Trump's tweets about MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski would get most people fired, experts say

Trump's tweets would ordinarily get him fired
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CNNMoney)

On Thursday morning, President Trump tweeted out some gross comments about MSNBC's Morning Joe cohost Mika Brzezinski, apparently because she made fun of his framed fake Time magazine covers (not that he watches Morning Joe anymore!), and the tweets were not well-received, generally. In case you were offline all Thursday, or it was "beneath your dignity" to engage with the president's mean tweets, CNN has a quick summary.

The fact that Trump is the boss wouldn't necessarily protect him, either. "Any good outside crisis adviser would tell the company's board that they have no choice but to terminate the CEO," said Hofstra University public relations expert Kara Alaimo. "Today, more than ever before, citizens expect companies to espouse and uphold values." Every company has different policies about social media, AP notes, some more lenient than others, but federal agencies like the General Services Administration prohibit "engaging in vulgar or abusive language, personal attacks of any kind, or offensive terms targeting individuals or groups." You can read some examples of people fired over their social media posts at AP.

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People have also been kicked off Twitter for abusive tweets, but Twitter's harassment rules "leave plenty of grey area," CNN reports. "We don't comment on individual accounts, for privacy and security reasons," a Twitter spokesperson told CNN when it asked how close Trump's tweets get him to violating the company's rules. "I'm sure the Twitter team loathes how the product is being used by Trump," a former Twitter executive tells CNN, adding, "If they suspend his account, they'll have to do this consistently with other harassment accounts, which is impossible."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.