Politics in Under 140 Characters

America today is vastly different than it was 20 years ago. One of the ways we see that is with the presence of politicians on social media platforms. Donald Trump, for instance, has a massive twitter presence with over 4 million followers. This is primarily an advantage, as it lets him communicate with his fans and supporters, but it can also come at a cost. The statements that you make, no matter how brief or poorly thought out, are immortalized for everyone to see. Here are just a few of the unbelievable things Donald Trump has said on his twitter.

That's right, he actually said all of those. (Well, he just retweeted the first one, but still.)

Of course, Trump is far from the first politician to have said rude, ridiculous or generally heinous things, but this is the dawn of an era in history where all of those things are archived, easily accessed and impossible to dismiss. From now on, whenever Trump faces a political opponent, there is a convenient log of every brash, unapologetic, hilariously offensive thing he's ever said online. This is the power of the internet when it comes to politics- not only does it increase exposure, it forces politicians to retain a measure of honesty.

The stereotype about politicians is that they're slippery. They say one thing and do another, and their tongues are too quick for you to call them on it. They always have an answer, always plan an escape. This is dangerous because it determines the type of people who decide to be politicians. The old idiom for American politics is a den of snakes- there aren't too many good, honest people who want to spend time in that den. So we get people like Donald Trump, who can win the Republican vote simply because he seems to be the only snake who will act on the decisions that he makes.

Hopefully, online presences like Twitter can act as Snake Traps (patent pending). If we can bring the dirty politicians to light, then there's more of an incentive for regular people to run for office. It'll take some time, but I do think that the more evidence and exposure we can bring to the table, the better it will be for the American public. In the meanwhile, make sure to screenshot those tweets! The best weapon against them is their own words.