# When is Trump going to give up Twitter? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 1, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555 "2016-12-01T20:44:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/41 "2016-12-02T01:17:06Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > Twitter has come out and said that they’ll ban him if he engages in any hate speech - so maybe he won’t have a choice. 3 months, max then. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/42 "2016-12-02T01:33:00Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > I don’t take orders from you. There’s a link to Twitter’s rules two posts above yours, you can read them there if you like. Or you can carry on about how Twitter can’t have terms of service that fall within the law because right-wing bigots who own bakeries aren’t allowed to operate outside of it. That seems to be the gist of your complaint. No surprise you can’t define hate speech. I mean the Supreme Court had an issue with defining obscenity. I wouldn’t expect the mind of an average doper to do better. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/43 "2016-12-02T01:57:30Z")
I didn’t say I couldn’t define it, I said I don’t take orders from you. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/44 "2016-12-02T02:08:56Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > I didn’t say I couldn’t define it, I said I don’t take orders from you. Let me guess since you have trouble with articulating your thoughts. ‘Hate speech’ 1. is a nebulous concept used to demonize a speaker who utilizes triggering words or imagery instead of countering with a coherent argument. 2. something that makes snowflakes melt and look for a safe place. Close? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/45 "2016-12-02T02:53:02Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I thought it was obvious: Euphonious Polemic said “Good think twitter does not refuse service to gay people.” If he had said Twitter does not refuse service to British Catholics then my post would have read “Well … only some British Catholics.” This is the epitome of “disingenuous”. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/46 "2016-12-02T02:53:35Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > No surprise you can’t define hate speech. I mean the Supreme Court had an issue with defining obscenity. I wouldn’t expect the mind of an average doper to do better. In fairness, our average got pulled down a little in April. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/47 "2016-12-02T02:57:21Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > In fairness, our average got pulled down a little in April. How very clever! Not all of us can be you or Johnny Ace with 160+ IQs. I’m glad you are using yours to benefit humanity by belittling poor ol’ octopus on this here message board. No Christmas or Kwanzaa card for you this year. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/48 "2016-12-02T03:07:23Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > How very clever! Not all of us can be you or Johnny Ace with 160+ IQs. I’m glad you are using yours to benefit humanity by belittling poor ol’ octopus on this here message board. No Christmas or Kwanzaa card for you this year. This is why conservative humour fails. Their version of sarcasm is not “I’m clever, my audience is clever, let’s laugh together”, but “oh, you so clever, me so dum, my audience should hate people who are clever because we’re the common folk and common folk gotta stick togedder against those brainiac perfessor types.” ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/49 "2016-12-02T03:14:47Z")
As to the original question, if it were up to him, when his heirs pry his cold dead short fingers off it. At some point the SecServ may issue him a secure “hardened” smartphone, like they did with the “Barackberry” eight years ago. Wonder if Twitter will be considered a safe app for that device. OTOH on the later hijack, as far as I’m aware being rude or crass or an annoying putz is not by itself considered “hate speech”. But private businesses can lower the banhammer just for being an annoying putz, they often simply choose not to because, well, that’s a major market segment and they’d be doing nothing but banning people all day. Milo’s case is more of someone taking trollholery to a level beyond and someone else in a position to take measures finally getting tired of it. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/50 "2016-12-02T03:19:08Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > How very clever! Not all of us can be you or Johnny Ace with 160+ IQs. …r. Oh yes we can! Because now there are no such things as facts any more. I can give you cites, but they would be meaningless. Everything is opinion from here on out. (The earth may be flat, after all.) ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/51 "2016-12-02T03:20:27Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I’ve seen Trump use a computer, though I have no trouble believing it was just a PR show. On the other hand, I _can’t_ believe that he dictates his **drunken** , racist Twitter posts to a secretary at 3am. That’s got to be all him. By all accounts, he’s completely tee-total. No external chemical excuse! I don’t believe he’ll quit Twitter; it’s not only free (so he doesn’t have to use any money [not even anyone _else_’s money as is his wont] to pay for it but he finds it extremely useful for advancing his ideas and controlling the narrative of the day and usually week he makes his moronic, disingenuous and often hypocritical tweets. He delights in [his powerful soundbites from one festering pustule to the wannabe pustules](http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/should-donald-trump-be-suspended-from-twitter) that hope to fester in much the same way one day but don’t realize they weren’t born w/ the same enormous wet scab of pus that gave him his start on third base. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/52 "2016-12-02T03:32:03Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > By all accounts, he’s completely tee-total. No external chemical excuse! > > I don’t believe he’ll quit Twitter; it’s not only free (so he doesn’t have to use any money [not even anyone _else_’s money as is his wont] to pay for it but he finds it extremely useful for advancing his ideas and controlling the narrative of the day and usually week he makes his moronic, disingenuous and often hypocritical tweets. He delights in [his powerful soundbites from one festering pustule to the wannabe pustules](http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/should-donald-trump-be-suspended-from-twitter) that hope to fester in much the same way one day but don’t realize they weren’t born w/ the same enormous wet scab of pus that gave him his start on third base. And each of his tweets becomes a headline, no matter how false, banal, petulant, or just dumb. I wish all of the media would stop taking the bait. He is dictating the editorial content of every media outlet in the country every day. And don’t say, “the President has always done this.” First, he’s NOT President yet. Second, they had press secretaries and press conferences (at least some of them did). What they said and did was news, when it WAS news. What DT spews isn’t news, but the media treat it like news. And I know FDR communicated directly with the public in his ONCE A WEEK RADIO Fireside Chats. No comparison to the teen-angst steady stream of unconsciousness that pours from the stubby little fingers. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/53 "2016-12-02T03:52:48Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > This is why conservative humour fails. Their version of sarcasm is not “I’m clever, my audience is clever, let’s laugh together”, but “oh, you so clever, me so dum, my audience should hate people who are clever because we’re the common folk and common folk gotta stick togedder against those brainiac perfessor types.” I just don’t have the average 165 IQ in these parts. I apologize. But glad you’re here. With that superior intellect, wisdom that comes from your multitude of decades, and experience living in a nation that has an actual hate speech commission perhaps you can define what hate speech is? And why does Canada treat y’all like children? Do you at least have the right for self defense? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/54 "2016-12-02T03:54:41Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Good thing they are not a bakery. False equivalence. Targeting somebody because of their race or gender or sexual orientation is wrong. But there’s nothing wrong with targeting somebody because they’re a criminal or a child molester or a bigot. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/55 "2016-12-02T03:59:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Trump getting enough attention? Would that be about the same time he acquires enough money and/or power? I have to figure even Donald Trump isn’t a bottomless pit in his need for public attention. And I think he’s just starting to discover that, in terms of public attention, he’s stuck his face in the fire hose. There’s literally nobody on Earth who gets more attention than the President of the United States. Even Trump is going to get sick of it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/56 "2016-12-02T04:02:52Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > I just don’t have the average 165 IQ in these parts. I apologize. > > But glad you’re here. With that superior intellect, wisdom that comes from your multitude of decades, and experience living in a nation that has an actual hate speech commission perhaps you can define what hate speech is? And why does Canada treat y’all like children? Do you at least have the right for self defense? I don’t need a 165 IQ to be superior to this spew of nonsense. For the purposes of this discussion, I’ll offer up Twitter’s own definition of hate speech, whatever it is. That seems to be the relevant metric. If I was operating an internet-based communications system and wanted to impose rules of conduct for its use, I’d offer up my own relevant definitions. And of course Canadians have a right of self-defense. I’d invite you to not be stupid, but I fear the effort futile. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/57 "2016-12-02T04:04:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > False equivalence. > > Targeting somebody because of their race or gender or sexual orientation is wrong. > > But there’s nothing wrong with targeting somebody because they’re a criminal or a child molester or a bigot. I never said they were equivalent. I was merely pointing out, contrary to a prior claim, that merely being a private company or individual does not, in fact, give you control over the content of what you produce or the speech you utter. The state can and will punish you. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/58 "2016-12-02T04:13:23Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I don’t need a 165 IQ to be superior to this spew of nonsense. For the purposes of this discussion, I’ll offer up Twitter’s own definition of hate speech, whatever it is. That seems to be the relevant metric. If I was operating an internet-based communications system and wanted to impose rules of conduct for its use, I’d offer up my own relevant definitions. > > And of course Canadians have a right of self-defense. I’d invite you to not be stupid, but I fear the effort futile. I don’t make fun of you for being ugly. I was smart enough to get an engineering degree. Smart enough to take 5 AP courses my senior year. I know it’s not the multiple PhD holding norm around here but it’s smart enough. And why are you fixated on people’s IQ anyways? What are you compensating for? Anyways, perhaps someone competent will chime in to define ‘hate speech’ and how it’s not really censorship. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/59 "2016-12-02T04:22:00Z")
I’m amused and a little disconcerted that the US Office of Government Ethics responded to one of Trump’s tweets with [one of their own](https://twitter.com/OfficeGovEthics/status/804021427565395969). Is this the first sign of government by tweet? He complains by tweet about a French government statement or program and the French premier replies by tweet? He makes a tweet about a domestic policy issue and the Senate minority leader replies with a tweet of his own? ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555/60 "2016-12-02T04:26:46Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Anyways, perhaps someone competent will chime in to define ‘hate speech’ and how it’s not really censorship. How would you define hate speech? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-trump-going-to-give-up-twitter/773555.md?page=4)