To Tweet or Not to Tweet? How Social Media Is Changing Politics for Conservatives

Candidate Donald Trump often said he took to social media because traditional media wouldn’t give him a fair shake. Now, President Trump is still a presence on Twitter, but more and more from his party believe social media censors conservative viewpoints.

According to a Pew Research Center survey reported this summer in Newsweek, 85 percent of Republican or Republican-leaning U.S. adults “think it is likely that social media websites purge political content.” More than half (54 percent) think it is “very likely,” and about two-thirds (64 percent) think Silicon Valley supports liberal views over conservatives.

Best-selling author Stephen E. Strang talked about Trump’s penchant for social media in his first book on the president, God and Donald Trump, and addresses it again in his new book, Trump Aftershock.

Out on Nov. 6, Trump Aftershock explores the “president’s seismic impact on culture and faith in America” and will uncover unreported facts while objectively helping readers understand what the nation’s most unlikely and unconventional president has accomplished, including a featured section on these advancements called “500 Days of American Greatness.”

“Since becoming president and taking occupancy of the White House, Donald Trump has made history with his Twitter account,” Strang writes in Trump Aftershock. “As columnist James Lewis points out, Donald Trump is the only president since Ronald Reagan to be able to bypass the mainstream media to reach directly into the hearts of the American people. He uses Twitter, often to the chagrin of his team of advisers, not only to congratulate private citizens for their heroism and public service, but as his primary defensive weapon against an antagonistic press.”

Explaining his motivation, Strang adds, “Trump has said on Twitter, ‘I use Social Media not because I like to, but because it is the only way to fight a VERY dishonest and unfair “press,” now often referred to as Fake News Media. Phony and non-existent “sources” are being used more often than ever. Many stories & reports a pure fiction!'”

His supporters seem to agree. A separate Pew study found that about three-quarters of Americans (74 percent) took at least one of three actions with their Facebook account in the past year: adjusted their privacy settings, took a break from the platform or deleted the Facebook app from their cellphone. Data breaches were also to blame.

“As soon as he was identified as a possible Republican candidate, Trump became a target of the left,” Strang writes. “Every word, every act and every step were scrutinized and dissected by reporters eager for a scoop. But despite the almost compulsive animosity he generates in the left, Trump is prime time. He is the headline of every newscast and, like it or not, he is the media’s cash cow.

“What does this mean for the rest of us?” Strang asks. “Perhaps Trump’s takeover of social media has changed it for good. It used to be that only a few traditional media outlets reported the news from an angle that is fair to right-leaning Americans. So they often relied on social media to get and share news. But now, even that is a problem. Now, with many conservatives fed up with the censorship, bias and unfairness of social media, will they delete their accounts altogether? This will most definitely change the way the president communicates with his voter base.”

Stephen E. Strang is the best‐selling author of God and Donald Trump, which was brandished by the president during his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2018. The CEO and founder of Charisma Media, Strang was voted by Time magazine as one of the most influential evangelicals in America. He has traveled to more than 50 countries, has interviewed four U.S. presidents and has been featured on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CBN, Dr. James Dobson’s “Family Talk” and The Daily Caller.

Trump Aftershock is published by FrontLine, an imprint of Charisma House, which has published books that challenge, encourage, teach and equip Christians, including 14 New York Times best-sellers.