No one is even trying to restrain Trump's tweeting anymore


On Thursday night, President Trump fired off a crude tweet about sexual harassment claims against Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and the photo of him posing with his hands over a sleeping woman's breasts — despite the clear echoes with Trump's own hot-mic confession to groping multiple women. On Sunday night and Monday morning, Trump tweeted that he should have left three black college basketball players in jail in China because one of their fathers had failed to thank him for interceding, criticized a black NFL player over an anthem protest, insulted Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and predicted he would vote against the Senate GOP tax bill, and suggested that China's punishment of 5-10 years in jail for shoplifting is "as it should be."
"What Trump may not realize — and what new data shows — is that he may be tweeting his way into losses in 2018 and 2020," Democratic strategist Jim Messina writes in Politico Magazine. Advisers during the campaign and lawyers in the early days of his administration tried to set parameters on Trump's Twitter habit, but "none of the advice seemed to have any lasting effect on a president who views acting on his own impulses as a virtue," reports Annie Karni at Politico. "And these days, the staff has basically stopped trying: There is no character inhabiting the West Wing who is dispatched to counsel the president when he aims the powerful weapon of his Twitter feed at himself."
The Franken tweet, while putting White House officials on the spot all weekend, isn't even among "the high-water marks of self-destructive Trump tweets," Karni says. A former Trump administration official said Trump's tweet-attacks are par for the course for a "White House with a sub-40 job approval rating with a tough midterm cycle ahead. It doesn't matter if there are vulnerabilities on their own side: They're going to take anything they can get." Or at least get it while he can.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Gavin Newsom mulls California redistricting to counter Texas gerrymandering
TALKING POINTS A controversial plan has become a major flashpoint among Democrats struggling for traction in the Trump era
-
6 perfect gifts for travel lovers
The Week Recommends The best trip is the one that lives on and on
-
How can you get the maximum Social Security retirement benefit?
the explainer These steps can help boost the Social Security amount you receive
-
President diagnosed with 'chronic venous insufficiency'
Speed Read The vein disorder has given Trump swollen ankles and visible bruising on his hands
-
'Bawdy' Trump letter supercharges Epstein scandal
Speed Read The Wall Street Journal published details of Trump's alleged birthday letter to Epstein
-
Fed chair Powell in Trump's firing line
Speed Read The president considers removing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
-
Trump trashes supporters over Epstein files
speed read The president lashed out on social media following criticism of his administration's Jeffrey Epstein investigation
-
Judge nixes wiping medical debt from credit checks
Speed Read Medical debt can now be included in credit reports
-
Grijalva wins Democratic special primary for Arizona
Speed Read She will go up against Republican nominee Daniel Butierez to fill the US House seat her father held until his death earlier this year
-
US inflation jumps as Trump tariffs 'bite'
Speed Read Consumer prices are climbing and the inflation rate rose to its highest level in four months
-
SCOTUS greenlights mass DOE firings
Speed Read The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to further shrink the Education Department