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While most Americans were busy basting their turkeys and making cranberry sauce, Donald Trump was tweeting instead.
Despite it being Thanksgiving, the president spent the day posting about supposed electoral fraud, Black Lives Matter, the ‘Fake News Media’ and AOC.
Traditionally, presidents would commemorate Thanksgiving by posting a heartfelt message to the nation accompanied by a wholesome family snap.
Trump, not being a traditional president, used the day to once again disseminate misinformation and attack his rivals.
His tweets, many of which were flagged by Twitter as being misleading, had almost nothing to do with Thanksgiving. Here’s a breakdown of his Twitter temper tantrum.
Trump’s first tweet was him wishing Michael Flynn a “great life”. This, of course, follows the news that the president pardoned his disgraced ex-national security adviser. This tweet was actually a quote-tweet of his own post from the day before.
Then, predictably, he launched into a tirade about voter fraud once. Trump shared a video from OAN – a reliably pro-Trump ‘news’ source – about alleged irregularities with absentee voting. Twitter slapped on their first disclaimer of the day. Under the video, Twitter linked to a resource about how voting by mail was actually safe and secure.
Trump continued to cry foul about the election. In a tweet filled with capital letters and exclamation marks, he wrote: “This was a 100% RIGGED ELECTION.” Given that there isn’t evidence for this bold claim, Twitter once again added a disclaimer. Under the tweet, it says: “This claim about election fraud is disputed.”
Finally, Trump got round to wishing people a happy thanksgiving. Well, sort of. He tweeted it alongside a post about Andrew Cuomo being blocked from enforcing attendance limits on religious services.
He then decided to respond to a tweet about NFL players taking the knee. For the last few years, some American athletes have done this to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Trump quote-tweeted it and simply said: “No thanks!”
After a brief respite from talking about election fraud, he returned to making false claims. First, Trump falsely referred to votes in Pennsylvania as “a total FRAUD”. Then, he shared an article about Fox News ratings dropping and again falsely claimed: “I still won LEGAL VOTES by a lot!!!”
After that, the president shared an article loosely about AOC because… of course. Still, many tweets in, there was no sign of a heartfelt Thanksgiving message.
Trump then congratulated a “brilliant woman of courage” – a judge who ordered a half to further vote certification in Pennsylvania.
Eventually, Trump shared a link to a Thanksgiving message before taking a break of four hours.
After a short break, he returned to inaccurately accusing Joe Biden of electoral fraud.
Then, following his Thanksgiving press conference, he complained about how the media covered it. The big story was Trump finally saying that he’ll leave the White House if the electoral college says he lost. Trump wasn’t happy with this framing.
He once again claimed that the election was “RIGGED” and that he “WON”. Because this isn’t true, Twitter added: “Multiple sources called this election differently.”
Trump then accused Twitter of “big Conservative discrimination”. He was particularly upset with #diaperdon trending on Twitter. So much so that called for Section 230 to be revoked – a rule that protects social media platforms from getting in trouble for content published by users.
People, understandably, thought his not-so-thankful Thanksgiving Day tweets were wild and ungrateful.
One person wrote: “A dozen or so Trump tweets today—none expressing thanks for healthcare providers, frontline workers, or anyone else struggling to help their fellow Americans in the midst of a pandemic.”
Another commented: “The first Thanksgiving day tweets from Donald Trump and Joe Biden could not be more different. Outgoing President Trump is pushing conspiracy theories while President-Elect Biden is promoting public safety during COVID.”
This refers to Joe Biden’s tweet urging Americans to consider the “small act of staying home”.
Many people referred to Trump’s Twitter antics as a ‘temper tantrum’.
Sounds about right.
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