An Absolute Abuse of Power

President Trump types his last straw with his Tweet response to the Capital riot.

Mia Vasquez, Staff Writer

Growing up in an age of technology and social media, young Americans are all too aware of the power social media has over the general population. People, rumors, stories, and news travel as fast as someone can write about it. Unfortunately, this means that anyone can write anything, call it factual, and put it online for the world to see.

For the people in our generation, who know the Internet and its websites well, finding reliable sources, as well as fact checking, comes more easily than to those people who are less knowledgeable on the Internet and are not aware of its dangers.

Multiple scandals, rumors, stories, and social movements have begun their circulation via the use of social media platforms. Whether these movements have been good or bad, the realization is that people are influence by what is posted. For example, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement gained national traction by the use of multiple social media platforms during this past summer.

It was through these platforms, specifically Twitter, that President Trump has mainly spoken to the people of America and the world. He is the first president to use his social platform in this manner, and the first to have little to no filter for what he has to say to the general public. Many times, Mr. Trump has spread false information on his Twitter account, causing scandals that his White House public relations team has to defend afterwards.

On January 6th, President Trump posted a tweet containing the message “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”

This tweet has since been removed, and Mr. Trump is now faced with a ban from Twitter. Unfortunately, his entire Twitter page is filled with false information, and this tweet is no different than the lies that have been posted over these past four years.

Mr. Trump has claimed time and time again since the 2020 election votes were counted, and even before, that he was the true winner by a landslide and if he lost, then there must be voter fraud. Unfortunately, this statement also included the phrase: “it’s only the beginning of our fight”, which was taken as a call to action by his followers.

When a public figure has such a large following on a platform like Twitter, as President Trump does, he must be aware of the type of power and influence he holds at his fingertips. Mr. Trump’s influence sparked an already fiery flame which spread his baseless claims of hate to the millions of followers he has. Thus, the Capitol building was stormed on January 6th, and evacuated for the first time since 9/11.

This abuse of power, at the hands of the President, sparked an act of domestic terrorism, and there needs to be accountability. Technology has the power to enrich our lives, but it can also destroy it. It is my sincere hope that this horrific incident has at least taught our elected officials that our airwaves can only remain safe, if the message sent out contains the exact truth.