WASHINGTON: The US president-elect Donald Trump logged on to Twitter on Sunday and attacked the country’s most influential newspaper – The New York Times.
Trump team had apparently taken his official twitter account – @realDonaldTrump – away in the final days of the election campaign that culminated on November 8 with his unexpected and disturbing victory. The Trump team was tweeting on his behalf and he was said to have no access to his account, probably, because his strategists did not want any untoward controversy.
Trump seemed to have accessed his Twitter account on Sunday and instead of showing restraint and sobriety he threw a tantrum at the NYT which had been very critical of him throughout the campaign cycle.
“Wow, the @nytimes is losing thousands of subscribers because of their very poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the ‘Trump phenomena,” Trump tweeted on Sunday.
The NYT fired back at the president-elect dismissing his assertions that the newspaper was losing subscribers. The paper’s official PR account on Twitter tweeted: “Fact: surge in new subscriptions, print & digital, with trends, stops & starts, 4 X better than normal.” Trump, in another tweet, added that the NYT sent a letter to subscribers apologizing for their “BAD coverage.”
Last week, the NYT publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr and executive editor Dean Baquet sent a letter to staff and readers. That letter and another letter sent to the NYT newsroom has been shared in full on Twitter.
“We believe we reported on both candidates fairly during the presidential debate. You can rely on The New York Times to bring the same fairness, the same level of scrutiny, the same independence to our coverage of the new president and his team,” the letter read.
Trump also lashed out at the NYT for a story that reported he had suggested more countries should have nuclear weapons, such as Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. “How dishonest are they. I never said this!” tweeted @realDonaldTrump. The president-elect would continue to use his Twitter account regularly, which he believed was the most effective weapon to counter the attacks of the entire mainstream US media that opposed him during the campaign.
“The debates, especially the second and third, plus speeches and intensity of the large rallies, plus OUR GREAT SUPPORTERS, gave us the win!” he tweeted and received more than 75,000 likes. “I will be interviewed on @60Minutes tonight after the NFL game – 7:00PM Enjoy!” he tweeted again.
The American analysts observed that it was not stature of the president to keep announcing his daily routine on Twitter. It is his team’s job.
In another tweet, the president-elect thanked Governor John Kasich of “the GREAT, GREAT, GREAT State of Ohio” who called him to congratulate on his victory. Trump told the world via Twitter that Jeb Bush, George W and George H.W. all had called him to express their best wishes on the win. “Mitt Romney called to congratulate me on the win. Very nice!” he tweeted again.