(Daily Caller) President-elect Donald Trump will continue to use his personal Twitter account as president to counteract the “dishonesty” of the press.
Trump believes his tweets are working, and that with 46 million followers, there’s no reason to switch from @realDonaldTrump account to the @POTUS handle President Barack Obama set up, the The Sunday Times reports.
“When you think that you’re 46 million there, I’d rather just let that build up and just keep it @realDonaldTrump, it’s working,” Trump said in an interview with the The Sunday Times.
Trump said that the way the media’s covered the election motivates him to continue tweeting as president. “I thought I’d do less of it, but I’m covered so dishonestly by the press — so dishonestly,” Trump said.
“I can go bing bing bing … and [the news] put it on and as soon as I tweet it out — this morning on television, Fox — ‘Donald Trump, we have breaking news,’” Trump said.
On Twitter alone, Trump has 20 million followers. Obama’s @POTUS handle, by comparison, has 13.5 million.
The @POTUS Twitter account is barely a year old. Obama started tweeting as @POTUS in 2015, and the Twitter bio says “Dad, husband, and 44th President of the United States.”
Obama started the @WhiteHouse Twitter account in 2009, the first year of his first term, for official administration news. Obama also has his own twitter handle, @BarackObama, which he used during his 2008 presidential campaign.
It’s still unclear how the tight White House security would have to change to allow Trump to tweet himself. Obama was not even allowed a working Blackberry — the Secret Service gave him a modified device that could only access a secure email account so the president could communicate a limited number of staff and family members.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].