How Twitter Made Him Great Again

Book excerpt: Upon the initial declaration of his candidacy, few people gave the reality television star a chance of success in the presidential election. Late night show hosts made jokes, the media speculated on his possible early exit, and rival politicians treated him with disdain. However, the adept use of Twitter served to strengthen the campaign, branding him with populist appeal while garnering an increasing base that thrived on his nationalist, anti-immigrant rhetoric. For both the Republican primary and the general election, Twitter served as the great equalizer. Additionally, his ever growing base of followers allowed him to communicate directly with the world, circumventing news coverage. This was particularly critical in the creation of a brand that painted the media as purveyors of “fake news,” creating dissonance and encouraging the acceptance of a false narrative. Astonishingly, the people listened, allowing the narrative to be changed. Furthermore, the simplicity of Twitter allowed the campaign to thrive. The candidate could respond to critics with a simple click, leaving an overly simplistic retort that could be retweeted by his millions of followers. This further helped to create a narrative. Twitter allowed his tweets to largely go viral. His more outrageous tweets garnered even more sharing and retweets on the platform yielding more free publicity . While other candidates focused on traditional campaign methods, Twitter kept the reality television star constantly in the spotlight , frequently his leading stories were on the nightly news headline . Twitter essentially allowed him to channel his brash style into an easy-to-digest public image of a entrepreneurial businessman , who has of non political background , an outsider focused on translating his business success into significant governmental reform as he starts his new journey venture into the First Office .