Twitter Permanently Suspends Trump’s Account

By Sean Son

Troy High School

On the Friday of January 8th, Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account after his release of two tweets that Twitter claimed could potentially cause violence and harm. From his suspension, the question arises whether or not the tweets from Trump’s account was really a big enough deal to get him permanently suspended. Even if Trump was being straightforward with his tweets, it is very clear that Trump’s intentions were harmful enough to receive a permanent suspension.

The first tweet from Trump read, “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” At first glance this may seem like a simple encouragement to his supporters, but when seen in context, this is a very problematic statement. The capitol riot had occurred just 2 days before the tweet so praising his followers then would be the same thing as praising his followers for starting a riot. Therefore, the tweet Trump sent would be encouraging his followers to cause more violence, which is definitely a reason for Twitter to permanently suspend Trump. Claire Chang, a 10th grader from Troy High School said, “As a political leader in a position where he should lead our nation into peace, supporting the rioters right after they caused so much damage should be deemed improper.” A president encouraging such an action is going to cause a lot of commotion, so shutting down his Twitter account would be a powerful way to end further violence and future riots.

The second tweet from Trump read, “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.” This also may seem like Trump was angry about losing the election of 2020 and would not attend due to that, but this is also different when taken in context. Trump had been encouraging his supporters after the riot, which means he was proud of his followers for the violence and destruction they caused. Therefore, he would likely be fine with another riot occurring. By alerting the supporters that he would not be going to the inauguration, he was indirectly explaining to them that it would be completely fine for a riot to break out. These assumptions from the context are not a simple guess from one person. Connor Kim, a 10th grader from Troy High School said, “I believe that Trump being banned on Twitter is validated because of his violent interaction with the people.” The violent intent of Trump is recognized by others and is seemingly obvious.