When Hillary Clinton told Donald Trump on Thursday to delete his Twitter account, invoking a well-worn social media jab, it was a long time coming, according to a report by Politico published Friday.
Donald Trump's social media prowess has been widely covered during the 2016 election, as the mogul's unabashed (and at times, unedited) use of the micro-blogging platform has allowed him to respond to rumors instantaneously, shape the media narrative, brand his opponents unforgettably, and engage with his millions of followers. And while Trump has been an avid Twitter user since 2009, Clinton only joined the site in 2013.
So how does Team Clinton plan to beat Trump at his own game? The Clinton campaign apparently stockpiles GIFs, videos, and other media, keeping the materials on deck so that they can be deployed at a moment's notice. When Clinton gave a no-holds-barred speech on June 2 attacking Trump, for example, her campaign bet that Trump wouldn't be able to resist calling out Clinton on Twitter. They were right, and Clinton's account quickly sent out a ready-made list refuting Trump's rebuttal.
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"The Clinton campaign is particularly good at planning to be spontaneous," Twitter spokesman Nick Pacilio told Politico — which sounds perfectly Hillary Clinton-esque. Read the whole breakdown of Hillary Clinton's social media strategy at Politico.
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