Donald Trump The Social Media President Analysis

In the article, “Trump: The Social Media President”, author Van Jones, discusses how media has played a pivotal role in presidential elections throughout history; and how it continues to do so in the 2016 presidential election. Franklin D. Roosevelt, was the first presidential candidate to master the use of the radio, the media tool of his era. In March 1933, Roosevelt held his first radio broadcast “fireside chat” in order to explain his policies to the American Public. Following Roosevelt a few generations later John F. Kennedy was of the first to master the use of television to gain the support of voters. Then in 2008, President Obama turned to various forms of the internet, such as email and video blogging, to create a game changing force

Kennedy, and Barak Obama seem obvious now, their innovations were criticized and underestimated in their time. Donald Trump’s social media approach to the presidential campaign could very well be the next era of media related winning strategies. Social media has made it possible for Donald trump to reach millions of voters every day. In the article, “Trump, the Social Media President”, the author talks about how Donald Trump is not only taking a new approach to campaigning, but how he is also changing the rules of campaigning all together. The article discusses how in previous campaigns the image of candidates was tightly controlled and that deviating from that image by making pretentious statements would have terminated a campaign. However, in the reality TV industry this type of behavior only makes you more famous. Under the old system of campaigning, verbal attacks on individuals and ethnic groups would have repulsed voters however on numerous social media sites this type of behavior is gaining followers. What the article is trying to show the reader is that Donald Trump is not breaking the rules, he is playing by a new set of rules. Rules that have been created by social media sites and reality television and that most Americans have been adapting to for more than a decade. Despite the fact that a lot of voters don’t agree with Donald Trump’s campaign, millions still

I felt that using the examples of Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Obama helped the reader to understand that the candidates that master the media tools of the generation have typically won the election because they were able to reach a larger voting base. This may not be the case for Donald Trump, only time will tell; however, he is using social media as a way to expand local events to the entire nation. He is also gaining millions of followers on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook every day. I also found it interesting that the author pointed out how his use of social media and reality television has changed the rules and basic standards of the campaign. I find it interesting that his numerous racist and insulting statements on social media have gained him millions of followers rather than turning them