Donald Trump set a personal record in 2020 by firing off more than 12,000 tweets, with many of them garnering controversy and leading Twitter to take action. As Newsweek noted, the president capped off 2020 by boasting about the U.S. military’s capabilities and bragging about record performance for the stock market.
“Finished off the year with the highest Stock Market in history. Setting records with your 401k’s, just like I said you would. Congratulations to all!” he tweeted a little more than an hour before the clock turned to 2021.
The tweets put him over 12,200 for 2020, far surpassing his personal record of 7,700 set in 2019. As the report pointed out, there were a number of major events over the course of 2020 that captured his attention and drew him to Twitter to share his thoughts. The year started with the process that would see him impeached on a pair of charges but ultimately acquitted by the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate. Trump regularly tweeted his thoughts on the process, which he called a politically motivated witch hunt. He ultimately claimed vindication after his acquittal, using the platform to attack those who testified against him during the trial.
Trump would go on to use the social media site to share thoughts on the presidential campaign, the unfolding coronavirus pandemic, and spent the last two months after the presidential election spreading unfounded theories about his loss to Joe Biden. Many of these statements drew pushback from critics, especially his messages that contradicted public health experts’ advice regarding the pandemic.
The report cited the Trump Twitter Archive , which showed a dramatic increase in online activity over the course of his last full year in office. The report noted that he tweeted or retweeted 2,593 times in 2017, 3,556 in 2018, 7,783 in 2019, and 12,234 in 2020.
Many of the final ones came under controversy, with the social media giant slapping a number of his messages with warnings to readers that he was passing along disputed or false information about the presidential election. During this time, Trump also revived his calls for Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to be revoked.
The above measure protects companies from liability for what users posts on the platforms, but Trump has led a charge against it along with claims that these companies are biased against conservative voices. Experts have said that revoking the protection could backfire on Trump, leading Twitter and others to ban him for attacks that could be considered defamation.
