrics displayed on every post.
Now it is pretty obvious that Trump would not be sitting in the White House today if it weren't for Twitter. But is there anything to be done about that? Should anything be done?
All I can say is that when the tech industry decided to go down the road of social media, it committed to performing social engineering at the same time, but without assuming responsibility for the results.
Ordinarily, as an engineering proposition, if you build something that works but has dangerous unanticipated consequences, you address them or bear the liability. Twitter falls squarely into that model, but who will hold it liable?
56
I suppose it's only to be expected that a simpleminded platform like Twitter would appeal to a bonehead like Trump as a means of expressing his negative nonsense without much regard for grammar or spelling.
39
Michelle Obama was right. We still need to strive to take the high road against those who work in the gutter.
16
Good article about Maureen's former close friend and how he communicates to his base. A few things come to mind about Trump's tweets and his "Bund" rallies:
It is said that the advent of radio in Germany helped Hitler come to power and the concept of
propaganda spread to the masses;
2. Hitler did make some important promises to the German people that appealed to their inner selfishness;
3. These promises included a resurrected economy, healthcare coverage for all and volkswagens for all;
4. Hitler loved scapegoating and deflecting blame to excuse his failures;and
5. Selfish aggrandizement and self adulation were critical to Hitler's propaganda program.
Here Trump has used the digital media as the centerpiece of his way to communicate to his base. Trump makes grand promises he has no ability to fulfill , loves to scapegoat and ridicule the disabled , women and minorities, and now encourages his mostly white base that it is fine to be selfish in making America great.
Instead of 1000 points of light and Kennedy's exhortation for public service we get " I don't care, Why do you care?" Hitler had the same attitude about Jews, gypsies, gays, crippled and mentally infirm.
Sorry but the similarities are inescapable. Trump read that book of Hitler's speeches to the point it became his bible.
54
He didn't read Hitler's book. Somebody condensed it for him into a one-page memo.
17
incorrect- first wife said it was at his bedside and read continuously; Trump verified he got it as a gift
Good column as usual and negativity feeds on negativity for sure. Trump is everything you describe him to be and more. He is a hater who has found an outlet to spew out his hatred, racism, and bigotry to the world and Twitter allows this. However, all his tweets are a matter of record to bring him down.
I am guilty of being negative about Trump but that is because there is nothing positive to say about the man-boy or man-baby. But what is positive is the reaction to him.
More people are denouncing his cruelty, his racism, his hatred of women, his hatred of mankind in particular and in general, his hatred of our democracy, our American justice institutions, and his belief that he is above all laws of our land. All positive reactions to a negative charge emanating from our WH and our first 'Russian' president.
21
More people may be speaking out, as you say, but my take on it is that the number of these people is far too low, considering the danger he poses. Virtually everyone who voted for Trump still supports him, and the vast majority of Republicans in Congress will not speak one ill word of him. We will see what November brings.
23
Venting can be healthy. I’d rather a politician say what he thinks than hide behind a fake veneer of civility.
8
Obama's civility is not fake; he's a truly classy guy.
3
"But is he making the whole country meaner, coarser and less empathetic? Or was the pump primed for a political figure like him because the internet had already made America meaner, coarser and less empathetic?"
The internet acts a lubricant, sending us to hell faster, and making it harder to change course. We are all flawed in one way or another, but our leaders are supposed to bring out the best in us, not the worst.
25
excuse me, but have you read your columns for the last 10 years? Talk about mean spirited. All news is good news as long as they spell your name right, right?
36
The queen of snark bemoaning Twitter meanness! But I guess hers is just “the cool-kid arch style of making fun of someone.”
26
Addiction is a brain decease that has a genetic component which when put in the right environment and nurtured with reinforcement can cause the brain to rewire itself into a damaged organ. Trump is definitely an addict and his addiction has damaged his brain. He has all of the symptoms; he lies obsessively, his choices are not grounded in logic, he needs to be constantly stimulated by conflict and of course, as with all addicts, he is narcissistic and consumed by the hedonistic cycle of pleasuring himself. He could be addicted to anything or multiple things, including drugs.
27
Exactly right.
As someone who lived in NYC for the seventies and the 80s, Trump's behavior may be amplified because of social media, but he's the same guy he's always been: an obnoxious, narcissistic, bloviating con man to whom the rules do not apply. Twitter may give him license to broadcast his shtick, but it's really no different than his antics being plastered on Page Six back in the days before the nation as a whole had ever heard of him. The media loves spectacle. We have countless "reality" TV shows to prove it. The problem is, many Americans can't tell the difference (or don't want to know the difference) between manufactured reality and the actual thing. They care not about the outtakes on the cutting room floor. They care not about the scripted conflicts between players. They just want to believe, and believe they do. I'll tell you what: the person to whom we should squarely point the finger for the mess we're in today is not Jack Dorsey of Twitter, but Mark Burnett of The Apprentice. If a Hall of Shame is ever erected, he'd be a prominent figure, along with Trump, his Cabinet, and Rupert Murdoch.
108
For his degradation of broadcast journalism, Roger Ailes should also be included the Hall of Shame.
10
In absolute agreement and I will add the judges who declared Fox's right to lie to the American public as a first admentment decision. I believe the installation of the ex Fox executive as Communications Director at the WH is the end of us. Sad.
8
It's funny the media, social or news are bemoaning the beast they created. It's a wiggly world we live in when Trumpf takes credit for reuniting children from their parents he separated in the first place. Or when the media decries Trump gaming the media system that the media helped create because he was ratings and click bait gold.
26
I can't read your criticism of Trump without thinking of your contribution, while small, to his ascendancy. Your unrelenting attacks on Hillary helped her opponent. Sure she was worthy of valid criticism but many of your complaints were contrived and petty and clouded by personal animus. I'm sure you'd say let the chips fall where they may. They've fallen and they're covered in slime.
128
Thank you, 1640s, for saying what I was thinking. Our journalists have smeared and slimed Hillary for 30? 40? years and counting. They did not treat her candidacy with even a tiny bit of respect, not even a shred -- the things we could have learned about her platform and her plans for the presidency but for the press!!!! Meanwhile, Trump was approached as if he were a genuine statesman and his messages -- lies, damned lies, and distortions -- were dutifully transmitted as if Trump had style and substance.
14
Trump been a cheesy wack job with the his bitter, trolling, vindictive hatefulness and constant feuds since the 80's. Don't blame Twitter.
36
But twitter amplified him.
3
We must push away our laptops & hand held devices, leaving social media behind, as the catharsis we had hoped for has drained us, leaving only the trolls to dole out sustained vitriol in response to our outrage & frustration.
We have all become the soapbox orators & sandwich board wearers we witnessed on the city streets of our youth. Suddenly all those foreign films from the fifties & sixties filled with clowns, jugglers, urchins, hustlers & solitary observers seem realized in our daily lives. We have punked ourselves.
8
Let's not forget one of main reasons trump's brother became an alcoholic and later killed himself: after following his dream and becoming an airline pilot, donald and his father derided him as a "glorified bus driver."
35
I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head with this column. Schoolyard bullies have their followers and those who observe them with fascination while trying to stay out of the line of fire. And, of course, their victims. Addicts addicted to the addict, as you put it. This bully has a lot of power in the present; in the future (provided we have one) he and his enablers will be found out for what they are: crass, ignorant and very, very destructive.
18
I truly believe Trump is a sociopath. The sociopath never takes accountability for the hurt and destruction created, instead insists it's the other's fault or everything is fake. Trump has shown himself to be morally bankrupt and without a conscience. America, we are in deep trouble with this bad man at the helm.
44
I'm telling everyone I know to vote a straight Democratic ticket in November. If the progressive base shows up en masse, we can defeat the GOP. We have no choice.
12
What I find amusing is that, after Dowd's article venting on how Trump is addicted to Twitter, you see Dowd inviting us to follow her on Twitter!
21
I find it ironic, hypocritical, and not one bit amusing.
1
Nothing is meaner than the Times comment section toward people who are not Democrats. It’s the epitome of intolerance.
5
When one enables a person like Donald Trump to degrade our country and our lives, one deserves the criticism. Why not be an adult and actually think about why it’s directed at them instead of moaning about the unfairness of it all.
6
Well deserved, I'm afraid.
2
So depressing, yet so true.
4
It is telling that Twitter gives carte blanche to President Trump since without Twitter, Trump could not control the message as he does. He tweets something absurd, tv talking heads parse for hours what he means, and many of us tune in to confirm our fears that the President is as unqualified and intemperate as we worried he was. Meanwhile, the dismantling of the federal government's social services continues through incompetence and malice.
17
Yes, the danger of djt and others like him must be part of the equation.
2
July 2018: Maureen Dowd, whose newspaper helped get Trump elected, decides to blame social media instead for Trump. On the same day, she discovers the coarsening of America, which observers of the culture have discussed since the 1970s.
21
He has never been in on the joke.
4
Hopefully our nation will elect a Democratic Party controlled House and Senate in November 2018. Why??
If the Republican Party controls the House and Senate, the destructive and bullying behavior by President Trump will not only continue, but will get much worse as there will be no check and no balance.
7
Team Trump thinks the base support holding at 90% approval is a winning strategy? Losing 10% of his razor thin margins in the rust belt will cost him the presidency (unless the democrats run a socialist). Since the base is locked in, why not stop the trash talking, insulting, hateful and bullying tweets and start acting presidential? Maybe he doesn't want a second term, and just wants to do as much damage as possible in his civil war on liberals before he is free again to sleep with all the women who throw themselves at him.
6
'On its company blog, Twitter said it was inspired by Cortico, a nonprofit research organization that is trying to measure “conversational health” with four indicators: shared attention, shared reality, variety of opinion and receptivity. Not exactly the attributes we see in Trump.'
No, but also not the attributes we see in most humans. A Nobel Laureate in physics who specialises in, say, statistical thermodynamics at temperatures just above absolute zero, might be expected to know more about the subject than most of us.
But experts have become devalued by the herd. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone thinks their opinion deserves to be heard. Everyone thinks their opinion counts, matters, deserves respect.
Trump could not get the grades to get into Penn so he went to Fordham and transferred for his second year. Majoring in real estate. Real estate.
Real estate should not be an academic subject in an undergrad program. We might as well include tiddly winks.
Trump's IQ at best was in the low 120s when he was in his intellectual prime. Now he's in his early seventies, his IQ would be 110 to 115 tops.
America would have been better off with Koko in charge.
11
Funny you should use a play on the title of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” for your column on July 7. Having just read Hemingway’s book (after a trip to Spain earlier this year), I have been thinking that Trump has many qualities of Pablo, the impulsive, ruthless guerilla leader who has become tired and afraid after the long civil war. Pablo “trolls” Robert Jordan (the main character) and others in the band to divert them from their mission and to maintain his own position. Pablo spins a “wheel” that Robert can’t resist mounting, though each time Jordan determines that he won’t get on again. The wheel is Pablo’s way of manipulating and sowing doubt among his guerilla group. Jordan says “it is a thing that … those who are truly mean or cruel ride until they die. It goes around and up and the swing is never quite the same and then it comes around down. Let it swing, he thought. They will not get me onto it again”. We should all resist getting on Trump’s wheel…
5
Finally! I am called "The Luddite" in my house. This, as I type this on my "smart phone". Social Media is breaking us and it is changing our discourse in ways that are most certainly damaging to our Democrocy. The Russians were way ahead of the game and we are now saddled with a 12 yo bully in the drivers seat of the most powerful country in the world. I am fighting an uphill battle but am getting close to using the nuclear option in my house and banning phone use to its true ffunction A phone. Wish me luck.
16
The supreme disappointment is that Twitter does not censure Trump by shutting down his Twitter account. Creating a stupid double standard for him by exempting him with the “World Leader” status is even worse. Not even other megalomaniacal Dictators are as mean-spirited and reckless as Trump. And, yes, to answer your question he does bring out the very worst in America, an evil example to all mean-spirited tendencies.
We need to join together to either ban Trump from Twitter or ban Twitter altogether for it is negatively affecting us all.
16
“Trump, of course, is a troll — both by temperament and by habit. His tweets and offhand taunts are the very essence of trolling — the lies, the scorn, the invective, the trash talk, and the rabid non sequiturs of an angry, aggrieved, isolated, and deeply self-absorbed adolescent who lives in a self-constructed bubble and gets the attention he craves from bashing his enemies and trailing clouds of outrage and dismay in his path.”
End of story. Stop here. And a darn good column Maureen.
11
"...His tweets propel the story on cable news and shape the narrative for reporters — who are addicted to the First Addict."
And that second addiction is becoming the more destructive because it places a bullhorn in front of this mentally sick individual's words and amplifies them considerably, and plays into his sick routine. Thank you, Fox News and all of the weak imitators chasing your formula.
9
After reading the "Elton John" remarks in Montana, one has the sense that he is losing touch with reality. This is the mind that is now dealing with Putin and Kim, neither of which is nuts. This is less and less funny as the days go by.
22
Whom. Neither of whom is nuts.
6
I've never willingly looked at a Trump tweet and never will. It would be great if everyone would stop showing them to me. They are worse than worthless, and full of lies as near as I can tell. STOP PAYING ATTENTION to the giant orange-haired infant. I refuse to listen to his voice; there's a volume control and I USE IT.
8
Twitter is a disease. its not conversational, its one sided. That company bears a lot of the negative discourse in this country. Its clear that this company would have let Hitler have an account too.
5
It would behoove us to keep in mind that the root word of Twitter is twit. And Trump is the head twit, nitwit, and full of, um, vitriol. The only way to fight back is with ridicule, and he provides so much opportunity. Given his last example of pour spelling, I suggest this t shirt--- I can't take it any mour. Trump is a mouron.
16
Appearing to be or being mean is the core of Trump's appeal. It's the main reason that America's biggest problem is not Trump, in spite of how unfit, disgusting, and dangerous he is. Our main problem is the people who support him. They want public policy to express mean-spiritedness and hatred towards the people they've been told to hate.
15
It is doubtful that even a writer of cheap fiction could have conceived a presidential character more improbable than Trump.
14
My husband and I curled up on the sofa last night to watch an old movie, "Back to the Future." The first scene that the character "Biff" appeared -- a sneering, bullying dope who takes no responsibility, blames others and gleefully demeans others -- we both stopped chomping our popcorn, looked at each other with eyes wide open and said in unison, "Donald Trump!"
21
he's like the rotted carcass of a tree falling I the woods .... if I'm not there to hear it.. it doesn't make a sound.
5
Twitter should have a time out for addicts like there is in a family for difficult children. Trump is an addictive bully as mentioned and should only be allowed to use it once a day.
3
Trump is a bully, on Twitter or off. As is typical with bullies, he bosses others around and insults them to mask his own insecurities. Deep inside, Trump is a very small man. Liars usually are and the man lies all day and night. If enough Republicans cared, they could knock him off his perch. But when you got GOP senators going to Russia on the Fourth of July, you got to wonder just how deep the Russian connection goes throughout the whole party. The GOP is willing to weaken America for their own financial gains.
13
Trump speaks in fraud, but tweets in psychosis.
Social media is built for Trump, because the two most defining lifelong characteristics of Trump are that he is a fraud and he is psychotic. Trump has always been known to be a complete fraudster, even as a child. But, Trump is also highly psychotic, meaning delusional. Yes, Trump tells lies constantly that he knows are lies. That is the fraud part. But, he also says a ton of stuff that he believes to be true, which are demonstrably untrue. This is the psychotic part, and the part that should scare everyone to death. Trump commits most of his fraud when he speaks, but he is mainly psychotic when he tweets. Pay attention much more to the tweets, because this is where his severe mental illness is on display, primarily his delusion and paranoia in particular. Trump is dangerously psychotic. He needs to be in treatment, not the Oval Office.
18
Maureen,
You really have no standing to decry meanness in our culture. You have contributed heavily to it over the years. Your ridicule, sexism (to both male and female politicians) and just plain pointless nastiness have contributed considerably to to mess we are now in. Trump is the natural endpoint of the pundit culture over the past 25 or so years. When we had elected officials who were trying to do something positive for the country, you couldn’t be bothered with any substance. You just ridiculed them personally, and you helped set the tone for coverage of them. A few examples—“Obambi,” “Al Gore is so feminine he is almost lactating,” and your endless attacks on Hillary. Don’t kid yourself. You own this moment. You helped make it possible.
44
Mr. Lanier appears to be a sweet, smart and fun kind of guy, but he also is removed from reality. The reality is this, our water smells of chlorine, our food is less wholesome. The oceans are getting dirtier, the weather more extreme. Education of our children is a sad unequal thing with educators on the whole less knowledgable in math and science than ever. Work intrudes on the private lives of the citizens.
Meanwhile, the majority of the population searches online for a sense of who they are in this onslaught of color, sound and fury competing for attention. Every click sends a penny to the big facilitators.That includes videos of cute cats and great recipes.
Our current president is the head of a clown parade going down virtual 5th Avenue. The whole thing is an illusion.
The reality is still this, our water smells of chlorine, our food is less wholesome. The oceans are getting dirtier, the weather more extreme. Education of our children is a sad unequal thing with educators on the whole less knowledgable in math and science than ever. Work intrudes on the private lives of the citizens.
4
And this misanthropic cipher sits in the Oval Office. Sometimes it seems like Hitler running Germany, notwithstanding the awful uniqueness of what he did.
7
While Dowd’s commentary focuses on the President, her more important and far reaching point is the uncontrolled, unedited and (perhaps) unforeseen/unforeseeable consequences of the social media firms operating these addictive tools.
This is a problem our country and our smart tech and (true, professional) journalism industries should be able to tackle. Regrettably, the tech gurus who invented and operate these tools have neither the economic or regulatory incentives nor the vision to tackle these social media communication problems.
5
It is not just Twitter that feeds the addict in this negative way. It's the media in general, endlessly repeating - reTweeting Trump's trollisms for our disgust or cheering on, depending which side you are on.
Not just Twitter but the whole media is feeding the troll. And one thing that should never happen is to feed the troll as it encourages the troll to be the troll.
But then media is about making money and retweeting the troll gets eyes. We are spinning down the rabbit hole together. In order to keep my sanity I can only skim Trump's and his fellow trolls' "news" events and twits or ignore them. Even if I don't know of their latest offenses, the events will continue. It's not as if I am missing out on some mysterious logic of this Administration.
5
The world would become a better place if Twitter disappeared tomorrow, putting it in the same category as malaria, brain cancer, tapeworms, and salmonella.
12
Great article!
"His tweets propel the story on cable news and shape the narrative for reporters — who are addicted to the First Addict.
For Trump, who is also an attention addict, that is about as holistic as it’s going to get."
Clearly the soul of America is being corrupted by both Twitterian and Trumpian addiction. In November, Americans have a chance to contain both by voting for candidates who are not only aware of both but also have the courage, imagination and integrity to take appropriate action in both realms. In the interim I look forward to articles by you, Maureen, and other NYT writers that help your readers do exactly that.
2
The political elephants would rather be feared than loved, and the political donkeys are just the opposite. MoDo is once again the mistress of the obvious.
Niccolò Machiavelli would be so, so proud.
Having been a victim of bullies in the school yard and the play grounds of the projects, I've long since lost my thirst for revenge.
The leverage of this administration and others like him around the world is death. Allow me to suggest 'the wall' is not about immigration. It is about having an excuse to execute anyone who climbs over it, even children because that is what his faithful truly believe. After all, what leaves them in doubt?
5
Remarkably insightful observations by Jaron Lanier. He should be offered the opportunity to expound on them before a joint session of Congress.
Computers are fascinating and addictive. ( Modern slot machines, by the way, are computers. You don't play them so much as they play you. "Play" in this context obviously meaning "toy with.") This thing call "singularity," which is pretty much the ultimate goal of computer research and design, is the poison pill of mankind. When man is obsolete, man will be disposed of...actively, not passively. Twitter is, in this quest, the digital equivalent of the "small step for a man; a giant step for mankind" with, of course, "computers" standing in for the final word of that quote .
Trump's Iphone or Samsung Galaxy or whatever model is clutched in his sweaty palm controls him. Your smartphone controls you. Once you understand that, and it doesn't scare you, you officially become a full-fledged contributor to the coming extinction of man.
Even the NYT is involved, turning to AI to assist in the monitoring/approval/rejection of Comments contributors, rather than hiring the [wo]man-power to handle the volume in its laudable efforts to maintain civility, as well intellectually stimulating dialog in this sidebar. If this experiment becomes as wildly successful for the Times as Twitter has become for trolls, a bit of the NYT's soul will be lost.
Do computers dream of electric sheep? is not an idle question.
2
I have no twitter account. I have a Facebook account, but with only six reluctantly chosen "friends", and haven't looked at it for weeks. It's not that I think I have nothing to say; it's that I have nothing to say to the whole world that hasn't been said a hundred times over by thousands of philosophers, kings and cabbages. So, surely the world must be passing me by! I'm missing SO much! Hardly. The Internet is a wonderful source of knowledge and entertainment, unimagined by my generation during its salad days, and by filtering out the legions and tons of junk under which it's being buried, its real potential is realized. A Trump tweet is junk almost by definition, so he's filtered out. The smartest man with the biggest apartment, the best memory and the best words... filtered out?? Try it. You'll like it.
3
"...we must ask who we are, if we can see accounts of infants snatched from their parents and returned covered in lice, and not worry about our country's soul."
What's with the "we," Maureen? I don't live in that country, and neither do you. Even as Benedict Donald's larceny and treachery and acts of downright evil multiply, he can travel to North Dakota or Montana and spew his hatred in front of thousands of adoring, like-minded trolls. How and why is this possible? Because those knuckleheads live in a country the rest of us have a moral obligation not to recognize.
"The United States of America" is dead, and yet Blue America continues to cravenly whistle past its graveyard. The moral chasm between Red and Blue America is unbridgeable. It's time for America's rebirth, and secession now appears to be the only option. No need for a shooting war to achieve this--the Reds will be more than glad to see us go so they'll be free to pursue their morally bankrupt agenda unimpeded.
And there's an economic imperative as well. It's been 20 months since the Red Luddites took control of government, and there is still no plan for infrastructure upgrades anywhere to be seen on the horizon. Why on earth would the blue states of the west coast and the northeast acquiesce to their slow strangulation at the hands of Red America? A little revolution every 242 years is not such a bad thing.
3
Maureen, you and Lucy can both put out your shingles that the doctor is in!
At least in the Peanuts comics, Lucy is more rational in her diagnosis than your commentary.
The PBS reference of a child in US custody going 85 days without a bath was by the mother after being deported.
3
What soul? The reality is that most of Trump's "policies" already existed; he just found people to manipulate them into the most damaging extensions possible that hurt humans and environment with equal fierceness. The conditions were already in place; they just needed someone to carry out the intent in extreme.
Right now, millions of people are reading Trump's vitriolic tweets and saying pretty much the same things the Germans said in the 1930s. "He's the leader, he must surely know what he is talking about." These are the ones who will continue to vote against their own self-interest ...things like healthcare and jobs...and will try to keep him in office even though his platform is destroying their way of life.
Social media can only take partial credit for creating this monster; We, the People, own the rest of it.
In a decade or two, will we be able to point to a single moment and say, "this is the moment when the wheels came off America and our Republic, one nation, indivisible, disappeared?
https://wifelyperson.blogspot.com/
6
The negativity, although natural, must be resisted because it is what they want, and it does not help. For myself, I assume that all pro-Trump tweets are just Russian bots and do not engage with them. The vast majority actually are.
I also make a point to reach out to people in person - help the mother who can’t get the stroller up the curb, hold the door open for the man wheeling his bike in, etc. Be civil and kind to one another on a human level.
Finally, doing something positive will lower your stress level more than writing a hateful tweet. Register people to vote. Work for a candidate in the mid-terms. So far we are still a democracy and the voting booth is the only way to change the current situation.
5
To end shallowness on Twitter, the standard should be changed to set a minimum of 500 words per post. Also, the posts must contain grammatically correct sentences and begin with a thesis and end with a logical conclusion. Trump's head would explode at the first try in this basic exercise of high school composition (which I learned as a New York City public school student-Edward R. Murrow HS).
9
Maureen, good article but we sort of already knew Trump was a very nasty WMP (white male politician) even before he ran. All the information needed was in the proceeds of his six or seven bankruptcy proceedings where hard working Americans were stiffed for the pay they were owed for various work at various failed Trump enterprises. Bankruptcy has always been one of the foundations of Trump enterprises. In Trump's case, his history defined him as truly bankrupt. In spite of that, you wrote some light fluff pieces that almost endorsed him. And, your brother LOVES Trump. Trump gets a free pass for being bankrupt. America loves Trump. So, what does that mean Maureen? It means Trump is not the problem. Social Media is not the problem. The Problem:
Too many generations of people who have had it too easy to be able to understand how to be truly thankful and humble is the problem. ie. Americans.
16
Mo, it seems you may also be one of the reporters addicted to Trump.
8
Maureen, do you still think things would have been worse with Hillary Clinton?
18
"Let she who is without sin cast the first stone." This is not her first fusillade. Ms. Dowd calls for a better, nicer Tweet from Trump, but nary a word about the milions of other Twitter malcontents these day, including her own ilk.She is unaware that her own super-tweeted comments, not subjected to 80 characters, are more full of poison than Trump's tweets. The Tolling Bell of Atonement rings for her and all the errants who see all the evil but their own.
6
Trump, used as a verb, or a noun, pretty much sums up this man as a caricature: "To trump is to outrank or defeat someone or something, often in a highly public way is interesting". Or better yet: "In a game of cards, trumps is the suit which is chosen to have the highest value in one". So here we have arguably the most powerful man in the world, running the most important country, and his skill-set is honed in a sociopath's world view of a card game. America, you created this curse and our freedoms are cultivating his demons.
4
Easy! Boycott Twitter! Never used it! It’s a C grade Fox News! Sad how everyone from grannies to corporations hopped on board in an effort to be trendy. I have better things to do - like feed the chickens and wash the car!
13
It's not a strange twist. Trump is a dry drunk--all of the characteristics of person with alcoholism, without the actual drinking and I expect that there are several in that family with these characteristics to a lesser extent perhaps. And while Twitter is a bully sniper's dream platform, Mr. Trump has been what he is for a long time.
15
In the olden days insults led to duels. Time to revisit that splendid gentlemanly way of defending one’s honor and reputation.
2
Gresham's Law in economics states that "bad money" (e.g., counterfeit currency or debased alloys) will drive "good money" out of circulation.
We've been treated to powerful examples of the equivalent effect in political discourse: high volume trumps low volume; alt-facts trump reality; nastiness trumps civility; ignorance trumps learning.
The culmination is that politics trumps societal cohesiveness.
2
Interesting that Dowd is concerned about Trump's meanness. Does she recall at all her relentless comments about Hillary Clinton. Dowd is the quintessential mean girl in the cafeteria.
13
Ms. Dowd, where were you when the rest of the nation who still has critical thinking skills were warning everyone else about Donald Trump. You were writing articles about Hillary Clinton. So who is the Trump troll here? You're a Johnny come lately washout. Besides, anyone who watches the news knows who Trump is and is also aware of the dangers of the tribal mentality of twitter and the cowards that hide behind it. Naturally, you decide to write about this now.
Get a real job and start paying attention.
14
is it just me, or has the tone of Maureen's column been changing of late? In this column in particular, there is an absence of "snark" and instead a tone characteristic of reasoned argument. Has Maureen's inner troll been shamed away by today's prevalence of digital rage, social anger and vitriol? I hope so; I appreciate the Maureen I have lately read and hope she is here for the long run.
Practice your critique.
6
I am not a twitter user and, for the most part, I skip the news articles that highlight twitter exchanges. Still this administration is happy to publically make the same derogatory statements and then bask in the audience response. I wish that when individuals, businesses, even governments are insulted, their first reply would be “be best”. Then if the victim wants to present a defense, fine, but start with the First Lady’s slogan.
Remember when Marrine thought Trump was better than Clinton. When, calling some of his followers and Trump deplorable was inexcusable. What is separation of parents and children, if not deplorable?
8
One of Maureen Dowd's better columns. Yes, the addictions spawned by the Internet, especially by the clunkily named "social media," can be poisonous, not only to the user but also to the nation. However, perhaps the best thing to be said about Trump's addiction to Twitter is that it reminds us on an almost daily basis who this president really is: callow, shallow and fallow. Dowd might devote her next column to following up on her observation about reporters who are "addicted to the First Addict." That would require, of course, that she first look hard in the mirror at herself.
7
I believe it started when Trump questioned Obama's citizenship and then continued when Obama roasted Trump at the WH Reporters dinner. There are many people who are dissatisfied with the politicians of today who would never vote for Trump or the Socialist Democrats and are sick and tired of the animosity of both groups.
1
"On the occasion of America’s 242nd birthday, we must ask who we are, if we can see accounts of infants snatched from their parents and returned covered in lice, and not worry about our country’s soul."
After 242 years, one would think the answer to that question would be answerable and obvious.
For those of you that the answer remains mystifying and elusive, here's a clue.
That obese man in the white house with the complexion of a melted creamsicle and sporting a state of the art combover with enough hairspray to punch it's own hole in the ozone layer, you elected him as your president.
Not that those physical characteristics make him a bad person, per se. I'm just pointing you in the right direction so you can answer the very perplexing question posed by the columnist.
Well, yes, of course, but by that logic one could point to the fact that Obama was president, too, and for two terms.
So what are we?
Is Trump just a one off fluke, a self inflicted practical joke gone horribly wrong?
Well, if it makes you feel better, you can go with that.
But we all know better, don't we?
6
This is rich from the Queen of Mean. What significant relationships do you have, Maureen? President Trump has a wife and family who adore him as well as millions of voters. Where is your fan club?
1
@ Sue Mee
"President Trump has a wife and family who adore him"
If you actually, in fact, believe that Melania 'adores' him, then you really haven't been paying attention.
NOT my president
8
"Terrific" and "Terrify" come from the same meaning.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Trump uses Twitter to both terrify and be terrific. Whatever he Tweets resonates in the media, and he dominates the news.
When will the Democrats learn how to use Twitter and the media to grab the attention away from Trump? Democrats are still clueless.
Why don't the Democrats hold idea contests to come up with the best ways to out Tweet Trump, to trap Trump to win in November?
3
it's not just twitter, it's Facebook and the comments on articles like this one in the Times, WaPo, and almost every digital newspaper in America. My first experience with public opinions by nonpublic persons was Speakers Corner in London, England. It was sort of a joke back then. And, it wasn't anonymous. Now it seems that the latest opioid is OCPD by which we are addicted.
There must be other topics than Trump-related ones to cover or comment about. Media seem to say one day that the man is not all there and the next day he is everywhere in the news,
I recently read an article written just as Trump was taking office. It predicted everything we are seeing and one of the key take-aways was that our Prez probably has severe dyslexia. He doesn't read because he cant read. So then I started looking at him in that way. And I thought of a smart kid who can't read (back in the '50's) and started to act out and bully and fight to cover up and compensate. Then compound this situation with family money and it exploded into Trump. Social media made him worse, but the seeds were sown long ago. But we must continue to seek to understand his appeal to a sadly large percentage of our fellow Americans, and work on THAT aspect of the problem. Trump at 72 is not changing, but maybe as a country we can.
2
Of course, Trump is a school yard bully on twitter. But to his supporters, he’s their bully. He’s someone who’s standing up to the other bullies who have been victimizing them for decades. And, if you think they don’t have a point, you haven’t been paying attention. Is he psychologically addicted to the positive reinforcement of his negativity? Probably. But strategically, Trump’s negativity is designed to break civility, norms, people, and institutions. Why? Because breaking stuff creates disorder and disorder calls for order and order calls for “strong leadership” that “only Trump” can provide. For Trump “that is about as holistic as it’s going to get.”
4
The media is also addicted to Trumpy, tweet or no tweet. The media is so addicted to him that empty podium's with his name were displayed for hours on end. His rants get more coverage than any of the policy speeches by prior presidents. When the whodunnit 'Who Killed America' is written, the plot line will end with 'the media did it'. One of the most prolific Trumpy fans is Dowd. She writes about him whether or not she's anything significant to say about him. Her fixation on him is total.
6
All of us know how bad Trump is. The question is, what do we do with him?
3
Trump is the backlash of people offended by elitists who believe as the only intelligent life form, they and they alone should prescribe laws and regulations for everyone else. It’s too bad Trump was the successful champion of those aggrieved and ultimately not as dumb as citizens like Ms. Dowd dismiss, but perhaps in the next round a smart but and more eloquent, respectful leader will be elected.
As a special service to Donald Trump, something I'm sure will make him feel even more entitled and inflated, Twitter has freed the beast. He (along with the others who use his account — the ones who can spell) can say what he wants, no matter if it's offensive, racist, xenophobic, or just plain lies. He has been given yet another privilege that mere mortals have been denied.
Maybe as a special service to Americans, and to the literate people of the world, Twitter should install a truth meter on Trump's account. Sort of like Snopes, it could grade his statements regarding our government and its employees from accurate to 'sorta' to outright lies. Sorting out all the contradictions and nonsense might be a problem but if they're not sure they can go with 'lie'. With Trump, they'd be 99% to be right.
9
A sad shallow man.
A fraud with nothing to bring to society or culture other than a spirit of pure mean and greed.
I don't feel sorry for him.
The fact that the people who support him do speaks volumes of what we are as a country.
The fact that the media lets themselves be controlled by him makes it worse.
6
For those who think that Twitter is somehow neutral, that because it predates Trump’s rise, it has little to blame for how he, or anyone else, uses it, consider two powerful phenomena outlined by two of the most influential thinkers on the power of media to emerge in the 20th century.
First, Marshall McLuhan, who coined the phrase—and a body of scholarship based on the idea—“The medium is the message.” Though McLuhan died long before Twiiter’s invention, and his work was about television, Twitter and Facebook prove his points brilliantly. Because narcissism and an insatiable appetite for celebrity are the essence of who and what Trump is, we can safely say that Twitter—and all mass media that allowed him to manufacture his outsize persona—created Trump (and vice versa—Twitter is addicted to Trump, too). His gargantuan appetite has turned Twitter into an extension of himself. Media scholars will be busy with this one for decades, if we survive this obscenity of a presidency.
The second is from another brilliant, though indescribably immoral, thinker, Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda, 1933-45, speaking about free speech and the media.
“This will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy—that it gave its deadly enemies the means by which it was destroyed.”
Twitter represents the perfect distillation of these ideas. The mass media made Hitler’s, and Trump’s, ascents possible, because each consumed and became both medium and message.
5
It's hard to deny there's been a real shift in America's attitude to just about everything these days.
There's also little doubt that a lot of this is coming from the top; and one look at the photos of Donald Trump's sneering face or mean-spirited and vituperative tweets, that have alienated both friend and foe alike, will readily testify to that.
And then there's the internet -- which allows people to delve into the deepest darkest part of their souls, often anonymously, to say the meanest and most hurtful things possible.
All in all this translates into the downward trajectory this country has embarked upon.
So, the question now isn't how we got there, it's will we ever recover?
7
Before the democrats and left throw stones they should look to see if they live in glass houses. Prior to the election, op-eds in the NYT said that a typical Trump supporter were unemployed, undereducated white guys with missing teeth or teeth needing repair. A photo that accompanied one, showed a white man in overalls leaning up against a wall. One comment, last week, said it was big business that put him in office. The red wave that ran across the nation apparently is a bunch of those white guys mentioned above or big businesses in disguise. After the election, the anti-Trumpites took to another attack. His son is given an inappropriate label. The NYT didn't originate the label but carried a news item almost daily about it for a while. Melania was called a hooker by a NYT’s reporter but apparently was not fired. The Times may say no, no, no, but their reactions say yes, yes, yes. I guess a NYT’s no means yes. Then Ivanka is called a crude name by some celebrity and a severed head that represented Trump, is held up by another. Name calling and labeling just keeps going on and on. The op-eds are filled with names and labels. One op-ed regular contributor must have a rolodex of names. One of his contributions, littered with names, contained five in just one paragraph. Name calling is now a common attack on that red wave. So if we are taking about making America mean, the anti-Trumpites do live in glass houses as they hurl rocks.
1
Just imagine Air Force One full of bumper stickers. That’s the image I have in my head of the Trump-Twitter relationship.
4
I’m not on Twitter, but as a retired clinical psychologist, I’d suggest Trump’s “Twitter Mania” is part of a larger symptom complex related to both Trump’s need for attention and desire to triumph and sadistically humiliate.
There’s always something “feeding” an addiction. And in Trump we see an Egomaniac with an insatiable desire for attention, adulation - via constant self-praise and sadistic attacks in an effort to prop up a bottomless insecurity.
In the process he is committing heinous acts of cruelty. His abominable behavior must be stopped. He is destroying civil society here and common decency across the globe.
4
Trump is the leader of a cult. Twitter amplifies and feeds the invective he spews in a way we haven’t seen before. A dangerous time for our democracy.
5
Don't forget the media's culpability in all of this. For generations, the media has been editorializing every President's words with inherent bias. Love him or hate him, Mr. Trump has managed to find a way to go right past the media and speak to the people directly.
Interesting column in many ways ...
Check, taking no responsibility for one's own snarkiness.
Check, criticize the mean spirit of twitterdom and yet note at the end of the column: "I invite you to follow me on Twitter ...."
Geesh ...
8
We are our own worst enemy.
Lied to throughout our lives.
The blind leading the blind.
2
Don’t you think the media feeds Trump’s addiction by publishing his tweets.
And it’s the nastiest, most mean.spirited tweets that get published and shared on social media the most. It feeds Trump’s addiction - and delights his rabid supporters who think this is all good.
4
Maureen, I play Bach everyday. Bach is democracy. Everybody gets a chance to be heard and the musician is like the host at a dinner party. Those were the values of the society that gave us rationalism and the sense that everybody belonged, or would belong. Social media isn't polyphony, like Bach. Very ugly sounds, really.
2
Twitter has to take the responsibility to clean up its platform from Trols, it can not hide behind the world leaders. The well being of the society is more important than a President - President will come and go but the damage to society is long lasting. This can cripple the well being of a country for centuries - look to the countries with dictetorship. The great countries like Iran, Syria, Iraq were damaged by destroying the moral codes of the society, and now close to 100 years they are not able to recover from their fall. The same can happen, if American society become devoid of empathy, full of hate where there is no scope of dialogue only Trolling is the mechanism to share conflicting ideas. Twitter has to take the responsibility to restore the civility in the public space.
6
Trump, the "attention addict" is about to discover that his headline-grabbing travels to trash NATO, cozy up to Putin, and curtsy before the Queen of England have been usurped by the rescue of twelve boys and their coach.
Turns out, the world does still love children more than it loves an aging autocrat behaving like a petulant child.
3
I just don’t understand the need to be mean. To make fun of someone. Years ago at my teenage son’s lacrosse game, I witnessed the opposing team’s goalie being bullied by a group of home team fans. I didn’t intervene as I should have. To this day I feel guilt and remorse for my lapse of judgment and empathy. This event that occurred years ago has had a profound effect on me. I simply do not understand those that are active trolls, those that profit from the trolling, and those that sit by the sidelines and allow it to happen. Do unto others is a thing of the past. What have we become?
16
You don't have to be an alcoholic to suffer from untreated alcoholism. Trump's behavior has all the characteristics of an angry dry drunk.
16
The primary writer of Trump’s ‘ The Art Of The Deal’ is Tony Schwartz. He spent countless hours getting to understand Trump. He saw the private Trump. Almost like therapy. During the campaign Schwartz warned Americans that a Trump presidency would be the end of civilization as we know it. How prescient. How frightening!!
14
We know, Maureen Dowd, that our president is a tweet troll addicted to daily unabated anger and bullying on his phone cyberwidget. He and his low info bigoted loyalists are mean and angry, just as he is. As long as Trump remains our president is as long as the bell is tolling for America (h/t Donne).
5
Yea right- everybody's an angel till they start tweeting.
1
Thank you, Maureen. You have nailed this one perfectly.
If we cannot get rid of this idiot could someone please, please, please take his phone away?
2
Ms. Dowd has the civility sads? That's her problem and hers alone, and unworthy of Times coverage because it's just not news, and thus not worthy of publication. Remind me again: why wasn't she axed after the Maryjane Meltdown? She's fatuous and self-involved, so if you push her off the raft, she'll not drown...come on, NYT: shed your baggage.
John
1
Oh you are SO wrong.
AND you are a poster BOY for this column!
Trump is also a dangerous sex addict. Gee, let's just skip the analysis and say the guy is a bum already.
12
I don't think we're getting meaner. We just have a President who has given legitimacy to expressing that meanness more publicly instead of behind closed doors. The fish rots from the head.
12
Donald Trump is mentally ill. He is what is known as a Borderline Personality Disordered individual. He is a classic case. Characteristics are narcissism, enjoys creating chaos, enjoys upsetting others, incapable of understanding devastating effects of their behavior. There are no effective medications for this disorder. We will be unable to stop, change or alter his behavior.
9
Don’t forget the “high” felt from Likes and increasing following. Though not a “user” of relatively new social media myself, I started out on bulletin boards available in dial-up modem days to find intelligent life. I actually found it in a group dedicated to rational discussion and debate. Nearly twenty years ago I first read the word troll used by one member to describe fishing for followers, throwing out a baited line and cruising onward to see who would bite. Hate and anger do not require thinking; they are bait. The aim of trolling is to get bites. The advent of the internet just made spreading gossip and lies, and fueling hate and anger, faster than the proverbial vicious neighborhood gossip (pre-Internet troll) could possibly imagine. Unfortunately, some have to learn the hard way, like neighborhoods stirred to anger only to find they had been duped into jumping to wrong conclusions and ruining another neighbor’s life based on one venomous source.
7
Wish your comment wasn’t buried here. The neighbor thing is spot on.
1
Trump dominate Twitter? Hardly. He is nothing more than an annoying childish blip who surges in visibility every now and then.
His behavior on Twitter is so predictable and his Tweets so outlandish there is absolutely no reason to pay any attention to them. If on the off chance he Tweets something of real value, others will share it and you will see it anyway.
The man lives for attention. Do not feed the troll with any of yours.
6
Are you serious? The Leader is the most powerful person on the planet, with millions of followers who wait eagerly for his next tweetstorm of lies and invective, the next vile attack on some group that will give them excuses for real-world violence or abuse (like keeping little kids filthy and covered with lice). Moreover his addiction to praise and attention makes him vulnerable to manipulation by clever people like Putin and Kim, not to mention Bolton and other members of his inner circle who have their own agendas.
Would have been a great column for 2016
21
Twitter: text equivalent of the 15 second TV advertisement.
The same way the media gave him free press time during the campaign.... same way they feed into his theatrics! You are all complicit!
5
After a year of Trump’s reign, I am all for political correctness.
11
Ok, so I just got back from the Foo Fighters. I should have gone straight to bed. But I had to log on the NYT and read M. Dowd’s column about Donald Trump's poxy issues. So:
I’ll tell you what’s wrong with Donald Trump. He needs some real loud rock and roll. He’s like some throwback to the Rat Pack with his Hugh Heffner vibe and his golf buddies and his country club and his ‘locker room talk.’ He’s not so old that he should have somehow missed FM radio. Look at him. He’s elevator music. What the heck? Can you imagine him head banging or in any way possible just being joyful and in the moment without thinking about how he looks and how he’s coming off to people around him? Who would want to be him? You couldn’t pay me to be that miserable.
And for the fans that are buying into his creepy scene, here’s a little Foo Fighter advice. My gift to you:
“Has someone taken your faith?
It’s real, the pain you feel
You trust, you must
Confess
Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?
…Were you born to resist or be abused?”
DJT has taken some of your legitimate concerns and mixed them up with stuff that never would have bothered you if he hadn’t suggested it; he’s hammered you with it and got you believing I’m nuts and your neighbors are nuts and he tells you you’re nuts if you’re not with him.
You’re not nuts. He’s taken the best of you. He’s perverted it. Get it back. You can’t possibly tell me you want to be a lonely old man who can’t even rock and roll.
9
I thought all the hostility began with talk radio, Rush Limbaugh and Fox news.
8
Maureen, thanks for finally noticing the disaster Trump is wreaking on the country. Too bad you were too busy bashing Hillary before the election to recognize the malignancy back then.
8
I dunno, Maureen...................
Every anti-Trump column you write reminds me of the disdain you had/have for Hillary Clinton. The "Democrat/Progressives" fatal flaw is not being supporting our party's nominee....
I'm so angry now, I'm apoplectic...... thanks for your unyielding disdain for Hilary Clinton... thanks, Maureen. As an opinion leader that you seek to be, this is partially on your shoulders.
I'm so thankful that I no longer need to worry about my reproduction..... I deeply worry about young women, immigrants seeking asylum, LGBTQ folks, anyone different...........
7
Twitter helped Trump become President but it could also be his undoing.
On balance both Twitter and Facebook should be outlawed as they are destroying the good will we should have with each other. Like porn they are addictive and harmful.
4
Trump is just a pretender at trollng the now,
what is important is that history will troll Trump into the
graveyard of hate , revilement, and disgust, that certain
section of America ever supported such an extremist.
America will look back in anger.
3
"(Trump's) tweets propel the story on cable news and shape the narrative for reporters — who are addicted to the First Addict."
And it is not just FOX, CNN and MSNBC (the inane subservience of cable news to the nonsense on its twitter feeds knows no ideological boundaries, by the way). It's also the real news services. Hardly a day goes by when PBS NewsHour, NPR News, BBC World Service and, yes, even the NYTimes want to tell me what social media is saying (notice the singular as if social media is an monolithic oracle). And every time I hear that, it's like fingernails across a chalk board.
I. DON'T. CARE. what "social media is saying." It's just a bunch of noise. Without thought. Without substance. Without value.
I do care about news. I do care about reporting. I do care about substance.
PBS, NPR, BBC and NYTimes: shut off your Twitter feed. Ignore it. You can do it. You really can. Stopped being conned into believing there is anything of value there. You are so much better than that.
21
“The emperor has no clothes!” No, The emperor is a narcissistic sociopath. Trolling on Twitter is just an easy and very mod mirror for Trump to see himself as “the fairest of them all”. We laugh at his inability to communicate in his mother tongue while all the while he sees himself as Einstein’s intellectual equal. An easier target for manipulation has probably never sat behind the desk. Putin can’t wipe the smile off his face.
2
Its not a strange twist that Trump is an addict, knowing even a smidgen about his background and family heritage. Of course he's addicted to Twitter, and probably more so now that he can't live out his other notable addiction as much; sex.
Gluttony also features on his list, and hey there's a host of others lurking in that secret wardrobe of his. The man is irredeemable - quick tell his evangelical chums they've become satanic worshippers!
3
Don’t blame trump’s cruelty and vileness on Twitter. Trump is an American-made white racist, no different than the European colonialists who slaughtered indigenous Americans. No different than the rapist slaveowner who sold enslaved black children as easily as he would a horse. Trump is Bull Connor, George Wallace, David Duke, Dylann Roof, J. Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon. He is structural racism and white supremacy personified. Twitter is just a delivery mechanism for his depraved and destructive inclinations.
25
Calling President Trump a "bully" and "troll" while bullying and trolling him. Poor, poor Maureen, bullied and trolled by her boss's into pandering to their base by engaging in the nonstop personal attacks on the 45th President. She used to be so sharp, quick-witted and diverse with her targeting. Oh well, those days seem gone.
2
What we are witnessing is the ascendancy of the Lowest Common Denominator.
The LCD has finally found its perfect representative and he has zeroed in on them as the perfect manifestation of his warped and ego driven personality.
What we are witnessing is the death of civility, good taste, decency, empathy, and the concept of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
Trump has Twitter for his malicious jargon just as Hitler had his balcony festooned with Swastika emblazoned flags to support his evil meanderings.
A friend commented that for the first time he was glad he was as old as he was because he would not be around to see how it all plays out.
I joined in on that same thought.
If Trump and his possible movement is not bought to heel, one way or another, then somewhere down the road our country will be invaded, for some reason or other, as it all may well play out.
I hope that wiser heads will gather together and will prevail for good and honest reasons.
May this happen as soon as possible, so that I may bear witness to the event as it ....... may occur.
7
You cite the Golden Rule - do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Unfortunately, trump seems to believe that the golden rule is the practice of gilding everything in sight, and hyperbole is now the standard. How far have we sunk?
Nutty as a fruitcake but more dangerous than a junk yard dog with fleas. Just itching to bite somebody sounds about right. Trump however mixes his contorted logic with deep hatred for women and brown skin people. One does wonder if his nightly habits of barricading himself in his bedroom with twitter in hand is more than habitual as he sits under his tanning lights eating Propecia and tetracycline. One wonders what chemistry confluences are happening as the amount or dosages of hair growth drugs are known to make people whacky.
8
In more ways than one, the President of the United States is a maniac. Period.
3
Everyone: Delete your Twitter account.
12
I only have one problem with Dowd's article. At the beginning, Dowd asserted that Trump neither drank nor smoked. She left us to infer that he did not ingest or inject any mood altering drugs.
It is not safe when the United States is governed by someone as delusional and psychopatic as Trump. Therefore, we must scrutinize his behavior for other additions.
In a word, he has many of the traits common to individuals who abuse stimulants, including amphetamines, cocaine, crack and crystal meth.
First, he is extraordinarily hyper; he seems to be exploding out of his skin. He speaks rapidly, rashly and recklessly, like a crack addict who starts screaming at Transit Authority employees because he can't find change for the subway. He makes hostile and vicious statements to the leaders of our allies, such as Trudeau of Canada. He oozes with malignant and flammable hosility, as evidenced by his attacks on John Mc Cain. He said that if he shot people at random on 5th Avenue, his supporters would still love him. These are the rants of the criminally insane.
Also, when he had a dispute with a beauty queen in the Summer of 2016, he sent savage tweets about her at 3, 4 and 5 AM. Most people with such nocturnal habits are speed freaks. Trump should be gjven a mandatory physical and psychiatric examination administered by wholly independent clinicians who are not afraid to let the chips fall as they may.
6
Trump's addiction to tweeting is second only to his addiction to lying. Why should that outlet allow such a vulgar brutus ignoramus contaminate the online information with garbage, just because he happens to be the president? Don't you think that, the higher our station, the more responsibility there is to be prudent and restrained and try telling the truth for a change? What is most galling is that this poor rich juvenile is so vulgar. And so loud. I was taken by you questioning if Trump's meanness is contagious to the public; and the answer is a resounding yes! And further, that what used to be at the fringes of society, racism and xenophobia, hate and division, seem permissible now, by the terrible example of our 'ugly American' in-chief. Trump is a troll alright, distracting us from his own incompetence and corruption, by seeking 'enemies' in friends and allies, scapegoats for his own malevolence. He is a national disgrace.
5
All of this "addict" stuff is interesting, but far more dangerous is the fact that Trump is intellectually incurious, narcissistic, egomaniacal, completely without empathy, lies frequently, and is in constant need of adoration.
The heck with his Twitter addiction. Psychologists should look at the fact that he meets the clinical definition of a sociopath.
3
America elected Biff from "Back to the Future" as president. It appears this septugenarian hadn't resolved anger issues he inherited from his father toward his older brother. Indeed he seems to have inherited his father's bullying mean streak.
Trump's taking out his nasty old man's family psychodrama on the country and world. This makes him a disaster as POTUS as his old man sounds like a tyrant. Consequently Trump's gutting everyone's human rights and freedoms at home and abroad while serving a black hole of adolescent need in his heart.
Trump personifies the post war bitter and twisted authoritarian character of the overly ambitious 1950s New York family with all the coarse ugly that entails. One irony being he was just one step removed from immigrants in his own family.
6
What a sad pathetic commentary this all is that the Presidency is even being discussed or evaluated in the context of Twitter.
A pox on all social media.
Look at what has become of us.
2
And, your point is, Mo? As if those who were paying attention didn't already know all this about the con? How about some solutions, Mo. Mo, you're dead to me, now. :/
4
Trump and Tech are killing America. Who will save us? Deval Patrick. Yes, I’m totally serious. He will, assuming we don’t all die before 2020.
2
Eh, people are dark. Twitter merely reveals the collective, lurking ID. Some studies say children under ten and cats as profile as sociopaths - I hope Silicon Valley can't rope them in too. Trump's vile thoughts are depressing enough.
1
SINCE THE EIGHTIES, the 'stuff' of Trump:
Titillating talks with Howard Stern and FULL-PAGE ADS (targeting WRONGLY accused, convicted, jailed and finally released black teenagers) in which Trump directed his righteous indignation at Albany to legislate their Death Penalty. Trump is addicted, Ms Dowd, to HIS BRAND of self-promotion:
"In the advertisement, Mr. Trump says that Mayor Edward I. Koch 'has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts.'"
"'I want to hate these muggers and murderers,' Mr. Trump wrote."
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/01/nyregion/angered-by-attack-trump-urge...
Trump is "old school" troll. And yes, he's SELLING all over TV and social media now. Steve Bannon thinks he's co-genius, and their Troll Two-Some are just inciting fear and hate with the same racist triggers of yesteryear.
The real news is that MILLIONS are pushing-back on Trump's boorish, divisive rant-LIES. He goes 24/7; we go 24/7.
MILLIONS are telling MAGA-chanters: You are not going to chide us into accepting YOUR DELUSIONS about Trump.
5
Trump is "All hat and no cattle".
2
What to do? Vote for any Democrat you can for our country's sake. You may not agree on any or most, but you will have a deserved check on ... you know who!
4
The Trump we see is essentially a coward. He swings away at people via tweets. There is no courage in that. There is no honor in that. He insults, denigrates, or lies (or all of the above) and then runs to the Oval Office for the protection of the Secret Service. In days gone by, when the supposed schoolyard bully leveled his insult and then ran inside for Mom's protection, he was called a sissy or worse.
This president, for all of his macho bravado, can't even summon the courage to fire his direct reports face to face. He passes that thankless assignment off to someone else. After awhile, the kids in the schoolyard learn to ignore big mouths like Trump. They learn that the moment they summon courage to push back, Trump, and those like him, run for cover.
They cant stand the heat and run from the kitchen.
4
Troll Trump and the GOP claim to be saving western civilization from barbarism. Their utter hypocrisy, their complete disregard of what makes western civilization "civil," their racism, and their unending lies and deceit are doing more to destroy what they say they value than ISIS ever could.
3
If you are 30 and under and you don't spend at least 70% of your waking hours looking down and fiddling with you phone, what's wrong with you, dude? Wanna have people laugh at you as hopelessly out of date, old fashioned? Whip out a flip phone or tell them you carry one. Ha, ha, ha. You talk on that thing?
People go out on dates and spend about half the time on their phones. Presumably, some are looking for people they'd rather be dating than Mr. or Ms. Wrong looking at them across a restaurant table. There's no real need for actual human caring about someone, just hook-up and then ghost them because, hey, they weren't perfect, were they?
Trump comes into this head down world like Godzilla stomping through a Japanese movie. A'trolling we shall go. Nothing he says has to make any actual sense, it just has to sting or stink or seem weird, like praising dictators who want to destroy American democracy or use our (prior) international prestige to build themselves up.
I have a deep, abiding lifelong faith in the democracy as a process which can, over time, drive out the bad and bring forth the best in our people, our nation and government. Perhaps I have been naive or sadly mistaken. Is this whole thing, the American experiment, a joke?
Perhaps Plato was right. It is possible we need to be led and governed by elites. The Twitter mob, led by an overconfident, bullying clown, is taking over the nation's consciousness and everything looks down hill from here.
2
Ezra Klein of Vox, on the PBS NewsHour suggested that the press stop letting Trump be media's assignment editor. Quoting these stupid Trump tweets acts as a megaphone for him, no matter how false, deceptive, or deceitful his words are. Said Klein, "And, at some point, I do wonder when we’re going to stop letting him be our assignment editor this easily. I mean, you will remember, when Barack Obama or George W. Bush would go to an Ohio steelworking factory, and they would get no coverage for a carefully worded speech, compared to what Donald Trump gets for these off-the-cuff monologues.
I think it says something bad about us."
Indeed it does.
13
Regarding Trump: I have never known an individual who inspires more hatred among a group of normally mild minded people (myself included). It is as if all of the attributes that normal good people would hate and despise were taken and rolled up into one singular person. He is sickening to look at, disgusting to listen to, and too stupid and vainglorious to contemplate. All of the obsequious characteristics a man could have are inculcated in one horrid, disgusting man labeled "Trump".
11
Ended up an addict? He always was. He was addicted to his own ego and privilege. He is a superficial, insecure con man from Queens who has sold a base of deplorables his own drug.
5
Ms. Dowd suggests that Trump's failings lie in twitter. Let's put aside for a moment her pre-election columns that helped propel him into the Oval Office, and consider this for a moment.
She seems to elevate Trump's twitter use as his worst behavior. I suspect it is this type of column that lets her sidestep her complicity in Trump's election -- an election that installed a racist, unhinged, mentally unfit man as our president. By refusing to acknowledge his true failings, she rails about his "crude and belligerent discourse". Her remarks suggest that this "twitter addiction" belies the true Donald Trump.
But understand this. Ms. Dowd helped a man who has proudly acknowledged sexually assaulting women win the presidency. A man who openly flaunts his hatred and bigotry, who tell us that the KKK and neo-Nazis are some very fine people. A man who sees absolutely no problem with putting brown-skinned infants in cages, because they aren't "real people" to him. A man who has trashed this nation's decades long international standing, and alienated its closest allies in some eighteen months. And all of this was done outside of twitter.
Ms. Dowd's complaints about Trump's twitter habits ring particularly hollow, perhaps because she isn't personally affected by his actions. Many of us, who are not white and who are not Christian, understand that Trump's twittering is the very least of his failings - because it is we who must pay the price for this "presidency".
10
" . . . deeply self-absorbed adolescent . . . "
Charles Krauthammer thought so too, once.
“I used to think Trump was an 11-year-old, an undeveloped schoolyard bully. I was off by about 10 years. His needs are more primitive, an infantile hunger for approval and praise, a craving that can never be satisfied.”
4
Imagine Russia, Fox News, or any other propagandist buying a Facebook or a Twitter? What then?
2
Social media is a waste of time. Go for a hike instead!
2
Column after column, year after year, you were abusive of President Obama. In your own small way you helped bring about the Trump presidency.
10
But you bashed Hillary so that people would vote for Trump.
7
Not much of a difference between the Republicans riffing on Hillary and the Dems continuing to do so here. Is Iced Teaparty a troll or just somebody aiming at their foot?
I'm anticipating that judgement day when Robert Mueller taps his own message out to our addicted, abusive Tweeter-in-Chief: "This is to inform you that federal grand juries in Washington, Richmond, and New York have returned true bills, indicting you for multiple criminal offenses arising from the Investigation of the Special Counsel into Russian interference with the 2016 national elections, and other related activities. F.B.I. Special Agents are en route to the White House to deliver you to the appropriate district courts for arraignments."
7
I read this all the way to the end and was stunned that Maureen never blamed/mentioned Hillary nor Bill. Amazing!!!
7
I would pay anyone to hack into Twitter and shut it down. What will trump do then?
Poor media...fixated on his tweets and retweeting them. Feeding the beast for a few bucks.
4
Yes Maureen the country seems meaner but rest assured this is just history replaying itself. And as a Jewish person I keep my passport handy because we've seen this play before.
By the way, all of the bad press for Hillary just contributed to this debacle.
10
I don't do social media but I am addicted to picking fights on the NY Times comments section. Maybe I should just read you, Maureen, and forget about commenting and engaging the Trump trolls.
Just deny Trump his Propecia. That will not only reduce his hair cover, it will reduce his excessive testosterone level, and perhaps with it, his mindless and mean-spirited aggressiveness.
When he is finally seen by his supporters as an insecure loser, he’ll be finished.
6
It is likely that his electoral support is now ebbing gradually. I posit that with the inevitable Mueller Revelations it will fall suddenly, fast and far. Expect a triple play, covering collusion, obstruction, and egregious money laundering and other financial crimes such as flagrant tax evasion (see Trump Foundation, for ex.). The three misfeasances will be inextricably linked and damning.
1
How about an incision in the prefrontal lobe of his brain (i.e., a lobotomy)?
4
If I wasn't told by the media that the President of the United States was responsible for the dumbest, most dishonest and most hateful tweets I'd assume some spoiled child wrote them.
Trump lives in a 140 character world and that's a stretch for his intelligence. Tweeting isn't the correct verb for what he does. It's more like vomiting poison.
2
Trump has been, and continues to be, like a slow moving poison covering our country and particularly infecting the minds of those who support him. I hope we can survive.
4
I am very weary of having to listen and see every single thing this president tweets, declaims and howls. It is his goal to be the center of attention every minute, hour and day. And the media continues to give him what he wants. If only we could declare at least one day a week to news that is Trump-free. The only way to curb his toxic influence is to ignore him. But I understand the dilemma of ignoring the person who is supposed to be the voice of the free world. The only solution we have is get out and vote. Vote him out of office, and his cohorts too. Vote. Vote. Vote. Every election, every official, every time. VOTE!
14
School yard bully mean.
A sicko for President. No argument. An entire party supporting him with "service" and "blessings for the privilege" is also sick. Millions of people supporting him? What do you call that?
The only thing it can be called is brainwashing. Who does the task? FOX, Sinclair, extreme right-wing "christian" churches, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and people who are about as far from mainstream thought as possible. THEY are in charge now? Chemical companies, oil companies, coal companies, mining firms, insurance companies, billionaires? How did that happen? With the help of Putin. The 2016 election should be a "do-over." Not likely.
What happened to the rule of law? What happened to separation of church and state? What happened to ethics?
AG Sessions lied to Congress.."Ah Cahn't recahl" over and over. Gorsuch mislead in his interviews. The VP can't be in a room with a woman alone??
The worse it gets, the more wobbly our situation, the better for our enemies. DJT is an idiot and a fool. The press is our only hope as the judiciary goes down the same sick road.
I really disliked W Bush but I'd take him back in a second, and I am not alone. His family has roots in the USA since before the revolution. Bush was dumb, Cheney was the Darth Vader, but he loved his country. Trump only loves himself.
7
Maureen, when you get your doctorate in psychiatry I will take your opinion on Trump’s tweeting more seriously. In regard to American empathy, we still have plenty, for American citizens, not illegals who feel they have a right to enter our country however and whenever they choose to do so.
I miss your brother’s articles.
2
Olivia, your proof of empathy has you hoisted by your own petard.
1
People have a legal right to apply for asylum in this country. The administration, by not adjudicating the asylum requests, is breaking US (and international) law. In addition, unless you are a Native American or a recent immigrant, it’s likely your ancestors probably felt “they had a right to enter our country however and whenever they chose to do so.”
1
K, most asylum claims are denied because they are false. These are economic migrants who want and expect government hand-outs. When my ancestors came here in the 17th century there was no welfare, food stamps, or section 8 housing. They made it on their own and built our beautiful country which I hope you appreciate.
Twitter, addictions, whatever. Trump hasn't changed. He's still the same petty, nasty, greedy, self-absorbed piece of garbage he has always been. You know the term 'stolen valor'. Trump has stolen his entire persona. The books he wrote, the holes-in-one, the brilliant business deals, the swooning women …. all managed by others behind the scenes, inflated and embellished, figments of his imagination, or flat-out lies. His biggest accomplishments seem to be based on bankruptcies, at least until he stumbled into the presidency. And we all know who gave him the boost there.
The change in Trump is that now he has more people watching his performances and gets to do encores in the middle of the night, so the brakes are off. He's is reveling in the power and attention he feels he has always deserved, but is no more or less diseased than he has always been. He has his dream job. Jerks Gone Wild, with a forced audience of millions. People who would have scorned him or laughed at him behind his back are forced to pretend they respect him.
But I think Trump knows the truth, somewhere deep inside. As they say, the hate that comes out of a person equals what goes in.
9
So Maureen, what is your point? Hard to blame the guy for using Twitter when MSM throws shade on absolutely everything he does. What's his other option, lie down and let them direct the narrative?
2
Didi—um, press conferences, maybe?
The issue is not the medium that allows Trump to distribute his message. Rather, it is the message itself. Slice and dice however you want but Trump is President because America elected him. We believed his bike and shame on us for that. Blaming Twitter for Trump is like blaming the maker of mustache wax for Hitler. The fault is not in the reality TV star but in ourselves.
1
Maureen surely you can do better than this column. And following you on Twitter, I don't think so.
2
TV to the dump in 1968 know nothing of Twitter or Facebook, have I missed anything? Unlikely.
Am addicted to coffee so not free of outside influences completely. Kind of fond of Maureen must admit.
2
And Maureen , thanks for not finding a way to bring the Clintons or Obama in this piece .
I hope your own vitriol about them is ceding to your better Angels.
8
Ms. Dowd was ahead of the curve on the Clintons, and you know what happens to those ahead of the curve.
So, Mo, and the rest of the NY Times: When are you going to give up your addiction to Twitter and Facebook? These money making schemes have always struck me as just another way to make us all lemmings and any individual "just another brick in the wall." What you say about users falling prey to the baser human instincts on these platforms is true, but just a bit ingenuous because so much of the NY Times reader interaction involves Facebook and Twitter. You may not use it in the same way as our Child in Chief, but you are just as dependent.
1
Twitter is the propagation mechanism for Lying Donnie Trump.
1
I do agree this is an addiction - but neither his
logorrhea nor his meanness and sexual deviancy came about with his Twitter account. Trump has always shown an embarrassing addiction to publicity with a wide variety of media vehicles:
RADIO
- Trump joked sexually about his daughter with Howard Stern while Stern freely told Trump she was a "piece of axx"
- He described ogling Miss Universe contestants while they were naked in the changing room
NEWSPAPER
- He took out a full page ad demanding the death penalty for the Central Park 5 - and refused to apologize after they were later proven not guilty
TV
- He bragged to Access Hollywood about sexually assaulting women
- He rants - seemingly unhinged - on Fox & Friends on a regular basis, while the hosts nod and gamely try to hang on for the ride
RALLIES
- More than other vehicle, Trump craves and receives the adulation he believes he fully deserves from his rallies. Crowds chanting his exhortations to violence, shouting "YES!" to his flagrant lies about opponents, and praising him as a deity satisfies his addiction to attention more than any other vehicle. Trump IS Rally Guy. Twitter is just the stale chewing gum he chomps in the office until he can get out to the smoky Rally stairwell and truly inhale his followers' adulation and approval, and feel their misbegotten love in his bones.
16
Soul? What soul?
I'm guessing Trump was arrogant and snotty from the get go. All twitter has done is given him a platform to spew his garbage and nutty ideas. The man is incompetent and he is crazy too boot. No need to analyze Trump and rationalize the mood of the country and it's meanness. This country wasn't nearly this weird before Trump was elected. He is causing more consternation then any easing of tensions within the US. Can't hang this screwiness on technology.
11
Donald: DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT.
3
During the campaign, Ms. Dowd, you pummeled us with your relentless barrage of negativity toward Hillary Clinton while you cozied up to Trump, so your words now hold little if any credibility. Why weren't you warning your readers about Trump when it counted?
12
Scenario - North Korea cheats; Trump ratchets, ratchets; Mattis out, Bolton in; Mueller; war.
Years hence historians refer to the nuclear war that social media started.
2
The focus on social media is misguided. Sociopaths existed well before Bill Gates.
The fault is in our "rock star" president, and also in us.
What's twitter?
2
"Trump...is also an attention addict"
His Twitting is just the media means for attention--which he gets in overdoses. He thinks all news about him is good news--free brand advertising.
The contradictions, absurdities, insults and spittle too--obviously get more than their fair share. Ordinarily you'd just tune out--turn off--wackos like that.
But his reelection is a serious fear--making the American electorate wacko loving wackos.
His marketing researchers must have known they'd hit American political paydirt--the prejudices, phobias and raw ignorance.
So Ms Dowd--look beyond Trump for a column or too. How did his Trumpie base get that way. Diagnose your brother for starters.
Has it been years, decades, scores or more of wacko propaganda?--the Cynics of old called called it Tuphos--smoke.
Your Times colleague Stephens argues that "Democratic Socialism" is a label doomed to defeat in the midwest. As though the right brand is absolutely all that matters. And when he tries to look beyond the brand, he writes garbage which the Times "tweets" as "balance." Mainstream--centrism--half wacko half reasonable.
1
RE: the First-Troll (Unhero)
"Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero.
No. Unhappy is the land that needs a hero."
- Bertolt Brecht, 'Galileo'
And lo, behold our unhappy land.
Ms Dowd,
You seem to have no conscience. Remember all of the favorable columns you wrote about Mr Trump? I do.
4
Hey, she's evolved. That counts for something.
1
I didn’t need Twitter to inform me that Trump is a mental case.
Psychiatrists often have a hard time saying that people like Trump are crazy, but if you consult with the mothers of New York psychiatrists nine out of ten of them will tell you straight off that he is meshuggah, and there is nothing in the world you can do about it except get rid of him.
6
Don't you think most of us (media and media consumers) are also addicted to Trump?
Of course, it is more in the manner of, "For the sake of all that matters in the world, what has he and his crooked team caused harm to today?"
I so wish NYT would stop feeding this horrific troll.
1
I wish that he were just an addict. There are programs for addicts. Or, you can take away phones, tablets, and laptops.
There is no hope for a malignant narcissist and those that enable him.
There is November................
Hey, this Dowd is ok.
2 Op-Ed's now, in row no less.
Keep nibbling those Colorado candies Ms. Dowd.
Side note.
Some of those characterizations ring true.
I will try and do better.
1
What, no Clinton darts? A pathetic column from someone who is a leader celebrating personality over policy, complaining about the internet doing exactly that!
5
It's all in the name. When it first came out, I thought who in their right mind would want to twitter. Only silly birds and twits twitter. Boy was I wrong. Or maybe not.
6
" BE WORST, Donald, Be WORST ". Now THAT, is one thing he actually is accomplishing, on a daily basis. Baby Gitmos, the shame of America, one of the worst things " we " have done in many years. Be proud, GOP, and undoubtedly HIS worst is yet to come. Also: "I was just doing my Job " is never a valid defense, legally OR morally. Seriously.
1
I'm sick to death of his lying, defaming, denigrating tweets that humiliate all of us. I don't 'tweet' so don't understand the full complexity of hatred that is to be found there, but I once went to Trump's feed. The stomach flopping I experienced when I read, one after another after another of these rabid, hate-filled, lie-filled manias (and this was a year ago - he's been on a roll lately so I imagine it's much, much worse) was intense. Never again did I need to see such vile, uncivil, unpresidential garbage.
When they come on the boob tube, read to us by pundits who continue to follow each and every one of them, I mute it and turn away. I don't care to ever pay attention to that again.
He should be blocked for his uncivil behavior. That he is not is criminal and immoral and whoever owns Twitter should be ashamed of themselves - as should television execs who only care about ratings.
He's an addict big time. He's mentally ill. He's unfit. He's corrupt. He's in the pocket of Putin. He lies constantly and no one can trust a liar.
And no one will protect us from him.
Stop him in November. He deserves our scorn and a very long prison sentence. If we do not stop him, he will be our first American dictator.
November.
11
.
I only troll Bernie supporters that did NOT vote for HRC, and I don’t tweet. I’m sorry but accountability has to start somewhere.
6
And I troll Hillary voters that did not vote for Bernie; they, and the DNC, are the ones responsible for Trump. As an aside, 80% of Bernie bros voted for HRC (actually not for HRC but against Trump). That means that HRC did not actually win the popular vote.
It must be hard to complain when everyone, Maureen included are feeding his narcissism. But then every one of our complaining columns or comments only feeds the beast what it wants.
What would happen on Monday night if no media carried his Supreme Court nomination announcement LIVE? Just show up, video capture it for posterity, and report it in a brief spoken announcement on the regular news casts of the day BUT DON"T send it out live. Watch him squeal.
But does any news outlet dare to do that?
9
Do not know who wrote the lead for this column, but it is a brilliant "jeu de mots!" HOWEVER, it's all downhill from there! Consulting some wealthy kingpin from Silicon Valley to criticize c-in-c's twittering? You gotta be kidding! How much more elitist, out of touch with common folk can you get? De Gaulle rose above the parties to use his control of RTF to appeal directly to the people of France. Trump uses twitter in much the same manner, necessary since 90 to 95 percent of the media votes Democrat, and is against him.Hunch that Ms. Dowd is experiencing a "secheresse," a drought in which the best ideas r not coming. Suggest Ms. Dowd read more of Edgar Guest, "prairie poet," to re establish contact with the common folk! Said the same thing to the daughter of a friend, college classmate who joined the CIA and won writing awards,but spoiled his daughter rotten,who teaches at a local college, fancies herself a poet. Advised her also to read the prairie pot and moreover spend time with an n.g.o. in w. Africa to see how the other 7/8ths of the world lived. That friend has not spoken to me since!Ms. Dowd has circulated within the inner sanctum of the elite all her professional career. She does not know how average folk thin, what their priorities r, and have premonition that virtually all of the commenters who recommend the column live in almost the same bubble!
1
Look fella -- are the "common people" in favor of groping women? Defrauding suckers? Cheating everyone you do business with? Endless lying? Stupid bragging? The potty-mouth of a bad 11-year-old? Dumb name-calling?
What about racism, sexism, and just plain euuuuw: "I'd date her" and "grab them by the ____" and all?
What about having sex with a porn-star while your wife is delivering your kid, and then paying hush money to cover it up?
How about the whole Putin-wannabe shtick? Is the "common person" eager to be ruled by an american Putin clone? Really?
I'm a common person -- my daddy didn't give me a bunch of money, had to actually make my way in this life, and I have some manners and can get along with most folks.
I can't stand Trump, and I can't stand anyone who does.
This has nothing to do with "how 7/8ths of the world lives," or poetry by Marvin Hass, nor is there any indication I can see that Mr. Hass would see Trump as anything other than what he is: a pathetic bad-boy New Yorker who is rightly hated in his own home town.
3
A thoughtful warning about of the perils of social media followed by, guess what?, this tagline, "I invite you to follow me on Twiltter @MaureenDowd) and join me on Facebook."
2
I have a Twitter account, but after a few days looking at the "stuff" posted there, I no longer open it. Of course, I don't have to go there to read President Trump's latest tweet, the news media faithfully transmit same. To me it is a barometer on the intelligence and education level of the most feeble-minded element of our society; I can only hope the percentage of us in that group is small.
30
It is not so much a measure of intelligence as it is the level of human development (worldview). There are quite a few with college degrees that resonate with Trump's shtick: My country right or wrong, my group right or wrong. Apologize for nothing, and justify everything as serving the greater good (of the particular group they identify with). Humans have justified some pretty inhumane things when these were the prevailing levels of development.
1
I wish.
Ms. Dowd, you can’t be serious about suggesting that Twitter is the root of the ugliness the president has brought to everyday American discourse. If this man were even remotely presidential, he’d have more press conferences and less rallies that serve only to prop him up when assailed by self doubts. And he wouldn't use his unsecure cell phone to talk about sensitive issues while hosting foreign heads of state at Mar-a-Lago.
His tweets are mean, nasty, divisive, false, racist and devoid of anything remotely newsworthy or worthwhile and define what kind of person this man really is. His rabid base leans on his every putdown and smear he can think of, and to them, that’s governing, which is why America is in such a hopeless tailspin.
7
Trump fits a lot of different tropes. He probably learned to play a villain from his wrestling days where a person who isn't likable plays a "heel." 'Heels" antagonize & trash talk good guys. His long running 'competitions' & feuds with his betters Obama, Hillary, Rosie O'Donnell, James Comey & Robert Mueller fit wrestling "kayfabe" - (to illiterate Trump "cofeve") - staged events presenting threats, rivalries & feuds. Wrestling's a fictional entertainment acted out in front of dupe audiences. Trump's rally audiences are quintessentially wrestling audiences, dupes who like to see & hear red meat.
In another trope, in Old West mythology Trump would be a mean-spirited coward who busts into barrooms & brags about how tough he is - even though nobody's ever seen him do a single brave or noble thing. Eventually a character with resolve like Jimmy Ringo or Marshal Will Kane would get fed up with him smearing & threatening folks & banish him from town - representing the coming of law & order & civilization to the West.
You know who has a great twitter account? Barack Obama. Recently he revisited his lunch with Anthony Bourdain in a Vietnamese noodle shop, praising Bourdain for using food to bring people together.
Obama's the essence of a good guy - in wrestling, a 'babyface.' But Obama's not pretending. He really is a good guy.
Trump, not being intelligent, accomplished, brave, handsome or quick-witted, is stuck being a cowardly loudmouthed villain.
We deserve better.
29
Perhaps we got what we "deserved". This is what apathy, willfull ignorance, addictions, and yes, hatred will get ya in the end. Sigh, choke, sob.
Maureen Dowd reflects, “On the occasion of America’s 242nd birthday, we must ask who we are, if we can see accounts of infants snatched from their parents and returned covered in lice, and not worry about our country’s soul.”
Yes, indeed! Does this nation of immigrants now despise them so much that its leaders can stoop to such unconscionable tactics? More importantly, do the ends justify the means?
As far as Twitter goes, again, let’s not blame the instrument, but the irresponsible leader, who misuses it to disseminate lies and create policy confusion. It’s despicable when authoritarian leaders use state-owned media in attempting to pull the wool over the eyes of their citizens. It’s equally pathetic when the leader of the free world and the world’s oldest democracy uses social media to divide his own people, tear apart the post-WWII order, humiliate our allies and suck up to the world’s worst dictators.
It’s high time our broadcast and cable networks stopped giving Trump the excessive media coverage he so desperately covets and, most importantly, they must stop covering all of his tweets! Let him speak directly to his followers through Twitter – the rest of the world should not be forced to listen to his diatribes. They need to be selective and report on only the few that are worthy of coverage.
6
If the addicted news reporters will stop repeating and publishing his “tweets”, he will lose part of his bully pulpit and we all will be relieved!
3
I think what we need to do is ignore Trump completely. It's an extremely unhealthy feedback loop altogether. It's crazy. I the Democrats and the news, for that matter, can just briefly point out the lies and move on. Democrats, by the way... you have no plan. you have no ideas. nothing. I see nothing. I have been a lifelong Democrat and I am sick in the pit of my stomach about what will happen going forward. I don't see any plan other than anger towards Trump. Is that enough? Maybe. I hope so. I'm not counting on it but please, Democrats, take your anger and do something. help refugees, register voters. work with low income children. Forget this guy. We can't do anything about him but get rid of him and we can't do anything about the people who stand by him.
7
The US is built on the concept that you have a right to your opinion, to express it and to effect it.
It is the most fundamental of rights.
Maureen should check out the flame wars by your founding fathers in drafting the constitution.
Razor sharp rapiers by men of letters.
Donald Trump arose from the rage of the Republican Party flamed by Fox News. His twitter storm is intentional and designed. He plays to the soul of the Republican Party —the legacy of John McCain. Anyone remember Sarah Palin? Remember this is a political party that conspired with Russia to overthrow a democratic election and give us our first illegitimate president. This is not child’s play. These are serious people with very serious intentions. As Thomas Friedman said, if you’re not afraid, you’re not paying attention.
15
A few months ago I became genuinely despondent over this man's Presidency and set about ignoring political coverage on CNN, MSNBC and The New York Times. I also tried to live without Stephen Colbert, Seth Myers, Samantha Bee, Rachel Maddow et al., but I failed. No matter where you live on Earth Donald Trump will affect you - be it through twitter, dirty air, false economies, corrupt alliances, catastrophic mistakes or egregious errors in judgment. Simply put Donald Trump is dangerous - but ignoring him and his outbursts, as satisfying as that may be in the short term, only adds to the peril. 'Better the devil you know.' (Irish proverb)
11
I have noticed something in the last few weeks. Until I posted on NYT pointing this out a few weeks ago, the president had taken every single public appearance he has made since the inauguration regardless of occasion or audience to talk about how the "Russia Thing" is not a thing and otherwise worked at undermining the investigation into it. Since that posting I have heard almost nothing of it from him or the press.
To revive an old 90's meme; What's up with that?
I think it shows he is not as "stupid" as we might be lead to believe he is. Clearly he can change his behavior.
Don't get me wrong he is Stupid, but he is also clever and malevolent which is how someone him got this far in life without being sent to prison.
6
Maureen, your column offers keen analysis but no solution.
There is a solution: vote on November 6th, 2018. Vote on November 5th, 2019. And, absolutely, vote on November 3rd, 2020. Throw them all out.
10
Of course the last line is "I invite you to follow me on Twitter". FB was gone for me about 18 months ago. Very happy with that decision. Maybe twitter should go too.
8
a. Trump was a horrible individual before Twitter was invented.
b. That even supposedly normal heads of state and other serious public officials here and abroad use Twitter to communicate is monstrous, even when they are not being belligerent or offensive.
Just say no. Neither a Tweeter nor a Tweet-reader be.
6
Trump's been a disturbed, nasty, mean, greedy little toad since he was a child. He punched his grade 2 teacher in the face. He was sent off to a military academy because his parents couldn't handle him. His Mother once asked wife #1, "Did I raise a bad son?". Trump may have let on "he was in on the joke" but that was only another cover he needed to use with certain people: the people who worked for him, made contracts with him suffered at the hands of his endless, baseless litigation as he tried to save a few bucks, and the threats and violence of trump's fixers.
As for his brother, trump was asked whether he and his Father felt any responsibility for his death and trump reluctantly said yes. And in saying yes he was admitting the truth that his brother could not cope with the father and the brother who dedicated their lives to being "killers" and making a buck no matter how unethical or crooked they had to be to do it. Fred, Jr., by all accounts, was a nice, normal man who couldn't deal with the madness.
62
For Whom the Trump Trolls.
Before reading the column, I thought it might be about the people who attend Trump rallies.
I find it difficult to believe that they are unaware of the fact that Trump is a lying, cheating, whoring con man who admires dictators and despises fundamental democratic values. Can any bubble be so impervious that it blocks out all information about Trump's words and actions, past and present, that validate the above assessment? So, why do they continue to support him?
The charitable explanation is that they are too busy to be fully informed or that they have been hoodwinked by Fox and right wing radio.
More likely, they don't care that Trump is who he is because they are in many ways just like him, only poorer.
28
So Trump is mean and crazy? Maureen, where were you back in 2016 when this was obvious and yet you gave him a pass while harping on Hillary's much less toxic failings?
29
Love something that I saw at the end.
It says: Join me on twitter. No need. I'm addicted already.
He's a petulant child. When he tested his limits, as children do, it's a pity the GOP nor Mueller reined him in.
5
I'm not sure Twitter (which I don't use or understand) should be judged by how the local head of an organized crime syndicate uses it.
4
Addict running the country vs a narcissist doing the same?
Seems to me that the addict has a better handle on what the nation is interested in than the narcissist ever did.
2
Trump is both. Also, he's a racist.
1
I have to believe that Stephen Miller is Trump's alter ego in composing tweets and grudge inspired trolling.
4
Will the nightmare of Donald T Trump ever end. Only if the American people make it happen.
7
Trump is the natural outcome of the Republican rise in overt racism, xenophobia, homophobia and misogyny leading to a decline in civility starting with Nixon, aided and abetted by Internet media and the official GOP propaganda machine--Fox News. It was always there. But people had the temerity to refrain from expressing their raw prejudices in public out of a concern for civility and. their own community reputation.
Trump blew off the lid of civility, dog-whistling his MAGA-head supporters that hostility. vile speech and attacks on all except white (male) Christians were henceforth not only allowed, but were. downright favored. Like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, rude insulters would get a presidential shout-out and more, like racist White House adviser, Stephen Miller. Trump set the example and the lemming Trump supporters
99
You fail to include Ms Dowd in your list of baddies. Her years’ long trashing and polite digging at the Clintons without cause gives her an edge on “you have to be one to know one.” She has been one of those who encouraged Trump supporters in their hatred and nastiness, all the while keeping her skirts pretty and cleanish.
1
This is just the type of attention he craves. Quit giving it to him!
4
Refusing to report on and/or respond to DT's tweets will not only render his rants and taunts irrelevant but will also deny him his attention fix. Absent attention, the attention junkie will finally explode in ways that make even his supporters doubt his competency. The only defense against DT' s Twitter spew is utter silence. Then we can all watch the Trumpster try to taunt us with ever increasing antics into attending to his Infantile needs. He won't be able to withstand our draining of the attention swamp. What fun it will be to see the tadpole Trump flopping around in the mud. Then clad in our "I don't care. Do U?" Jackets, we can sit and watch Donald "Tadpole" Trump flail, deprived of his Twitter swamp.
5
So much energy is spent on Trump! Yes, it can be easy to blame Facebook and Twitter for pushing information on us, who, not unlike an eager bartender throws drinks at us late at night. But didn’t we walked into the bar in the first place? I think American tv has primed us all for a thug like Trump. There are too many examples but Professional Wrestling comes easily to mind. It was always fake, and everyone knew it. The crowd, the audience, the promoters, and the wrestlers themselves all became inured to the ‘fakeness’ of it all. So much so, that nobody cared anymore, as long as it filled them with cheap entertainment, and made everyone lots of money.
This is Trump.
As Lanier says, Trump is no longer even in on his own joke which is what has happenned to fans of both Wrestling and Trump.
I agree that Trump is an addict but aren’t so many of us?
And sure, being a psychopath has allowed Trump to perfect this ‘art of the steal’ without shame, for he is the consumate troll who steals our time away from us whether we hate him or love him. He is the destroyer, but the problem is us. Being a bully, a liar, and a thief appears to now come more naturally to so many Americans because we are all seem so miserable and deeply insecure in ourselves. Trump knows this, and he exploits it mercifully without shame. I hate to put it this way but Trump isn't the problem, many of us are. When Trump leaves the party, Americans will be left with a hangover of our own making, sadly enough.
46
You, Ms. Dowd, have walked the hairy edge in many a column between being rightfully critical and incisively biting to plain old mean. You have often reveled in the zeitgeist that allows cheap shots and nickname calling. You have more than flirted with "the scorn, the invective, the trash talk" of our age on one of the biggest media platforms in the world. Your meanspiritedness has contributed to the culture we have today, make no mistake.
10
If merely 10% of the very eloquent respondents to the Comments Section, vote, the Democratic Party will be shoe-in.
VOTE, BABY!
12
This is a dead-on, if despairing, column. I do believe that Trump, armed with a technology designed for people who dislike extended, nuanced debate, has gained, as C. S. Lewis put it, a “hideous strength.” His tweets (how obnoxious he has made what was once the song of hopeful birds) degrade us, make us either stupefied with wrath or smug with glee, either dull eyed with despair or filled with atavistic fervor. He makes us all worse, sick in our souls, either through sorrow or the mendacity of false patriotism. He is a blight on the American hope.
19
America is getting meaner because she is being led by a amoral man, who fans the flames of prejudice in the hearts of his base.
People need a leader to follow and when the leader is bereft of moral compass, as evidenced by his lying and taunting, he will only take his followers to the land of confusion.
9
It has gotten so bad that I have had to stop watching TV cable news. The news is either pro-Trump or anti-Trump but little truth telling.
It has become clear that today's society is divided into rabid tribes that do not care about the truth. Trump does not care about any of us only his self ego. He will throw anyone under the bus that will benefit himself, even his family.
Trump's true nature is self promotion and must feed his ego at any cost. There will always be 35-40% of Americans that will stroke his ego and that only makes him get even more vuglar and hateful to all minority groups that he harbors a natural biasis of bigotry towards. Those supporters of Trump that overlooked this bigot must admit they also have those hidden racist feelings and views.
We must refuse to give this bunch of bigots the open soapbox and just ignore their behavior and just support thoses that they seem to hold hidden hatred.
8
I too stopped watching cable news. All of them. I stopped listening to news radio and for the most part, reading “news”paper, including the NYT.
Interestingly, I see myself better informed on matters that really matters than most people. I am tired of listening to parrots repeating Fox or the outrage over Fox and Trump.
I don’t even care to know about candidates in the upcoming November election. My vote is written in stone and will be the same as the last few congressional elections - anyone with an iota of humanity that can beat the current incumbent of the Minnesota Third District.
Does anyone find it ironic that immediately following Maureen Dowd's piece there is the note: follow me on Twitter. Aargh!! We're all part of this.
9
I thought this was a great column. Then I got to this sentence: "I invite you to follow me on Twitter (@MaureenDowd) and join me on Facebook."
And my irony-o-meter went to 11.
12
Trump has turned traditional news media outlets, like the NYT, into Drudge-like "aggregators". Of course this is only to the extent that the NYT, and others, continue to report, or re-report, his tweets which they are doing right now with 100% coverage. It got boring a long time ago. Please stop.
7
This person you are describing is, above all, unimportant. He hasn't started a war (yet... knock on wood). His vicious refugee policy, parroting his excruciatingly polite, savagely racist puppet Sessions, is doing terrible harm, but not (yet... knock on wood) to great numbers of people.
Ms Dowd: In future columns, please dive deeper into the effects of social media.
Can this country pass a law stating that all media sites must have an extremely visible 'delete' button that closes and completely erases your account in one click?
Dan Kravitz
Dan Kravitz
10
A very shallow man with nothing to say. No education to speak of. Contrary to the Miller narrative he's never earned a dime. Not attractive or physically capable. Pretty typical male though.
Look at the nose, that is the nose of an addict. Look at the do for god's sake, on a seventy some man.
He can hide behind twitter. He still thinks he's getting away with it. He's a mess.
47
By now, avid readers of the Times might feel Absurdity Fatigue (a political cousin of Compassion Fatigue) such that we no longer feel the reality here: This is all about the President of the United States!
Yes, history, having an accidental president is Constitutional.
But I look at all this somewhat from the outside: Though I have a Twitter account, I don’t own a feature phone (“smart phone”? Whatever: SMART!). I don’t need opioids, because I don’t have chronic political pain.
I have devotion to close reading, excellent journalism—and getting Democrats elected in November.
I also don’t use Facebook much. I’m old enough—elderly even—to recall the days when careful time was given between coversants for long letters—even the days of emails. Now, I get ungrammatical messages “sent from my iPhone” or whathaveyou.
ADHD has become chic. Marketers love that, of course. So, do politicians. (O, excuse me: That’s redundant.)
20
I believe social media tends to be destructive for many. Trump was twisted before the internet was born. The little monster got loose with the advent of twitter. Those in denial about Trump and I know some personally who compare favorably with the grape Kool-Aid fatalities. The truth bounces off them like a bee-bee shot off a tin roof. In that sense con men will always find an audience.
5
It's striking how much the word "virality" used for social media like Twitter is confused by our confused troll-in-chief with the the word "virility." Appears the "t-i-c" believes the virality of his tweets are markers of his imagined virility.
5
He had a great head start way before twitter.
6
If the only think keeping him from being kicked off Twitter is a "World Leader Policy" then I hope Twitter will stay true to their word and when he finally leaves office he will receive an immediate Twitter ban.
5
Dowd got this backwards. Trump’s addiction isn’t the problem. The problem is 90% of Republicans who roar with glee at state-sanctioned child abuse at the hands of the president of the United States. Republicans are the disease, the illness, and the enablers; it is their festering anger, misogyny, and racism that are marching all of us toward the decline and fall of the American republic. They created him, they love him, they have become him. They are as evil as he is, and then some. It’s far past time to stop pretending otherwise.
39
I went to hear Ram Dass speak in OKC in 1987. Here's a quote I wrote down during his talk:
"Technology is the devil's handmaiden."
I wonder what he'd call it today.
5
Hello from your Northern Neighbour, Canada, the land of Peace, Order & Good Government. We agree with "meaner" after all these years of being your good neighbour. We do not understand and will keep our distance until you "get over it".
Calgary Cousin
49
I agree the media is addicted to Trump. Please stop covering every rotten thing that comes out of his mouth. This only helps him destroy our democracy.
There must be better news out there. Go find it, and write about it.
12
I'm wondering how can he have the spare time to tweet silly things from the White House? A US president spent from 10 to 14 hours a day to take care of the national affairs. Meanwhile, Trump has used office hours to spread lies after lies. IT's pathetic. Should be fired.
42
One thing for sure, he doesn’t take time away from promoting his properties and golfing.
2
He doesn’t author all his tweets. He has a staffer devoted to his Twitter account, Dan Scavino, a former golf caddy (not kidding).
The Times recently profiled him here:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/magazine/dan-scavino-the-secretary...
2
We do have a way to announce to this president," You're fired!"
Get the vote out. 2020 can't come soon enough!
2
Don't forget Trump mercilessly trolled his first wife Ivana in the NYC tabloids back in the 90s. His affair with Marla Maples produced the tabloid headline "Best Sex I Ever Had!" That one was probably the work of 'John Baron.' The Trumps' bust-up was front page tabloid news from 1990-1992. Trump was heedless of the traumatizing effect of this public nastiness on his very young children, regularly scorching Ivana in comments to reporters, crudely criticizing her body and stating he no longer found her sexually attractive. Ivana eventually responded to this tirade of abuse in court papers accusing Trump of raping her & pulling out her hair.
Donald Trump has always been a mean, cowardly abusive man who desperately craves attention. We've seen Trump doesn't value his own privacy or even his family's - he crudely evaluated his daughter Ivanka's body on live radio with Howard Stern. There was no twitter in 1990 but the NYC tabloids & talk radio served Trump fine in his crusade to spout invective at the wife he was getting rid of and publicizing his 'success' brand.
A narcissist like Trump will seek out a public forum to parade his anger & 'out' his claims of 'victimization.'
Back in the 90s, Warren Beatty once said of then girlfriend Madonna: "She doesn't want to live off-camera. What point is there of existing off-camera?"
Trump can't stand existing off-camera. Thus endless MAGA rallies & tweeting.
At least Madonna was pretty & knew how to dance.
17
Trump is simply revolting....so let's not give him anymore
excuses for being deserving of our notice....He has no
redeeming qualities....so best to ignore him.
7
Grinding axes and boundary breaching were becoming American staples long before the web and the Drumpfian Swamp. We were warned 50 yrs ago about the dumbing down and subsequent moral ineptitude of America by some of the most talented people in education at the time. That was also about the time that one of our political parties, in its unending wisdom and brilliance, decided it would be a good, sound idea to transition to theocracy via its alignment with parochial "christians." Hmmm. Call it coincidence, if you will....all I know is this country's social and cultural integrity has been in a deep slide ever since.
And look where we are now...and who's fanning the flames. Internet? Benign. Tsar Drumpf? Just a product of time-tested, breathtakingly devolved ignorance.
10
Trump has been addicted to himself for as long as he has had a personality. He doesn't need Twitter to be the cruel, self-centered, bigoted demagogue he is. Twitter is just a different tool for him, but he has been this miserable person for a long time. Twitter may have been exposed by Trump as a great weapon for the demagogues and authoritarians who people our planet in greater numbers than I would have believed before Trump's election. Every one of his failures seems to raise his ratings a notch overall and greatly with his base.
6
Not that it makes any difference one way or another but since he lies about everything why is it taken as gospel that he doesn't drink, smoke or take drugs.
12
I do not use FB and Twitter
Never have
Not interested in short term fake adulation from people who will never ever be there for you when you need it
He’ll find out when he is abandoned after incarceration
6
Affluence breeds decadence while the internet spreads group ignorance.
And that’s before the planners line Putin and Zuckerberg tally their influence and concomitant profits.
7
Trump hasn’t made the country meaner, coarser and less empathetic. He’s made republicans meaner, coarser and less empathetic. Which, given their starting point, is not only quite a feat, but also horrifying. And terrifying. Did you hear the laughter and cheers of the crowd in Montana, at every vile, insulting, childish, bullying thing that came out of that detestable mouth of his? These people brought their children to the cult love fest. So this is the behavior they’re modeling for their children. Shocking. If this is the future of our country, we’re truly doomed. Which brings me back to meaner, coarser, less empathetic. If you’d like to help save the country from this freak show, maureen, you’ll stop peddling the notion that it’s the COUNTRY that’s meaner, coarser and less empathetic. It’s only Republicans who suffer from this affliction, and your continuing to generalize republicans’ deplorable behavior to all of us (“the country”), to create a false equivalency, not only will not help us to emerge from this time when our democracy is imperiled, but it makes you complicit in feeding it, fostering it, perpetuating it. Like the GOP, who clearly put party over country, so, too, do you, Maureen. Step up. Call a spade a spade. And do your part to save our democracy. Before it’s too late. Otherwise, please stop pretending you care about the fate of our country.
26
Trump has always been this way, from the get go!
7
Yes he has.
That’s why the folks who know him best - his fellow Manhattanites didn’t vote for him and why NYC banks won’t lend to him.
And he didn’t hide what he was during the campaign. He was obviously unprepared, made no effort to learn the job, refused to release his tax returns and lied ALL the time. Yet people (not a majority) voted for him - THEY are the reason our country is in trouble.
1
Trump spends hours every day watching TV (mostly Fox) and then turns on the twitter faucet to insult or attack perceived political opponents. Or worse long time American friends and allies. This vacuous waste of time prevents Trump from solving complex domestic and global problems with careful analysis and strategic thinking.This approach bankrupted Trump’s casinos. Is America next? And why has Congress gone AWOL?
10
His rallies, from the excerpts I see, resemble WWF matches with all the trimmings and the Don holding the mike, refereeing and being the main event.
That and the little twists of meanness- during the campaign the Don said to his security people- ...hurt them, don't be too nice..."
I keep seeing this playing out: the power over others demonstrated by just being a little rougher than is called for.
5
Trump is obviously a twitter addict. (the net is full of similarly afflicted trolls.)
But his twitter obsession is more the symptom than the cause of his mental instability.
He is,and always has been, a malignant narcissistic sociopath.
The advent of social media and the Putin/Citizens United/Gerymandered election that foisted him on an unwitting nation has merely given him an exponentially larger megaphone with which to screech his increasingly bizarre blather,
That people have been conned by him is what is truly scary.
63
It is a trist case to fall prey to Twitter. Especially when you sit in the Oval Office and should produce something positive.
5
Can we please crowd source a fund to buy Twitter and shut it down?
9
I don't tweet and I don't Facebook, but the comment sections of my local paper seem to be crawling with school yard bullies, little Trumps. They're just too tempting. I don't do crosswords. I'd rather extemporaneously compose little screeds that mock with facts and puncture with logic, and unavoidably, sarcasm. It's at least as good a mental exercise as crosswords.
6
Trump is absolutely a social media addict- a trait he shares with a large proportion of the population.He has an added benefit to his tweets because they are publicized by the print and TV media.His pronouncements, often untrue and profane , are no substitute for a president who has the ability to stand before the press and answer questions intelligently.I would refer him to some John Kennedy press conferences.Trump trolling is a pitiful excuse for communicating ideas- it is demeaning to the electorate and confounding to allies and foes worldwide.
3
Simply: speed kills; always has and alway will. The twit-sphere is one thing, but let's take another example. Let us say a Douglas Fir tree takes about seventy-eighty years to fully mature to a height of ten-to-fifteen meters. With a Stihl chainsaw (with a twenty-five inch bar), a sawyer can drop that Douglas Fir in three-to-five minutes of uninterrupted sawing. Okay; now you know, from clearcutting to cars, why the anthropocene climate disruption has evolved to the point where we're cutting our own throats with our addiction to speed and convenience, arguably the addictive properties of unbridled, unregulated capitalism. The only difference between our motorized tools' oxygen-suffocation and Twitter and the rest of the SNSs is that it's a frontal lobotomy rather than asphyxiation.
Taking time to enjoy things usually leads us to the finer aspects of life and humanism. If you'd like to measure this administration's adherence to the finer advancements of wo-mankind, measure this administration by 1) the quick turnover in how many people have been either fired or who have resigned from the cabinet, and 2) the number of cultural, literary, musical, dramatic events etc. that have been either staged, e.g. The Kennedy Honors, or attended by Mr. Trump, his family and/or members of his cabinet.
Jaron Lanier, the man who coined the term "virtual reality," is correct: delete your accounts or remain trumpian: lonely, narcissistic, and jonesin' for a selfie wherever you can get it.
5
Used to be that only a few people earned awards. Once “everyone is special” became widespread ( and award ceremonies became excruciatingly long affairs) it was only a matter of time before “everyone has something important to say” - to everyone - became widespread. Probably because everyone is special.
How special? Let us count the likes. Let us count the retweets. Let us count the followers. Want to put an end to (or at least a serious dent in) the mean spiritedness prevalent in web-based communication? Get rid of the counting. No doubt it is addictive to many. Proof of specialness, daily dose necessary. Why, I bet the numbers of comments submitted to the NYT in response to news articles and op-eds would decrease dramatically if the paper simply removed the ‘Recommend’ option. No?
3
Is it addiction to being the bully or a need to be adored by his followers, or a need to put on a show, a real, will vile substance show.
In many ways he reminds me of the main character in "Gladiator" who hurls the sword and asks the crowd "are you not entertained?".
When I see snippets of the Trump shows he puts on for his adoring masses, I see that sword being hurled and the question being asked.
He is addicted to hearing and seeing the crowd go wild in ecstasy at his every utterance of "lock her up", his slander of Senator Warren, the media is fake and the masses are addicted to his egging them on.
Yes, Trump is addicted to the need for adoration, to be worshiped, to have every word he speaks printed so he can continue the bullying.
What would the addict third rate schoolyard bully do if we the sane people, and the "fake" media, take away his drug of choice-the media in which his name or his insane mutterings are never printed or spoken again.
Perhaps the same reaction when an alcoholic is unable to get his drink-the withdrawal.
I would pay to see and watch the twitter toddler have his withdrawal.
5
You just don't hate Trump enough. I'm serious. Your criticism of Trump is not much different from your criticism of earlier presidents, and that makes me queasy.
8
In the book "People of the Lie" M. Scott Peck describes evil as “militant ignorance”. Most people will dismiss the concept of evil even exists. They dismiss it as narcissistic personality disorder or a mental illness that can be cured. But evil people are completely aware of their actions, they don't live in a void. Evil people are obsessed with maintaining their self-image of perfection through self-deception. Scott Peck was a celebrated author and psychiatrist. Read the book.
13
When he stood on a stage, in front of thousands, while being televised to tens of thousands, and he made fun of a handicapped person, that showed anyone with a heart, what a truly heartless person he is.
13
Imagine how peaceful the world could be without the megaphone-in-chief spewing toxic vitriol and blatant lies 365/24/7. He’s addicted to hatred and its endless feedback loop. Boycott Twitter until they take away his account. He has no inherent right to incite hatred and violence on the platform of a publicly-held company. Make Twitter pay for enabling him. Pull their revenue model out from under them. They need millions of eyeballs to sell ads. Avert your gaze and watch them change their policies.
People have more power than they realize to reshape the public sphere. We don’t have to put up with this stream of vulgarity coming from him and his followers. They egg him on. If you don’t believe it, go to his account and read the filth his adoring fans post in response to his tweets. Bring a strong stomach, though. It’s pretty horrible stuff.
12
I used to teach anti-bullying strategies in schools. Trump is a classic bully. Way down deep he is a frightened coward (as the late, great columnist Jimmy Breslin once said: Trump couldn't fight his way out of an empty parking lot.)
But bullies bully until people stand up to them. The obvious question is how to do that. My advice is don't try to out-Trump Trump. He would enjoy that. Fight back by being direct, honest and forceful but don't let him get away with anything. Use humor whenever possible because Trump will go nuts if he thinks people are laughing at him. But don't ridicule or demean like he does.
I think Elizabeth Warren is doing a pretty good job of fighting back against Trump, which helps explain why he calls her names like Pocahontas and in general tries to demean her.
At the end of the day Trump is afraid of Elizabeth Warren.
14
I has somewhat the same reaction when I watched Trump's speech at a rally in Montana last week.
His brother died of alcoholism and Donald has never taken a drink, but he looks and sounds like every loudmouth drunk you meet in a barroom. The people in AA call this being a "dry drunk." The chemistry has changed, but the toxicity remains.
33
Which came first: the chicken or the egg?
And which came first: Trump's bullying and bloviating verbiage or his mean Tweet-aholic messages?
6
“And yet, in a strange twist, Trump has ended up an addict.”
Addiction wears many faces, in this case we the people feed the addict his endless diet of adulation through the media he so mercilessly exploits.
6
Once again most of the readers’ comments are directed toward the Trump diseased character. But what about his enablers? The Republican Congress and republican donors. The few who spoke out against Trump still straight line vote for his proposals and nominees. He could be stopped if only his enablers truly cared about our country instead of using his swamp to increase their fortunes or get re-elected. It’s incredible how one diseased man can infect so many others. This is truly a nightmare.
10
In other words, Trump is the darwinian manifestation of the new social media paradigm. An apex troll, who was able to spread his memes (instead of genes) most effectively, and thus was naturally selected to rule.
Sad.
11
As he sniffs away during his rallies, I do not think that Twitter is his only addiction.
6
Twitter could have banned Trump early on and worked to be a good online community. Instead they succumbed to the temptation to allow him to generate "hits" and now he's destroying the platform itself, which was attractive not for the 140 characters (now 280, which only lets Trump rant more) but for the community. "AtJack" could still kick Trump off, but it's too late. Trump has warped the platform by distorting the sense of community.
13
Can citizens sue Twitter for disseminating, kmowingly, the President’s lies?
Free speech is not the same thing as lying and knowingly spreading lies.
Citizens United, this time, real Citizens, United for Truth.
16
Do a scan of Trump’s brain when he’s tweeting - it will show that the “road-rage hate” centers light up with “fire and fury”. Addicted to hate and revenge. Not good traits in someone who has his finger on a nuclear arsenal.
4
I think it is sickening how many news outlets rely upon tweets, reporting on and repeating tweets as if this is journalism. When I see a story that quickly goes to quoting tweets, I stop reading. Only a small fraction of the US tweets, and using tweets instead of quotes from all the rest of us - the sane people - is lazy and presents a skewed view of reality.
1
For decades the left assumed that their working-class supporters were dying off. No one had to pay attention to them any more. So they began to relentlessly mock them. You're bad for eating factory-farmed meat, owning a rifle, & driving an SUV. You're bad for speaking the language of micro-aggressions, patriarchy, & cultural appropriation. You're terrible people. You reap what you sow. There are no bad or good culture wars just winners & losers. The left is losing this fight...badly. Trump's crassness isn't surprising, isn't accidental, it's intentional, it's carefully calculated & it's working quite well. It plays perfectly to his base & they love it, so he'll keep doing it as much as possible. From a strategic & tactical standpoint, it's brilliant. It's open season on liberals & progressives. There's absolutely no downside to attacking, shaming, & embarrassing them with relentless abandon. The mainstream press can rage & shout about these tweets until there's ice on the equator...it won't change the mind of one person who voted for Trump. The more you complain the more he will do it. A huge portion of America hates & despises what the left stands for to their very core. What progressives & their co-dependents will never be able to see is that Trump supporters revel in the non-stop drama, are galvanized when he punches back. Far from being embarrassed by his antics, they're thrilled by it & in their heart of hearts can't get enough of it. So why stop? This is payback.
2
One of the most insightful important articles you have ever written. Let’s all try to ignore him.
4
Twitter (though I don't Tweet) publishes these crude comments to sell what ever their advertisers want to sell. It"s like the Fake News channels like fox and MSNBC. Get all the clowns worked up and lets all make some money.
Where it ends is anyone's guess, but I don't think it will be "Biggly"
Rob-Bob
1
Yes, it's another unintended consequence of toxic capitalism. Money may well be the root of all evil.
As so often the case, Maureen, brilliant, relevant and timely. Thank you.
Sobering wake-up call. Thanks. Going off social media now...
7
Social media has become a powerful propaganda machine. Trump has told more than 3300 documented lies since taking office and Twitter is an ideal broadcast tower for these lies, many of which are personal attacks on those who offer even the slightest opposition to Trump. The social media giant Facebook was used as a propaganda tool by Russian trolls who posted thousands of lies about Hillary in the form of fake news. Unlike the traditional media of the past where there was at least a semblance of verification required before publication, social media has no requirement for the truth.
Using social media like Twitter to attack legitimate news sources is part of Trump's Big Lie strategy. Trump learned from his mentor the vicious Roy Cohn to counterattack brutally when attacked in any way ...Twitter was made for bottom dwellers like Trump. The Big Lie propaganda method and the defamation of the professional news media is a despot's toll that was a major cudgel in Germany and Austria of the 1930's.
An extreme narcissist like Trump needs constant approval and he spends enormous amounts of time at all hours of the day and night generating hearts from his MAGA-hat crowd of those who hate what America needs most at this dire moment in our history: truth and justice.
One of the best chants of the anti-Trump marches sums it up perfectly: "We need a leader, not a Creepy Tweeter".
19
Trump has been an addict since long before there was Twitter. He is addicted to unwarranted praise, and when he doesn't get it, he showers it on himself. I have watched many an actually praiseworthy person squirm in embarrassment when speakers laud them; Trump basks in encomiums. Those sycophantic Cabinet meetings are torture to observe.
And that's the real problem. There are plenty of pathetic narcissists like Trump, but none has as powerful or as relentless an enabling establishment as Trump. Sure, when Paul Ryan & Mitch McConnell look the other way as Trump trashes democratic values, they're in it for themselves. But the effect of Congress's capitulation is as devastating to democracy as if members of Congress actually believed Trump were an honorable leader.
No one person can bring down a great nation, but one political party is conspiring to turn the U.S. into a hollow shell of the promise that was so evident in November 2008. That party has been clawing away at social progress for decades; now most of its members seem addicted, too -- if not to praise, then to unfettered power. It's up to the rest of us, diminished though we may be, to fight and conquer the epidemic of Republican hegemony.
17
Money quote, (very sad, yet very true): “Trump, of course, is a troll — both by temperament and by habit. His tweets and offhand taunts are the very essence of trolling — the lies, the scorn, the invective, the trash talk, and the rabid non sequiturs of an angry, aggrieved, isolated, and deeply self-absorbed adolescent who lives in a self-constructed bubble and gets the attention he craves from bashing his enemies and trailing clouds of outrage and dismay in his path.” He will not survive. We will win with goodness and acceptance. Have to.
10
If someone’s paranoid and they’re being followed, are they still paranoid? If someone’s a hypochondriac and they’re diagnosed with a terminal illness, are they still a hypochondriac? If someone’s a megalomaniac and you make him president, are they still a megalomaniac? Sadly, now that we’ve made a megalomaniac the most powerful man in the world we’re reaping what we’ve sown, and all this commentary, analysis and focus on our dear leader, be it positive or negative, only feeds his pathology.
2
Trump says he knows Kim Jong Un just by looking into his face. It is ironic that he never needs to look into the face of anyone as he twitters away.
Twitter does not allow for thinking only reacting in a moment. Perhaps Trump thinks that this instantaneous kind of reaction actually allows him to know something.
Will tweeting lead to the death of history and only a shallow perception of the world? In every addiction the addict learns only to look for the thing he or she craves blocking out everything else. Trump is an attention junky and twitter supplies his fix.
7
Thank you, Ms. Dowd. I'm sorry but I could not read anymore after your reference to the PBS news report about the 14-month-old who had been taken from his/her mother 85 days ago: " 'The child continued to cry when we got home and would hold on to my leg and would not let me go,' the mother wrote. 'When I took off his clothes, he was full of dirt and lice. It seemed like they had not bathed him the 85 days he was away from us.' " Immigration is a window into the soul of this White House. Let's not mince words. Ripping infants and children from their families is unspeakably cruel and malevolent. Everything this White House does is motivated by white nationalism and white supremacy.
12
Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Laziness, Wrath, Envy, Pride
I remember way before Twitter etc. ever existed DT exhibited all these characteristics and used the media of the day. Those seven deadly sins fit his infantile behavior perfectly.
13
This "addiction" that Trump and social media devotees on Twitter share has been amplified by the amount of attention that journalists and other media outlets give to each and every idiotic tweet that comes out of the Oval Office.
By doing so, the reporting media become complicit in the propaganda, lies, and scurrilous agenda that is being promoted. The general rejoinder that is that these doltish tweets represent "policy statements." NOT!
These are simply the ramblings of an increasingly unhinged narcissist who thrives on attention. He reminds me of a disruptive middle schooler who constantly acts in a way to get the teacher's and other students' attention. The only way to handle such a student is to ignore him/her. Without receiving the expected reaction, it's highly likely the disruptive outbursts would diminish and ultimately cease.
Just imagine a week in which all of his tweets were not immediately broadcast verbatim as "breaking news." A brief summary of his outrageous/mendacious tweets could be relegated to a daily sideline column or a one-minute on-air summary with the lies and half-truths annotated within the report itself. The critically important news of the day could then take over the headlines instead.
In this way, he would not get the attention he craves, and the public would be able to choose to read/view (or not) the vitriol that garners the publicity to which he is obviously addicted.
What a relief that would be for all of us!
11
As is true with other types of junkies, the more Trump indulges, the more damage he does to himself. Millions will rejoice when his addictions prove fatal.
7
During the primaries when the NYT first started to report on Trump's tweets, I was taken aback. Tweets are not news. They are barely opinion. I could not fathom why serious news organizations would elevate them to the same level as actual news. Two years later here we are. I do think the pundits and editors are as addicted to Trump's tweets as he is. Afterall, they produce clicks and clicks mean money. Just like a slot machine. I have come to the point where I would like a day - just one day - when I saw nothing about Trump. I am sick of him; sick of his boorishness; sick of both his endless need for attention and the endless need to give him attention by the media. Enough already. Please select ONE day to sanity and say nothing of the buffoon in the WH. What a blessed relief that would be. Thanks, Mo.
14
Lanier is right. Just ditch Twitter, Facebook and all other asocial media. You won’t miss it, I don’t.
5
Trumps use of social media is genius. It bypasses the mainstream media and allows his to communicate directly with his constituents.
Sorry it drives the liberals crazy not to be able to prevent that communication.
1
Wow
I would expect Twitter to dissolve over time
The acidity of the nastiness found there eats away any semblance of a civilized society
I am hoping Twitter crashes along with its’ most diseased user
Btw. Where are the disrupters when we need them most?
3
When you write that "we are becoming meaner" because of Trump or the internet, I truly have no idea what you're talking about.
In 1969 and 1970, after the My Lai massacre was revealed, 70% of people asked in poll after poll were AGAINST prosecuting Lt. Calley, the leader of the platoon that killed, gang raped and mutilated 500 Vietnamese civilians, among them women, children, and babies.
So, "meaner" compared to what and to when?
1
People should stop portraying Trump as a complex, strange man. He is not complicated. He is simply a little ten year old child with serious insecurities.
13
Indeed! Reporters “report” every Trump tweet as if this is “reporting “ the news. It’s not. And Trump ALWAYS wins and he knows it. What do we do with this MONSTER in the White House? There has to be some genuius out there ( and I’m not using genius sarcasticslly) who can show us how to counter Trump tweets. There HAS to be a way. We got to the Moon— we can beat the Tweet. It will save our country from spiraling deeper into chaos.
If only it were so easy. Trump is mean to his most inner rotten soul and his rabid base is even worse. That's it. No need for any deep analysis.
We have a whole lot of losers who have finally tasted power and just like a bunch of locusts they will leave nothing but destruction behind.
It's not Twitter that emboldends Trump, it's the cheers at the rallies. I honestly believe that Trump would burn a cross on stage if he got a big reaction from his audience. And what a reaction he would get.
6
“Donald Trump was profoundly affected by watching his older brother, Freddy, die from alcoholism at 43.”
Yes, so deeply affected, that a week after a lawsuit was filed by Freddy’s son because the family was largely cut out out of Fred Sr.’s will, Trump’s lawyers sent a letter to the family announcing that their medical coverage would be discontinued- including crucially, that for Freddy’s infant son who suffered from seizures and later cerebral palsy. Donald unashamedly admitted that this was done out of revenge.
Whether wreaking revenge through a sick child in his own family or on other people’s children at the Mexican border, Donald’s thirst for punishing those who thwart his immediate desires will never ever be slaked. ”Meaness” has always defined this man and always will.
15
There is an understandable moral symmetry to Rupert Murdoch and the millions/billions of dollars he rakes in through Fox News dissemination of half truths and outright lies. But how does Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, an outspoken liberal, and Twitter employees, mostly melenial and one would assume also liberal, live with themselves knowing that they provide a platform for Trump's dangerous, pathological disinformation campaign?
5
The media has become an enabler of Trump and his nasty juvenile behavior. The 24 by 7 coverage of Trump's every outrageous statement and there are so so many increases his addiction to attention and feeds media rating competitions. Perhaps it would be viewed as a public service to just ignore everything Trump says/tweets for a week (kind of like giving up something for lent) and that might get his attention in a more positive way. Of course, republicans on the right like former wrestling coach Jim Jordan, and the conspiracy crazy 'freedom caucus' and democrats on the left led by mad Maxine Waters and several senators who desperately want to be president, are almost as guilty in coursening our public discourse.
3
Trump's bubble was not self-constructed. His daddy built it for him and provided the money to maintain it.
How does this fact get lost? Trump inherited well. He made a small fortune by starting with a big one.
4
“I do think it creates a terrifying situation because somebody who is addicted is easy to manipulate. It’s easier for the North Koreans to lie to him than if he wasn’t an addict.”
We are getting glimmers of that scary scenario this weekend, as North Korea is publicly pushing back against expectations of denuclearization. Trump met last month with Kim Jong Un unready for the North Korean manipulator, unaware of how gullible he (Trump) is himself, and walked out claiming victory despite having no concrete pledges. This is winning? Only if winning means rushing to take credit for an accomplishment that was not reached! And Donald being who he is had to gratuitously claim that President Obama could only have hoped to get that far.
And now Trump wants us to be confident about his upcoming meeting with Putin? Just this week, Trump told a crowd, unbelievably, that he had been preparing his whole life for such an encounter, and also made light of Putin’s KGB career, making clear that Donald has no idea what he’s up against. Whether Putin is blackmailing Trump is one probability, but that Putin is more than sophisticated enough to manipulate Trump is irrefutable.
7
Oh I love FB that is the only way I can connect with my relatives and friends. Only way I can do that I never accept friendship with someone I don’t know.
Other than that I write my two cents in this paper .
Twitter ?
Never.
I don’t understand trump’s addiction with twitter, my first question is how he gets time for all that being the President ?Then as I understand his source of information is Fox News.
With his questionable intellegence and limited knowledge of the word situation, I wonder where this man is going to take us ?
5
This obsession with trump has to stop. Everywhere we turn in the media we find Trump leering out at us.
Journalism has been taken over by this trump addiction along with the craze for social media.
As Michelle Wolf said, the media created the monster Trump and is now benefiting off him by making a fortune talking about him.
Starting now, lets go cold turkey, stop all our mean trolling, put down the phone, and find something more positive to do with our lives!
6
Like many others I am concerned where President Trump has taken our country and where we are headed. I am concerned that our president has ......no sense of decency. My greater concern is that he has a 42 percent approval rating. Have these people “left no sense of decency.”
1
I am praying for the blue wave in November and Trump’s impeachment or defeat in 2020. I think his narcissism and malevolence will be long remembered and regretted. America has been forever tainted by his presidency.
8
Trump is who Trump is. It's like questioning the nature of a snake. Social Media, or Reality TV before that, are just the tools he has used to market himself. Instead, we must question the knowledge and wisdom of the body politic who voted for him and unconditionally support him, and ask ourselves if this is the kind of society we are and the kind of society we want to be.
13
Thank you Ms Dowd for the most important piece on two things I hate the most: Twitter and troll Trump. The most frightening bit, however, is the World Leader Policy Exemption. That’s terrifying. A tech company basically handing a digital megaphone to a total nutcase.
Imagine if FB exempted political ads from solid ID requirements so that false accounts could post bits from the KGB designed to affect our elections. Oh, sorry, that happened.
I’ll say it again and again - Bloomberg, Gates, et al should acquire Twitter (hostile takeover would be appropriate) and blast all servers into space, forever unplugged. Until then, we’ll undoubtedly see more tech companies cater to wanna be dictators because the user growth is all that really matters to Silicon Valley.
2
Trump is not alone. The hate and meanness he manifests resonate with a great many. And no, they're not all white fundamentalist socially conservative males.
When you play for reactions, you get them. But reactions are often as equal as they are opposite.
2
Most everyone seems to have forgotten Marshall McLuhan's seminal insight that the medium affects both mind and message. Trump, himself a creature of television, has seized upon social media to distort discourse so that it favors bullying, name-calling, stereotyping, gaslighting and oversimplification. Trump's lies, applications of fallacious reasoning, name-calling and other tactics wouldn't survive in older print media, but he's thriving on Twitter; such are the times we live in.
3
Are we addicted to our little screens, our cars, our guns, our pills, and our precious selves because our lives have become empty and we are trying to fill them up with....something?
Trump's obsession with winning, with domination, is a vain attempt to achieve wholeness as a human being. He is addicted to himself and his skillfully crafted image, so much so that he often refers to himself in the third person, "him" instead of "I".
America and the world have become the collateral damage to this man's sisyphean struggle to satisfy his insatiable hunger for respect and admiration.
1
Superb column from Ms Dowd and she simply and clearly makes two key points:
The addiction is drive by positive reinforcement for negativity.
Reporters are addicted to reporting tweets, not the fruits of a human interaction.
There is no human leadership in the White House; just an aging junky surrounded by flunkies. Looks like America forgot to show up for work.
1
I just watched "Four Corners, Trump/Putin" an Australian 3-part series, and a definitely a must see for anyone who wants to know more about the background of the undermining of democracy of DJT.
We should all admire Rosenstein, Mueller and all these brave Americans who are trying to save democracy in this country.
It is shameful what has happened and still is happening.
Just FTM!!
6
"Trump has certainly made political discourse more crude and belligerent. But is he making the whole country meaner, coarser and less empathetic? Or was the pump primed for a political figure like him because the internet had already made America meaner, coarser and less empathetic?"
C'mon, America has always been mean, coarse and unempathetic. Anyone who thinks differently is a blinkered goody-two-shoes or in denial? Trump is only a representative symptom.
2
"He proselytized against drinking and smoking, warning his kids away from those vices. Even with his casinos, Trump wasn’t a gambler, either, saying he’d rather own slot machines than play them." Trump says this yet is addicted to lying which is the number #1 characteristic of addicts. Trump is addicted to something and it is apparent that so are the people who support him. The #2 characteristic of addiction is loyalty where loyalty is not earned as Trump's policies abuse his base. Sums up the whole mess we are in right now. Unfortunately the #3 characteristic of addicts is chaos which can kill. Addiction never has good outcomes for anyone involved with the addict.
3
It's a shame Trump didn't have a brother who died of lying. Then he could have warned his children away from that vice. Or a brother who passed away from extreme racism. Perhaps Trump would have gone in a different direction. Or maybe if another brother succumbed to infidelity. Then Trump and Don Jr. would have taken their marriage vows a little more seriously. Hey, you can do a lot of these. I fear Trump avoiding the pitfalls that befell his brother had little to do with leading your best life and more to do with self-preservation.
2
People can be quite mean and nasty on internet, hiding behind their screens and usernames. But under Trump, we've seem a drastic uptick in people feeling much more comfortable calling the police on minorities for ridiculous reasons and for 'confronting' minorities who are doing nothing wrong (like barbecuing).
So, it's Trump. He's given a gleeful go-ahead for hatred to be normalized. Even worn as a badge of honor.
If people have nothing to love, they'll learn to love their own hatred.
8
The common bond trump shares with other mean spirited Twitter users is that he is, and they are, unaccountable. They say what they want to say with impunity (I assume with certain mandatory constraints, lest they be banished). With a Twitter "handle" they become anonymous so that retaliation is verbal only.
Back in the old days we had a way of dealing with a bully who was verbally abusive, and it did not include a verbal lashing. Today there are no consequences.
10
Magicians use “wiffle dust” to divert your attention from what they are doing. Trump is using Twitter in the same way to keep the media and people’s attention away from reporting or talking about how they are systematically destroying our government.
1
A Hollow Man (my apologizes to Mr. Eliot)
This is the way a country falls
This is the way a country falls
This is the way a country falls
Not with a bang but with a Twitter.
11
To think that so many voters were more concerned about an email server and felt that this “person” was more trust worthy.
5
It's sad to think that so many voters only consider a "D" or an "R" as the only viable options in an election.
"Or was the pump primed for a political figure like him......"
How clever to use a phrase that Trump himself came up with.
1
All the press coverage that Trump gets from commentators, letters to the editor, etc makes the media an addict to Trump and his tweets. Trump wants attention and he gets it - so look in the mirror? Stop covering him and he may stop?
2
The way to defeat a bully is to punch him in the face. Of course, one cannot nor should not physically assault a president
But we can assault his psyche. When it comes to trump, Robert DeNiro summed it up best.
Resist trump at every available chance.
Collectively turning our back on him (e.g. ignoring his twitter feeds-they are the rants of a perverted old man) will allow us to focus our attention on tomorrow, and deprive him of the attention he desperately needs.
3
"On the occasion of America’s 242nd birthday, we must ask who we are, if we can see accounts of infants snatched from their parents and returned covered in lice, and not worry about our country’s soul."
________________
Of course we can. Americans have done this throughout the country's history, beginning with the decision to enshrine slavery into the Constitution. All it requires is to view certain people as "others" who are not entitled to the same human and civil rights as the rest of us.
2
I think it's actually worse than just social media. He is addicted to hurting and destroying. It's a form of sadism, but probably not in the narrow, sexual sense of the term. He gets pleasure out of being mean, cruel, gratuitously nasty. It's not a pose, I think, it looks very much like it has become a necessity for him to satisfy an urge--exactly what an addition is. Was it ever a pose? I think it is part of his character. Perhaps there was a time he could control it, but as people get older, control slips. Especially when they become powerful enough that they think self-control is no longer necessary.
11
We will find out what kind of a nation we are in November. Does Donald Trump's meanness represent America today? Or are we an empathetic people? Is it OK to confine children in cages, or not? Is it OK to take tiny children away from their mothers, send the mothers back to their home countries, and then put the children up for adoption, or not? What kind of nation are we? This has nothing to do with immigration. It's about compassion for our fellow man!
8
America does seem to be meaner. I am encountering more meanness in my daily life than I can process.
But is America meaner? I don't think so. My grandmother's parents were Volga Germans; my grandmother - a kind, empathetuc, and generous woman - was treated "meanly" by her neighbors during World War II because of her German ancestry. We were "mean" to the Japanese that we interred. We were "mean" to the Native Americans. We were "mean" to the Holocaust refugee children that we turned away to certain death.
The reason that we seem meaner now is that the leader of our country encourages, celebrates, and rewards "meanness." There is no longer accountability or consequences for being mean. Being "mean" has become an asset in the US while compassion and integrity are now exploited and seen as liabilities.
15
Putting up walls only works for a while. Trump wants a tall wall to keep immigrants out and he wants a tariff wall to keep foreign goods under control and he wants the chasm wall between the rich and the poor to be as wide as possible. His actions proove these things even if his mouth says otherwise. Too bad he does not care about keeping America clean. He wants the rich corporations richer so they can support his reelection. Water pollution and air pollution mean nothing to him, he can move away. But there will be no away to move to. Then he will have to live in a bubble. He will want a rich white bubble. Walls fall down and bubbles get punctured. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Who will he blame then? All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put Humpty together again.
We will see eventually what all this Trump created chaos brings.
There's no way to put this genie back in his bottle. He has half of America believing his lies. They think that Obama, who pulled the country out of the great recession, was originally responsible for the crash. I recall that at the end of the 2008 election, when most people had lost a sizable portion of their 401K's, Obama advocated for more stimulus to help the working man. McConnell thwarted him at every attempt to right the ship. We finally came out of the recession by the middle of Obama's second term and the ship of state was seaworthy again. Then Trump starts his lying campaign: everything bad about America is Obama and by extension, Hillary's doing. The lies never stopped. In fact, they are becoming more and more toxic. he lies about foolish things and critically important issues. I fear for the Republic.
18
Trump does hit social media all the time, but I'm skeptical that rampant addicted mean-tweeting is what turned this guy into a mean-spirited egomaniac. He was cheating business partners, preying on young women, gratifying his every whim and calling people who aren't like him "losers" long before he became a Twitter nut in the political sphere. Long, in fact, before there even was social media. I think the mean-spirited sleaze ball craves adulation and attention, and that created the Twitter Monster, rather than the other way around.
It's funny but a lot of us spend more time than we'd like trying to psychoanalyze Trump, as if to finally find exactly that right label would somehow make us feel safer or more able to contain the feeling that a big chunk of the American electorate fell for this fast-talking real estate hustler.
2
Dear Maureen,
You have made some very accurate observations. Our current President is as corrupt as a three day old possum corpse. The root as you have inferred is not political but moral.
America has never been a moral beacon, but we have had at least a patina of moral rectitude.
Long before Mr. Trump, the patina of moral rectitude was denigrated and as as a result has been degenerating, decade by decade, leaving not idealism, but only hypocrisy.
Certainly, moral rectitude is hypocritical but at least there is an expectation that as free moral agents and in the public light, we should behave within suitable mores.
But Americans, I am an American, have forfeited our chance of moral rectitude for amoral opinion. Worse, some do not even think moral rectitude is useful.
I am very sad to observe that political opinions "trump" moral judgments.
I am not the best judge of morality, but what I see in our President and in fact his most ardent detractors and supporters, is nothing but amoral, tribal animosity.
2
I deleted all social media accounts. It has been a few months, now and the addiction still breezes through a day, at unexpected moments.
It’s like quitting sugar. Social media is in everything.
This comment has a button somewhere, I’m sure, to share.
I have introduced ideas on Facebook, to make my friends laugh. Likes occurred. Threads started, then exploded. Midway down, I’d discover several of my friends fixed in a savage argument. These people, all of whom had never met each other, became viscous. This was most true around the election.
Observing these arguments, I knew that each of these people, if they had met elsewhere, like at a cookout at my home, would have gotten along. They would have gone kayaking together, or started lifelong friendships, for real. But on Facebook, they hated each other. I would get private messages, from each one, asking how I could be friends with...
I shut it down. Had two thousand plus “friends”, most of whom were good people I knew in person, from life. There were stalkers. I’d blocked quite a few.
Twitter was the first to go. I would not support something that helped put Trump in power. Gone. Don’t care.
Facebook went next. It was harder to let go, but I’ve gone past the point where my personal data has been deleted (hopefully).
I’ll comment here. But, you don’t know me and I like the model Ben Franklin and his buddies started.
The quality of my life has improved. It’s just like olden times.
5
Trump has unleashed the id of the 40% of the American public who are closet or unabashed racists and bigots and who have been voting for Republicans for the last 50 years. Twitter with its “likes” reinforces and emboldens such individuals by providing them with a sense of respectability and acceptance within a Fox News-like echo chamber untethered to reality. Like any other addiction, social media offers short-term, readily-available positive reinforcement to marginalized individuals lacking a substantive sense of self. Thus its great appeal, staying power, and profound impact on social and political discourse.
7
It took years of priming the hostility pump by talk show ranters like Limbaugh, Hannity, Jones and so many others.
Twitter's creation for the addictive Internet has capitalized on past anger-mongering successes. Donald J. Trump may be an addict, but in spite of his general ignorance, he is smart when it comes to understanding how to win friends and influence people. His recent rabid over-the-top performance here in Montana seems proof that at least 30 per cent of voters are part of the "sucker born every minute" crowd who are easy marks for a well-timed demagogue.
Because history, literature and Scott Pruitt show us that hubris has consequences, perhaps the Trumpian Twitters will finally be a demolishing wrench tossed into the geared-up Trump Machine.
Rather than play the polite opposition, perhaps skillful psychological efforts should aim to egg on the Twittering Trump and stoke his addiction to the max. Maureen, the ball's in your court.
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
4
We should focus more on “we must ask who we are”, as Maureen phrased it , and less on Trump’s
addiction. We , or at least enough of us are, a country that elects and lets itself be governed by a corrupt Congress and a megalomaniacal president.
We pay no attention to an archaic electoral system, gun laws that predate bullets , a judicial structure that our leaders can manipulate to fit their self serving agendas , astronomical poverty levels, racial hatred that makes us separate children from their parents and discriminates against minorities of all kinds,unsustainable deficits and eventually the physical destruction of our planet.
Until we accept that this is who we are, there’s little chance that we’ll start looking for ways to prevent future Trump-like addicts from taking control of our country.
9
Bold, and welcome.
"Or was the pump primed for a political figure like him because the internet had already made America meaner, coarser and less empathetic?"
Not the internet, Maureen, the Republicans, for years and years.
4
"On the occasion of America’s 242nd birthday, we must ask who we are, if we can see accounts of infants snatched from their parents and returned covered in lice, and not worry about our country’s soul."
Ahh, Ms. Dowd; America doesn't have a soul. It's in permanent purgatory and has been since 1620. The Civil War was our Act of Confession: "bless me father, for I have sinned..." We replaced slavery with an even worse evil: Jim Crow, the institutionalized slavery that was abolished by a stroke of Abraham Lincoln's pen, a signature that occasioned his death.
America has never cared for anyone. The rich satiated the rich. The poor commiserated with the poor. Big business rubbed its slimy heel in the face of organized labor. American society, from sea to shining sea, ignored the second and third generation of slaves, looked the other way when atrocities were committed, shrugged, went to church, voted politicians into office who would not untie the status quo.
Where was our soul when we atomized Vietnam? Where was our soul when he atomized Afghanistan and Iraq? Where was our soul when we picked up the pieces of three century-changing assassinations between 1963 and 1968?
Where was our soul when we voted Donald Trump into office in 2016? Where is our soul now as Congress refuses to rein in the president on whose watch children are unclean and lice-ridden, separated from their mothers for a third of a year?
This is not about the internet or social media.
This is about us.
14
Very strange to read such things and realize we are talking about our country's president.
2
Dear Maureen,
Thank you for the insight. Unfortunately, you're preaching to the choir. Neither Trump nor his followers care about addictions, narcissism, lies or facts. Certainly Fox News (aka the Trump News Network) won't take him to task.
But it's not all about Trump. He didn't start the divisiveness and hatred but he has managed to amplify it. He has most assuredly baited the Left to the point where they can't see or think straight. The Left's problem is that they are as blind and self-centered as Trump. They lack any moral compass except that which they define. Thus far it's been easy pickings for the president - just about anything he says gets the MSM on a 24/7 cycle of criticism and hate. The media spends so much time on Trump they forget most everything else.
Want to get under Trump's skin? Don't report on what he says. Want to really get under his skin? Don't cover what his administration does.
It is probably a good thing Trump tweets. At least we learn what his intentions are. Imagine if this hideous malevolence were completely in the shadows.
1
We are stuck with a putative president who has no idea what he is doing. He is so far over his head in the office that he can not even see the surface of his swamp. We are in trouble folks, he has no control over his temper tantrums. He may thrash out and start a war, the enemy doesn't really matter, just get him a hero badge?, parade? I am very pessimistic, we haven't seen the worst yet.
5
“Lanier, who met Trump a couple of times back in the real estate developer’s New York heyday, thinks the president’s addiction to tweeting is rewiring his brain in a negative way.”
And Trump addiction is rewiring the brains of his base in a negative way. It’s a form of brainwashing.
28
Others here have said, and I 100% agree, that the press is doing the world and the institution of democracy an enormous harm by repeating Trump’s tweets or his deranged speeches to his fans which are no more than a spewing of one tweet-like lie after another whether they are related or not.
PLEASE, TV and internet and print journalists, STOP quoting him. Report on his administration’s actions.
And anyone who can handle the withdrawal should stop using Twitter and FB, both of which are major actors in the destruction of our country and our culture.
4
"His (Trump's) tweets propel the story on cable news."
They will be a significant factor in his future election campaign(s), as he knows he can drive and shape the news cycles.
I don't really see his tweets nor the media's insatiable desire for them stopping when he is no longer President. This whole thing truly has becone an addiction.
1
Maureen, it says right here in the comments section that our comments are moderated for civility. So, why can't Twitter do the same? The fact is that everything Trump tweets are read and believed by his followers. If he woke up tomorrow and declared the sky is green and the grass is blue, his followers would agree saying ' and what a pretty color green it is '. At the rate he's going right now we could be headed for civil war within the next couple of years. Something I used to think was impossible.
There's an old saying in Al Anon: Say what you mean, mean what you say, but DON'T say it mean. I wish we could all stop giving into our worst instincts. It's destroying our nation.
15
Most of us citizens and legal immigrants only wish President Trump more vehemently enforced immigration laws - that’s not being “mean” - that’s rewarding legal immigrants who followed the rules and protecting citizens’ wallets.
The mainstream media attacks Trumps use of social media because it allows him Direct accept to the people, rendering the MSM impotent.
Hopefully, the press will return to investigative reporting as opposed to their self-imposed subservient role as repeating what others say.
Addiction is a complex phenomenon, but what newer Internet users lament about has existed since the very early days of the Internet, from BBCs to USENET to IRC. There too, every new user would go through this sort of education, a growing up. A friend of mine had this to say: "Because in person I'd just ignore you and change the subject, but Usenet for some reason creates the impulse to defend one's position and follow up to every counterargument. Why it does that is something of a mystery and really fascinating. It tends to result in people getting dragged into arguments over things they know nothing whatsoever about, like me and brain chemical balances, even when they were really trying to argue about something else entirely, because they make some off-hand statement and then can't figure out how to stop defending it. --Russ Allbery, in su.org.asm, responding to why it's easier to argue on USENET than IRL.
Almost everyone (including me, I was one of those "hired trolls" where friends would call on me to argue other trolls in various forums) grew up over time. This was due to the way people joined: every Fall new users would get acclimated and eventually learn to let go and not feed the trolls. This is one way addictions don't develop: people learn to manage the behaviour rationally. Now there's no assimilation process: When AOL came on the Internet in 1993, a lot of users said that it was September all year around. Now with social media, it's like September forever.
4
Totally agree wit the assertions about social networks. Many, many people seek refuge from life behind their FB or Tweets ... living life as if they were somebody else. I think this obsession was long in place fore trump.
4
Twitter needs to hold elected officials to a higher standard. If they lie, their accounts should be banned no matter who they are. Otherwise, the medium is really no better than a theater owner allowing people to yell fire during a movie.
8
Trump is in a constant state of war! Not only with anyone or anything that disagrees with him, but with himself. At least to me, he does not accept himself.
His life and his contrived persona are a façade, which he struggles to maintain at all costs. One has to ask, what good does his wealth and power do for him?
8
Whenever I'm feeling down and disgusted concerning the latest actions of the trump administration, in addition to making a donation to organizations that fight the administration's actions, I head over to https://twitter.com/trump_regrets and am pleased to see his voters slowly but surely coming to their senses or at least understanding that they have been hoodwinked.
7
Of course he is an addict. These platforms are designed to attract and hold its users in the thrall of participating not in a forum but a fight club. That it has become a megaphone for certain heads of state has been truly a gold mine for Twitter founders, who will do nothing to curb them, claiming the interest of anti censorship as opposed to ruffling the feathers of the golden geese.
I do not tweet; I prefer the bourbon of Facebook to the crack of Twitter.
1
So many times as my wife and I watched the evening news we concluded, He’s finally done it this time. He will have to drop out of the race. But we were wrong. Finally when he made fun of a disabled reporter we said, thank god, he’s finished now. Wrong again.
Recently as I ponder our country and the people in it the sad reality unfolds that on the whole people just aren’t that smart. Easily led and stubbornly afraid of the truth. In the end we get what we deserve.
20
Ms. Dowd: Your points about Trump's use of social media are well-taken. Once again, I'm relieved that I don't participate in Facebook, Twitter, etc. However, I find your position just a bit rich. For years, your political commentary has often offered ridicule and condescension that could be viewed as the foundation of what you lament now. I read recently (Julian Barnes, I believe): sarcasm is when irony has lost its soul.
26
Trump would not be President Without Twitter, nor could he govern without tweeting.
Twitter Anonymous needed.
2
The solution to all this is quite simple. The news media should just stop reprinting and rebroadcasting Trump's Tweets, instead of echoing and amplifying them to a broader audience, just as he wants.
Of course this will never happen, because the people most addicted to Trump and his Tweets are the news media. He completely sets and controls the daily news media cycle with his Tweets.
And he knows the more outrageous his Tweets are, the more likely the media are to rebroadcast and republish them, because of all the ratings, revenue, page clicks, readers, viewers, book sales and subscriptions he brings to the news business and their parent entertainment companies, such as Comcast, Time Warner and Fox.
On a recent cable "news" show, a guest plaintively asked the host "why you keep showing and repeating the same Trump Tweets over and over again?" The host archly replied "we have to cover them, because they are from the President".
Talk about circular reasoning! The Trump-Tweet-news media cycle represents nothing more than a giant feedback loop. Trump and the news media desperately need each other, one for attention and publicity, and the other for money and ratings.
Sadly, Trump and the news media are addictive, co-dependents and they have the rest of us trapped in their addictive, socially destructive behavior.
13
A very insightful column Maureen. You wonder if the country is losing its soul? The country lost its soul on November 8, 2016 with the election of Trump by whatever means. Trump spews and tweets nothing but vitriol. Truth in those tweets does not even enter the equation. No one is spared, not even an ailing Senator John McCain, nor the newly widowed and elderly former President George H.W. Bush. We are always just a tweet away from World War III.
All of this has led to acrimoniousness everywhere, even in online book clubs, where there is always some troll who always tries to introduce politics in a venomous way . People are openly hostile, and racism and xenophobia are palpable. The bottom line is that Trump has fostered this, and made it acceptable. His supporters defend his cruelty even in separating children from migrant parents, and the heart of our country shrinks even more.
With social media and twitter Pandora's box was opened. They have been an excellent vehicle for encouraging hate and anger, with Trump leading the way, phone in hand.
6
Social media is just the enabler here. It's not the main issue.
People are the problem and people have always been angry, partisan, excitable, and group-minded. Previously, we had traditional media winnowing out people who were obviously unfit for office. People took their word for it in various editorials and opinion pieces. Lack of information and lack of access were safeguards in some way. It protected the electorate from themselves.
Now the "unfit" can appeal directly to the voters for better or for worse. They can reveal their genuine selves in visceral videos or tweets that are timely, punchy, and easy to get behind: it's us vs. them. That makes it very easy to get behind them and to feel like you know them on personal level. Which of course means a more partisan level.
7
Hey people, it's very simple. Stop reading/subscribing to these tweets!
Who cares about what he has to say. If you do care, you can read about it in the (hopefully legitimate) media LATER (maybe even in history books). You don't need to follow this in real time.
13
This is a unique phenomenon...not just a case of Twitter addiction, but one reinforced by a FoxNews addiction. It's a continuous, reinforcing loop. FoxNews tells/encourages him what to tweet....he gets a reaction...and then FoxNews reports on the reaction.
2
Ezra Klein was speaking to the issue of the media allowing Trump through its slavish attention to his twitter rants and rally rants to set the agenda for them. Both the media and the public need to disconnect from his rants and force Trump to focus on the issues and on policy. He may even have to brush up on the facts. I realize it is not an easy thing to do but deny him his media attention and he will lose a hefty portion of his power, such as it is.
20
Well! After such a thorough and well thought criticism I prefer to join Ms. Dodd on Facebook, rather than Twitter!
"Or was the pump primed for a political figure like him because the internet had already made America meaner, coarser and less empathetic?"
Yes.
4
Who is at fault if we give social media our attention? To this day, I blame the election of Trump primarily on people who read Facebook as a news source. The dumbing down of America is real. And of course now, it is considered "bad optics" and "privileged" to say that. What human being wakes up in the morning and thinks, "I have no interest in improving myself, my situation, my understanding of other human beings or the world?" Even my grandparents, with 8th grade educations, read books and newspapers and listened to the radio. They didn't take pride in ignorance. The sought to improve themselves. What has happened to us? I, for one, even at 64, will never ever stop growing. It means more to my husband and I than anything - the human capacity for development and growth. And that means, I don't have time for Facebook or Twitter or television, where ignorance is manifest.
31
AND YET WE CONTINUE TO LET HIS TWEETS DOMINATE OUR NEWS. I know that the Times makes an admirable effort to report on his actual actions and their consequences. But they and all reputable news sources must redouble their efforts to bring us real stories about real people affected by his policies. He is a master of obfuscation and distraction. Please let’s not fall prey. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize— the integrity of our societal institutions. There is hope. November comes.
3
The addiction goes both ways when TV, cable and print media can't wait to repeat Trump's tweets as if they were real information. If these tweets came from anyone else, you'd "unfriend" or "block" that person pretty quickly. If this was your relative, you'd be having family interventions with him or his children and seeking professional help.
12
Must every tweet be published? A little benign neglect would be better I think. I don't tweet and I don't do Facebook. It's very restful.
16
In the final analysis, it won't be Twitter, or Facebook, or other social media websites that corrode our democracy. 42% of Americans, according to recent polling like Trump. No democracy can survive a gullible, uninformed, electorate. When such a large percentage of the population disregards, and accepts behavior like our President, it's not Twitter and Facebook to blame. ". The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our starts, but in ourselves."
14
Trump is not addicted to Twitter...he is addicted to attention and power. Twitter is simply the means by which he gets these things. He is, after all, “a bottomless pit of need”, and wholly unsuited for the presidency.
24
Trump is pathologically isolated.
This was illustrated by his words at the rally a few days ago. His rallies are not the contrived manipulation of a professional con artist or pitchman. The emotional connection he elicits from this live crowd and his twitter readers is genuine.
""What is this thing "a thousand points of light" What does that mean anyhow -- and this was said by a Republican.""
Donald Trump actually didn't understand the context: Each light being an individual giving to charity, the metaphorical glow being the result of such a multitude of individual generosity.
He must have thought about this, but had no one to simply express his puzzlement. Since the phrase was used by George H.W. Bush, he assumed it was of the genre of advancing a partisan value or debasing the opposition.
His puzzlement that he shared with the live rally audience and the millions who would see this on TV divulged much about this tragic man, whose profound personality defects could very well destroy more than can be repaired in our lifetimes.
5
Ronald Regan thought he had solved the immigration problem and so has every President since.
Nice. white glove treatment of issues doesn't seem to work in the era of the lobbyist. The competing forces resist civil discourse and reason.
We do have an immigration problem and it needs to be fixed.
Whether Trump trolls, bullies or is overbearing he is bringing the country to understand that our laws are ineffective in today's world. The November elections should be enlightening.
3
Trump will do what is nevessary to get ratings, votes, etc. He transitioned from the outspoken outsider of primary politics to the dictator demagogue because he found the repressed negatovity and anger among those who would become his base supporters.
Twitter didn’t make Trump. Americans did.
He used to support campaigns for Sen. Chuck Schuner and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton. But he found that by talking about locking her up, even now, he gets his approcal from tjose who will keep him in power.
Twitter is just consequence-free invective, but the negativity was already out there. And he can do it without looking anyone in the eye.
7
Recently I have felt the need not for political analysis but psychological analysis of the malicious man who is president and those who support him. Since the day he was elected I have actually seen more kindness, not less, around me as if people innately compensate for his negativity. He actually inspires me to be a better person because he exemplifies everything a person should not want to be. Even family members who support him have not changed their kind ways, we just have an unspoken pact not to discuss politics because none of us has the stomach for it.
So I guess I keep waiting for large numbers of trump supporters to get bored and tired of his antics, decide to release some of their anger and grievance, because who truly chooses to follow someone so malevolent?
8
For a long time, I argued in favor of Twitter maintaining Trump's account. I generally believe in free speech, and I felt that with Trump's mental state on daily display, people would come to realize his severe intellectual and emotional shortcomings. Instead, he's dragged 35% of our nation into his deluded mind. There's clearly something very dysfunctional happening.
9
Insightful column. In general, the irony of "social media" is that it makes people less social, less socially adept. It's a safe, one-way communication from behind a screen. It isn't dialogue. It's all soundbites, or trolling and counter-trolling. The main form of communication is the snarky remark, which is the language of schoolyard bullying. It encourages immaturity and shallow thinking ("like!" "don't like!"). It's about followers, not leaders. I've been astonished by the way this technology has produced incredible levels of rudeness in people trying to interact face-to-face. You have dinner with someone, they have their phone on the dinner table and play with it while you're conversing. Or they photograph you without warning, and upload it to the internet - to show the whole world they have a social life. You become a data point in someone's personal PR strategy. Ugh.
1
As a licensed psychotherapist, I see trump from a "Skinnerian" point of view, as well. His is someone who has Twitter users, especially the media, on an "intermittent reinforcement" cycle. It's the strongest type reinforcement -look it up. As anyone knows, or should know, that by ignoring a constant 'pest' -the pest will go away or die from lack of 'feeding'. Complete cessation of attention is the strongest type of weapon to fight back. Ignoring someone
will usually stop the 'thing' almost immediately. Being from multiple disciplines, I also see his behaviour as a severe case of 'character disorders'. This encompasses many, and in his case perhaps all, Axis 11 DX's or what are called 'personality disorders'. I see narcissistic, sociopathic, disassociation, etc. in almost of his behaviours. At times he appears to be in a psychological 'fugue state'.
Democrats need to be putting forward plans to recuse the 47% who are working two jobs, strengthening safety net insurance programs like S.S., Medicare and so forth. Healthcare is a big one that is needs to be expanded, even to just treat opioid addiction. That is something positive to Tweet about if one must Tweet.
I appreciate your columns so much more these days, Ms. Dowd! Addressing the Twitter fascination, being used for disreputable purposes, is an imperative part of all of us-to look at 'OUR' behaviour-and responses to our current toxic environment.
3
If we hadn't been getting progressively meaner, I don't see how Trump could have been elected. There are probably multiple causes, beginning with our rampant materialism which calls to mind the AA adage that you can't ever get enough of what you don't really need.
We sure don't need the piles of stuff we accumulate and, speaking of getting too much of what's we don't need, there's Trump.
5
Twitter is a criminal undertaking.
Not in what it was intended for, but in what it does to the world.
Jaron Lanier has more than a point.
2
Time to re-read Marshall McLuhan.
3
This is one of the best, most exemplary Columns that Maureen has ever written. Someone, in this case Maureen, has to call out Twitter and lead the movement to bring it down. Twitter is a vicious medium and a murderous place to "hang out."
Twitter is Public Enemy Number One against America and Americans. If Twitter can be banned and abolished, that would go a long way towards some behavior modification for President Trump. Even an old dog can be taught new tricks. President Trump uses Twitter simply because it is a tool that enables him to communicate with the American people. In a similar manner, the telephone has been part of the death of America since it was invented.
Twitter, all by itself, has made the "whole country meaner, coarser and less empathetic. It is part of pump priming social media system (perhaps a "Big Brother") within the Internet that has continuously "made America meaner, coarser and less empathetic.
In ways such as we have waged "war" on Cancer, infectious diseases and all manner of threats to American society, culture and civilization, we MUST now wage a War of shock and awe by which to eradicate Twitter in the same manners that we eliminated the Axis Powers in WWII. If we need to destroy Twitter with an atomic bomb or its equivalent then we must do that. The destruction of Twitter must be Priority Number One as soon as possible & within the lifetimes of most of us alive now. Twitter is the greatest enemy & threat that America now faces.
3
Trump can only get the high he seeks from his Twitter abuse if we all continue to act like tweet-receptors in the nation’s fevered brain. He takes a hit, the tweet enters the system, and we get fired-up, completing the circuit that delivers him momentary pleasure. And because addicts, over time, require steadily increasing doses of the drug to achieve the same effect, Trump’s tweets will have to get meaner, longer, and more egregious and outrageous as the weeks and months pass. This can only lead - if we continue the addiction metaphor - to a more and more toxic system, and eventually...well, we all know the potential end points of addiction. What we don’t know yet is what our end point will look like if we reverse the metaphor back into real-world effects. Will Canada hold an intervention? Will the economy go into rehab recession? Could a tweet-storm force the rest of the world to jail us in by blockading our ports? Or will it be a civil war caused by tweet overdose? Whatever the end result might be, unless we somehow pull ourselves out of the cycle and get “clean”, Trump has got us hooked.
2
A President is always a role model, for better or worse. Yes, his meanness both reflects and also worsens the meanness of his supporters.
Studies have shown that a growing number of Americans suffer from severe forms of narcissism. That may be one more reason that some 40% of Americans still support our Narcissist in Chief.
7
Twitter and other social media have liberated us from the world in which established media organizations were the gatekeepers of information and opinion and people believed uncritically what they read in Time magazine or heard the news anchors say.
3
The daily register of his great unfitness to unite us. And the absurdity of MAGA and the surreal, more divided state, under Trump -- far from under God -- it is becoming.
2
Twitter didn’t create the monster that is the Bigmouth-in-Chief, but it does offer a platform which brings out Trump’s menacing qualities. The one-sided dialogue speaks to a bully who wants to seem unchallenged and to a pathological liar who doesn’t want to be met with facts. The pithy format is convenient for someone who doesn’t deal in complicated thoughts or sentences. And the thrill of an online following can only encourage an attention sponge to up the outrageousness.
The internet generally and Twitter specifically have made their marks on our society, in some ways good and in others bad. There’s no going back with the technology; it’s a matter of utilizing discerningly. The larger question is, how do we return to basic norms of conduct when base behavior is in our highest office?
2
That neglected immigrant baby who had not been washed for more than 80 days in some detention center or other holding place and who had lice is probably one of many children who may be currently abused through neglect or otherwise. There is no way of knowing. Children have been taken from their parents and lost.
Peter Pan was one of the Lost Boys who had fallen out of their prams and sent to Neverland. We now have around 3,000 Lost Children in Trump's Neverland. No provisions were made to reunite the immigrant children with their parents. Records were deleted, and some of the children are too young to talk or give information.
60% of Republicans in the latest poll support Trump's policy of separating families. Yet 60% of Americans regard this policy as a violation of human rights with 83% saying Trump must reunite the families. This encapsulates what has happened to the GOP: they are willing to condemn children to a Neverland, their families to a living grief of loss, for the sheer purpose of punishment and cruelty.
Joe Scarborough the other day called those Montanans who laughed and cheered at all of Trump's insults and mockery including of Sen. McCain who is fighting brain cancer and former Pres. George H. W. Bush's thousand points of light "the meanest 6,500 people," but all Trump supporters are like this. They are mean.
A good person's cup runneth over with kindness. Trump runneth over everything that makes America great.
3
We exist now in a debased culture that rewards the loud and the glib, and it's not about to change for the better. Twitter is a godsend to the loud and the glib. Trump was always that -- and that works superbly on his infinitely gullible and malleable base of loyalists. He is well aware of their intellectual limitations, openly declaring his fondness for the "poorly educated" ones so faithful he could "shoot somebody" and not lose voters. Twitter is perfect for them and he knows it.
3
“Trump has certainly made political discourse more crude and belligerent. But is he making the whole country meaner, coarser and less empathetic? “
I was waiting for Ms. Dowd to show an equivalence that somehow everyone is meaner, including liberals, progressives and most democrats. Perhaps she answered her own question:
Trump is meaner and so are most of his adoring followers who sit at his rallies in adulation of his attacks against people of color, immigrants, NFL football players, our allies.
This meanness, long a staple of talk radio and now the virtual state-run media of Fox News and adored by Trump is a creation of the right.
It’s hard to imagine what our country will be in 2020 if Trump wins re-election. What will that say about America and its people?
5
An excellent piece. Trump's Twitter feed will go down in history as a litany of lunacy; that he uses the platform at all in this way is egregious, but that his every message is also egregious compounds the damage both domestically and abroad. He does indeed seem to be in the grip of the instant hit of the tweet: Lanier is astute.
In the meantime, there's hardly anything in the NYTimes about Trump's visit to Britain. Perhaps it's viewed as a blip before the big show: his Helsinki assignation with Putin. But we, here, will be out in force to protest Trump's presence. As the UK wades through the corruption scandal that is the Brexit rollout and the US awaits Mueller's verdict, the links between these two events are becoming increasingly impossible to ignore and distressing to contemplate - a 'special relationship' few of us could have envisaged. These are connected assaults on democracy. In essence, we're demonstrating against the creep of the alt-right wherever it's happening.
9
Political discourse has been on a downward slide for a very long time, and Twitter and other social media have little to do with it. To confirm this, simply look back a the "Comments" section of many NY Times articles from 10 to 15 years ago, and observe the vitriol. Personal attacks against commenters were the norm, with little regard for the actual arguments being presented.
The degradation of our political discourse may have been exacerbated by talk radio, when screaming replaced civilized discussion, which probably first came to light in the 80s or 90s. Before the radio screamers took hold, one could find erudite discussions with people like William F. Buckley, George Will, and others. A conservative might disagree with a Daniel Patrick Moynahan, but the exchange of ideas was civil. Now, it is all personal attacks, opprobrium, and invective.
12
The use of social media is best for cowards. They can lambast and fear no repercussion. They can search out opinions that reflect their ignorance and pass on more ignorance. Trumpers quickly pass on their hate that is certified by Fox.
33
Trump has definitely made the political discourse crude and bombastic. Perhaps if he understood President (41) Bush's 1000 points of light his attitude might be less crude less belligerent. He seemed to have great difficulty grasping the concept the other night in Great Falls, Montana while trying to make a joke of it to a rather receptive audience. So maybe this will help. Of the 1000 points of light, Mr. President, you don't have to worry, you definitely aren't one of them.
41
It is easier to be mean if you are freed of the need to respect the views of others and President Trump has made it fashionable within his sphere of influence to be disrespectful of any who oppose him. Sadly, disrespect is what he does best and he has a large bloc of followers who have been liberated by his example and accordingly there is a large bloc who are disturbed and even angered by being the objects of his and their wrath and accordingly there has been an overall decline not only in respect for opposing viewpoints, but as well in compassion and empathy.
34
We are a society riddled with sound bytes and distractions. Trump is nothing but sound bytes and distractions. It is a wicked match. Trump didn't create the problem but he did capitalize on it.
The press prints his sound bytes and buys into his distractions themselves. CNN is a great example. This used to be a good source of in-depth news. These days they don't present fake news as Trump states often, but then again their news presentation has become much like Jerry Springer and Entertainment Tonight. If I watch CNN any more at all I mute the sound and wait for David Gergen or someone similar. David Gergen will be fair, interesting, and in-depth. This is a rarity anymore in the news.
This example is important because it exemplifies the way Trump can contaminate many facets of our thinking if we allow him to. The key phrase there being 'if we allow him to'. Somehow we have to approach Trump like a life threatening illness. We have to acknowledge it's there and respond appropriately, but we don't want to be defined by our illness or allow it to contaminate all of our perceptions.
My first wife fought ovarian cancer for 12 years before succumbing at the age of 37. She always looked straight at her cancer without flinching. But once she had done everything she could to address the disease, she focused on her faith, her family, and her work without distraction. The cancer did not define her.
We must not allow Trump to define us. We must not buy into his distractions.
76
I spoke with a Trump voter who claimed Trump was "rough around the edges "but his concern for the America was real. When I stated Trump's idea of great "America" seems to be the 1950"s where blacks, other minorities and women knew their place. Trumps tweets reinforce the feeling that those who are left behind lost their rightful place through no fault of their own and it resonates as true.
25
The meanness described in this article is more serious than just a "quirk" in the President's personality--it has manifested itself, at the Mexican border, as a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. The decision to separate children from their parents, and, through incompetency or complacency to fail to reunite them is an act for which Trump and Sessions should be tried and convicted by the International Court of Justice in the Hague. Kiersten Nielson and her assistant, Mr. Azur, should be jailed until every one of the stolen children is reunited with their parents.
150
Well said! Thank you.
1
It could very well be that the negativity, vitriol, criticism, self righteousness in social media is a psychological phenomenon taking place as an evolutionary current. People are comfortable in the privacy of their own space, that makes them bold. They are in a solitary space; devoid of company, hence they are not listening. And because they have questionable lives - why else are they on Twitter or social media so much- they are frustrated; that leads to anger etc.
America had deep pockets of hatred, bigotry, uneducated, insular views that persisted through all these years because the country is so geographically large, and local cultures could not - had little need to ? - mix with others. Social media has changed that. Now with a click, you are a pundit, whose views ought to be heard. And out come all these punches, unnecessary arguments.
All said and done though, arguably, no real and tragic harm has been done, and this could be phase one of a maturation journey. Phase two could be more modest usage of social media. After people become disenchanted, and more aware of the little value it provides.
Trump will have a chapter in a chronicle of that journey.
26
Actually, reporters aren't addicted to Trump.
Most reporters, given a choice, would have been just as interested in covering the election fairly, instead of covering one candidate 24/7.
The CEOs of cable news and print media corporations are addicted to Trump because he makes so much money for them.
Many reporters are frustrated because they understand that the financial interests of corporations and their shareholders are determining the politics of the country by what they choose to cover. That what should be serious news venues are now a form of entertainment, disguised as something more serious.
Some of them would like to introduce and write about new and progressive people and ideas.
But not all of them, of course.
68
It's not just Trump's twitter feed, it's his campaign rally riffs which are so disturbing.
Here he is talking about Senator Elizabeth Warren at his rally in Montana this week:
"We will take that little kit and say, but we have to do it gently. Because we're in the #MeToo generation so I have to be very gentle. And we will very gently take that kit and we will slowly toss it, hoping it doesn't hit her and injure her arm even though it only weighs probably two ounces. And we will say, I will give you a million dollars to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test so that it shows you're an Indian."
Here's another:
"The new platform of the Democrat party, and by the way, I call it the Democrat party. It sounds better rhetorically, you know. I wrote best sellers, I guess I speak well. You know, we turned away thousands of people. They never say I'm a great speaker. Why the hell do so many people come? Why -- I don't think -- it's true, why do they come? Why?"
Here's another:
"Why, oh why, do they come? It's got to be something. I guess they like my policy -- maybe my policy. No, it's true. Have you ever noticed, you never hear that -- you never hear that. You never hear it. I mean, there's got to be a reason. I have broken more Elton John records, he seems to have a lot of records and we beat -- and I, by the way, I don't have a musical instrument."
This is the President.
What a disgrace.
What an embarrassment.
Get out the Democrat vote this November.
620
I found it disturbing to contemplate the images of Trump's last meeting with Putin. Though the Russian is much shorter than Trump, Trump's posture and body language in most of the images I could find online suggested the classic postures of subservience, submission, and deference to a stronger persona.
For God's sake, Putin is a KGB-trained killer who rose through the ranks of the Russian snake pit without a daddy buying him a degree from Wharton, repeated Draft deferments and everything else, while Trump is a hothouse petunia from Queens whose bluffs and bluster are losing their potency.
Kim and Putin have his number, and we will reap the consequences.
461
make that a hothouse pansy
1
Please don't perpetuate the myth that he graduated from "Wharton." Daddy bought him a berth at the U of Pennsylvania. Wharton is a graduate school there, but Donnie was never admitted to it.
2