The second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on Sunday night was the most tweeted event in history, according to Twitter. If you chose to just express your feelings at your TV rather than on the social media platform, you missed out on using what Trump referred to as a “modern day form of communication.”
It’s no secret by now that the Republican presidential candidate views himself as a bit of a Twitter genius. With 12.3 million followers, @realDonaldTrump has made it clear in more than 33,000 tweets over the years that he says exactly what he’s thinking. It’s a point Clinton has used to paint Trump as trigger happy and thin-skinned.
Tonight's #debate was the most Tweeted ever, with more than 17 million debate-related Tweets sent.
— Twitter (@Twitter) October 10, 2016
Debate moderator Anderson Cooper of CNN looked to seize on that argument at one point by asking Trump about discipline as “the most important characteristic of a good leader” and whether tweets Trump sent out following the first debate, between the hours of 3 and 5 a.m. — in which Trump told people to check out a sex tape — were illustrative of good discipline. The tweets were aimed at Clinton’s mention of Trump’s treatment of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.
Trump used the exchange to boast about how many followers he has on Twitter and Facebook combined and how “it’s a very effective way of communication.”
Here’s the transcript:
Cooper: Mr. Trump, let me follow-up with you. In 2008, you wrote in one of your books that the most important characteristic of a good leader is discipline. You said if a leader doesn’t have it, quote he or she won’t be one for long. In the days after the first debate, you sent out a series of tweets from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. including one that told people to check out a sex tape. Is that the kind of discipline…
Trump: No it wasn’t check out a sex tape. It was take a look at this person she build up to be this wonderful, uh, girl scout, who was no girl scout.
Cooper: You mentioned ‘‘sex tape.’
Trump: Just so you understand: When she said 3 o’clock in the morning, take a look at Benghazi. She said who is going to answer the call at 3 o’clock in the morning, guess what? She didn’t answer. Because when ambassador Stevens — she said she was awake of at 3 in the morning. And she also sent a tweet out at 3 o’clock in the morning, but I won’t mention that. But he said she will be awake, the famous thing ‘we’re going to answer the call at 3:00 in the morning. Guess what happened, Ambassador Stevens, Ambassador Stevens sent 600 requests for help and the only one she talked to was Sidney Blumenthal who’s her friend and not a good guy, by the way. So she shouldn’t be talking about that. Now, tweeting happens to be a modern day form of communication. You can like it or not. Between Facebook and Twitter, I have 25 million people. It’s a very effective way of communication. So you can put it down, but it’s an effective form of communication. I’m not unproud of it to be honest with you.
Cooper: Secretary Clinton, does Mr. Trump have the discipline to be a good leader?
Clinton: No.
The “effective form of communication” was certainly on fire Sunday night. Twitter’s official feed dedicated to government and elections — @gov — tracked some of the more interesting stats from during the debate including most tweeted moments, top retweet, candidate with most new followers and so on.
Final share of Twitter #debate conversation around the presidential candidates on stage:
64% – @realDonaldTrump
36% – @HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/jD338cX5Rr— Twitter Government (@gov) October 10, 2016
Most-Tweeted policies during the #debate:
1. Terrorism
2. Foreign affairs
3. The economy
4. Healthcare
5. Guns— Twitter Government (@gov) October 10, 2016
Top 3 Tweeted Moments of the US presidential #debate: pic.twitter.com/ZxUsdrLLMK
— Twitter Government (@gov) October 10, 2016
This is the top RT’d Tweet during the US presidential #debate: https://t.co/L8FiMRbPrm
— Twitter Government (@gov) October 10, 2016
Largest Twitter follower growth for candidates during the #debate:
1. @HillaryClinton – 25k
2. @realDonaldTrump – 16k— Twitter Government (@gov) October 10, 2016
There were more Tweets about #debate discussion of @realDonaldTrump‘s treatment of women than regarding any area of policy.
— Twitter Government (@gov) October 10, 2016
The subject of whether or not Trump should or shouldn’t be tweeting at 3 a.m., or any hour of the day for that matter, came up during the GeekWire Summit in Seattle last week during a discussion with Teddy Goff, chief digital strategist for the Clinton campaign.
Goff said the “weird and bizarre” campaign season is only heightened by Trump’s “unhinged and unscripted” Twitter account, which has polarized many Americans against him.
“The majority of the country …. is disgusted when he says what he says about Latinos and veterans and women and immigrants and everybody else,” Goff said. But in the interest of making his own candidate look better, Goff wasn’t exactly hoping Trump stops tweeting before Election Day on Nov. 8.
“I hope he tweets more,” Goff said. “I think he should tweet every day, multiple times a day, 3 in the morning, 5 in the morning.” And despite the fact that Trump has managed to gain a great deal of attention for himself thanks to what he says on Twitter, Goff said that not all publicity is good publicity, and “not all retweets are good retweets.”
