This book takes a social science approach to address two related questions: (1) what does Donald Trump say on Twitter? and (2) why? Since entering the 2016 Presidential Election, Donald Trump's tweets have been a major part of his communications strategy with the public. While the popular media has devoted considerable attention to selected tweets, it is less clear what those selected tweets tell us about Trump the businessman, the political candidate, and, finally, the President of the United States. We argue that to fully understand Trump, we must take a more comprehensive approach to examining all of his activities on Twitter. Overall, our analysis presents a strikingly complex picture of Trump and how he uses Twitter. Not only has his pattern of tweets changed over time, we find that Trump's use of Twitter is more deliberate than he has been given credit. Like most other politicians, Trump is strategically-minded about his presence on social media.

Includes a comprehensive dataset of all of Trump's tweets since he first joined Twitter, from 2009 to 2019 Provides a compare-and-contrast of Trump's behavior on Twitter before the 2016 Presidential Election, during the transition period, and after inauguration Examines the strategic uses of Twitter by Trump

Autorentext

Yu Ouyang is Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University Northwest, USA. He received his undergraduate degree from Valdosta State University and his PhD from the University of Kentucky. His research on U.S. executive politics and quantitative methods has appeared in Congress & the Presidency, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Public Administration Review, and Social Science Quarterly. His recent book examines Donald Trump's use of Twitter: Trump, Twitter, and the American Democracy: Political Communication in the Digital Age. Michael A. Morgan is Associate Professor of Political Science at Marietta College, USA. He received his undergraduate degree from Marietta College and his MA and PhD from the University of Kentucky. His research focuses primarily on American foreign policy and international security. He has had work published in Presidential Studies Quarterly and Contemporary Cases in U.S. Foreign Policy.

Inhalt

1. Social Media, Politics, and Donald Trump.- 2. Trump Tweets: A Desire for Attention.- 3. Trump Tweets: How Often and on What Topics.- 4. Trump Tweets: A Text Sentiment Analysis.- 5. Trump, Twitter, and the American Democracy.