By Ben Frederick
There have been many different ways the President of the United States has addressed the people in the past. Some have used letters, others only gave live speeches, and when the radio was invented and became mainstream, presidents used that to get their word out. With today’s modern technology, television and live stream gave presidents the power to give elegant educated speeches in front of every single American. However, the current president, Donald Trump, has turned to a new outlet to spread his thoughts and ideas. He uses Twitter to respond to pressing issues in America. Comparing that to presidents’ ways in the past, this is pathetic. A president should not tweet about this country’s news like a 15-year-old tweeting about her ex-boyfriend.
The presidents of the modern age would go on national television and give official press releases. These press releases were well thought out statements that the whole executive branch came to an agreement on, not just a 2 a.m. tweet that the president makes on a topic he feels is important. A release to the American people should be more than 140 characters. We are the American people, not your fellow high school classmates. Using Twitter is not professional when you are in that position of power.
When the executive branch wants to move in a certain direction, it should release an official press release instead of the Commander and Tweet posting it to social media. He uses abbreviations and misspells things at times. That is unacceptable. The President of the United States is the leader of the free world. He should act like it instead of calling news sources fake news on Twitter and calling people names online. As the president, he should be charismatic and be the shining example of what all Americans should be. His actions on Twitter do the opposite of this.
The American people deserve the right to hear official briefings from the executive branch. We do not want to be informed through Twitter. When a national tragedy happens, those affected do not want to hear about your stupid tweet saying how bad it was and they are in your prayers. When things like this happened in the past, presidents would go on national television and go to those locations to speak and give his condolences personally.
As the leader of the free world, Trump should keep his personal beliefs in check, not posting about them at 3 a.m. when something happened in the country he does not like. For example, with the NFL kneeling incident, Trump posted his personal beliefs on Twitter and caused a giant commotion. It is fine that the president feels that way, but he should not be posting and trying to cause tension in his position. He should have the restrain as president and be able to control his thoughts. If it is an issue that he wants the nation to focus on, then he should address that in an actual White House press conference, not on Twitter.
Twitter is not a presidential or professional way to get the news out. A president should use the respectable means of communication and not act like a teenager. There is a reason you must be 35 to be president. A president should be wise and be able to control his emotions and outburst like an adult can. Obviously, Trump cannot.