Trump just floated a third term and insulted Elizabeth Warren’s body in wild tweetstorm

Donald Trump went on a Twitter bender this morning, blasting out a string of frothing tweets in advance of the “White House Social Media Summit” which promises to consist primarily of fringe right-wing online personalities, the kind of people who shouldn’t be trusted to stand within a hundred yards of a playground let alone be invited to 1600 Pennslyvania Avenue.

Trump whined that “certain companies” are practicing “tremendous dishonesty, bias, discrimination, and suppression,” presumably a reference to the manufactured grievances that conservatives have been trotting out about social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. They claim they are being targeted with politically-motivated bans and that their reach is artificially limited, although there is no proof of such a shadow campaign.

In reality, the simplest explanation is that right-wingers are the most likely to dish out racist, bigoted, and otherwise hateful rhetoric online, in turn violating the terms of service of social media platforms and incurring the punishments that go along with such violations.

The president got in a shot at the “Fake News Media” by saying that they will be in attendance, but only for a “limited period” because they are not as “important” or “powerful” as social media. Conveniently for Trump, social media is also far less reliable and far less tethered to the truth than conventional news outlets. His online trolls can spread disinformation helpful to him as much as their dark little hearts desire.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of the president’s tweet thread was when he once again floated the possibility of remaining in office beyond just two terms (should the United States be so unlucky as to see him reelected in 2020).

“When I ultimately leave office in six years, or maybe 10 or 12 (just kidding)…” he began, before going on to knock the traditional media’s credibility.

The fact that he insisted he was “just kidding” should do nothing to alleviate one’s concerns since this is not the first time he has suggested ignoring the constitutional limit on the number of presidential terms. It’s clearly something he thinks about often and every time he mentions it, even as a “joke,” he is acclimating his followers more and more to the idea. It’s incredibly dangerous and incredibly undemocratic.

Trump then pivoted to attacking several of the Democratic candidates vying for their party’s 2020 nomination. He used his inaccurate and uncompelling nickname for former Vice President Joe Biden, “Sleepy Joe Biden.” He took a shot at Mayor Pete Buttigieg, once again referring to him as “Alfred E. Newman,” misspelling the name of Alfred E. Neuman, the MAD magazine mascot.

Our deeply weird president then referred to Senator Elizabeth Warren as a “very nervous and skinny version of Pocahontas.” There are many words to describe the brilliant, courageous, principled, compassionate, and thick-skinned senator from Massachusetts, but “nervous” certainly isn’t one of them. It’s also unclear exactly why Trump thinks “skinny” is an insult.

As he is apt to do, Trump wound down his tweetstorm by complimenting himself, calling himself “great looking” and “smart, a true Stable Genius.” Clearly, this man’s delusions know no bounds. It might be funny if it weren’t serious. This man has his fingers on the nuclear button after all.

Oh, one more thing. Our very “Stable Genius” wrote this entire tweet thread, then deleted it and reposted it. The reason? He accidentally tagged a random Twitter account while trying (and failing) to properly write Alfred E. Neuman.

Natalie Dickinson

Natalie is a staff writer for the Washington Press. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been freelance blogging and writing for progressive outlets ever since.