Donald Trump is having a very, very bad week, and it is entirely his own doing.
He lost the election months ago. Those results were certified despite the armed white insurgents who stormed the Capitol Building with his encouragement.
Trump is being impeached again. He has been banned from Facebook and Reddit. He was suspended for 12 hours on Twitter.
Now, that suspension has been extended indefinitely after Trump once again tried to rile up his followers for their next attack.
On Friday evening on January 8, 2021, Twitter finally took the action that concerned users had been asking to see since 2015.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them,” Twitter Safety announced.
The announcement continued: “We have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Twitter Safety went on to explain that this should not have been surprising to Trump.
“In the context of horrific events this week,” a subsequent tweet read, “we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.”
In other words, Twitter had told him that they were no longer making special allowances for him after his role in the horrific attack on the Capitol building. Trump ignored them.
“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,” Trump had tweeted.
His deranged tweet continued: “They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
Twitter cited this as part of his misbehavior.
It was not long after that Trump tweeted: “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
Even months ago, this would have been in poor taste. After the attack on January 6, Twitter correctly observed that this tweet appeared in an alarming context.
The closest analogy would be a troubled high school student texting a friend to “not come to school” the next day — in this case, Trump signaling that any harm done at the inauguration will not hurt him, personally.
“Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global conversation in regards to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Twitter explained.
The explanation continued: “These two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences.”
Twitter contineud: “including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks.”
“After assessing the language in these Tweets against our Glorification of Violence policy,” Twitter reasoned.
The Safety page announced: “We have determined that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy.”
The formal announcement concluded: “and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service.”
“President Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the Inauguration is being received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the election was not legitimate,” Twitter went on.
“And,” the Safety page noted, “is seen as him disavowing his previous claim made via two Tweets (1, 2) by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Dan Scavino, that there would be an ‘orderly transition’ on January 20th.”
That certainly seems to be Trump’s intention, yes.
“The second Tweet may also serve as encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts,” Twitter wrote, “that the Inauguration would be a ‘safe’ target, as he will not be attending. “
“The use of the words ‘American Patriots’ to describe some of his supporters is also being interpreted as support for those committing violent acts at the US Capitol,” Twitter noted.
Obviously, patriots do not smear feces along the halls of their capitol buildings, ransack offices, or display Nazi and Confederate symbols. Those are the acts of unpatriotic insurgents and terrorists.
“The mention of his supporters having a ‘GIANT VOICE long into the future’ and that “They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” is being interpreted as further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an ‘orderly transition,'” Twitter explained.
“And,” the Safety page continued, “instead that he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election.”
“Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter,” Twitter noted.
The Safety page added: “Including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021.”
We hope that everyone at the inauguration remains safe and are glad that Trump is finally no longer able to use this platform to encourage acts of terror on American soil.