Twitter's Trump Ban has a Puzzling Explanation
/It was no shock that Twitter decided to permanently ban President Donald Trump. It is a surprise that it happened prior to him leaving office, and the final reasoning is idiotic.
Some people are banned from social media and never find out why. Twitter decided to explain at length why President Trump was banned. They looked at two tweets, then interpreted them.
“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
That was the first. This is the second:
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
That’s it. That’s the tweet. If you follow Trump's tweets, you’d know those are extraordinarily tame. But Twitter argues they must look at the “context” after the events that took place at the Capitol on January 6th. Twitter came to the conclusion that Trump rose to the standard of “glorification of violence.”
Phrases like “American Patriots” trigger Twitter, and they take it as the president supporting those who committed acts of violence at the Capitol. 75 million Trump voters did not storm the Capitol, and neither did a vast majority of the protestors who were there. Why do words like “patriot” trigger those in power on the left? During the Obama-Biden Administration, the IRS targeted conservatives, and “patriot” was among one of the flagged terms that brought on scrutiny from agents. Do Americans want to justify persecution based on such flimsy reasoning? Twitter is reaching, and that’s not even their biggest one.
“The second Tweet may also serve as encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts that the Inauguration would be a ‘safe’ target, as he will not be attending.”
President Trump isn’t suggesting violence by announcing where he won’t be. This is a deranged conclusion, and it’s a dangerous suggestion to instigators by Twitter itself.
“The mention of his supporters having a ‘GIANT VOICE long into the future’ and that ‘They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!’ is being interpreted as further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an ‘orderly transition’ and instead that he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election.”
What proof does Twitter have that President Trump is shielding rioters and looters at the Capitol? The FBI is fully on the hunt. And it’s very likely that President Trump will continue stating the election was stolen from him, and that will empower supporters who feel the same way. That won’t change whether Trump has a Twitter, and it still doesn’t rise to the standard of glorification of violence. Such a thing was never suggested about Hillary Clinton or the failed gubernatorial candidate for Georgia, Stacey Abrams.
President Trump’s word does weigh differently, as arguably the most powerful man on the planet, but those words have meaning, and misinterpreting their meaning is harmful. Twitter banned everything from the president, including calls for peace. The acts at the Capitol and the president were widely condemned. Making him a martyr by silencing him is shortsighted. If Twitter didn’t want to empower his most rabid supporters, feeding into their fears and complaints of bias is a bad idea.
Conservative critics of the president, like Guy Benson of Fox News, noted he wouldn’t be worried about the ban if Twitter hadn’t blocked The New York Post’s story about Hunter Biden, that was true and always with merit. If Twitter was acting as a gatekeeper of truth, they’d be going beyond their purpose, but they’d at least be admirable. They are gatekeepers, but it’s not truth they’re protecting.
They aren’t even applying their glorification of violence standards well. Foreign world leaders have made calls of violence or at least justified it. Many verified checkmark users supported BLM riots, including the violence. Colin Kaepernick justified BLM riots, and Jack Dorsey rewarded him with $3 million. If Trump can get kicked off for announcing he wouldn’t be at the inauguration, why wasn’t Senator Kamala Harris flagged for promoting a fund to bail out rioters? Antifa and BLM agitators use Facebook and Twitter to communicate, and they still have accounts.
Twitter appears to be going through a purge. Conservatives have noted the loss of followers by the thousands. Twitter claims they are doing a standard cleanup of accounts, but conservatives aren’t buying it. They note the loss isn’t evenly distributed among leftists. Twitter could also be experiencing a mass exodus, as many users are deactivating their accounts in solidarity with the president. Famous users like Rush Limbaugh deactivated (earlier speculations that he was suspended were false).
Since his removal, world leaders have weighed in about the dangers of big tech overreach. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the ban “problematic.” Twitter has lost $5 billion in market value since banning President Trump.
Whether you love or hate the president, social media crackdowns will not end with him. Twitter’s explanation truly tipped their hand that controlling speech is the goal.
