Factbox-Trump tweets attacked leaders and businesses

Here are some of the most notable of Donald Trump’s 26,000 tweets as president, or on average 18 a day as president. Trump often engaged in name calling, misstated facts in tweets and attacked businesses or political rivals. He often sought to shift media attention by tweeting.

March 2017: “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!... I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!”

The Justice Department and inspector general both said there was no evidence that Obama ever ordered any wiretapping of Trump’s phones, a claim also rejected by Obama.

May 2017: “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.” The White House insisted that Trump had not made an error.

September 2017: “Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at UN. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!”

In response, North Korea’s foreign minister said Trump had declared war on North Korea and that Pyongyang reserved the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down US strategic bombers even if they were not in the country’s air space. “The whole world should clearly remember it was the US who first declared war on our country,” Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters in New York.

March 2018: Trump fires Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by tweet. “Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all.”

April 2019: “What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name. No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?”

July 2019: “So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly....and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how....it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!”

Democrats criticized the attacks by Trump on US Representative Ilhan Omar and three colleagues as racist. All four are US citizens and Omar is the only one not born in the United States.

August 2019: “Henry Ford would be very disappointed if he saw his modern-day descendants wanting to build a much more expensive car, that is far less safe and doesn’t work as well, because execs don’t want to fight California regulators.”

Trump was wrong that more fuel-efficient vehicles did not work as well as other vehicles or were less safe.

August 2019: Trump posts on Twitter a photo of what appeared to be the site of a failed Iranian satellite launch, raising questions about whether he had disclosed US surveillance secrets.

May 2020: “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you”

Twitter added a notice that the message violated its rules for “glorifying violence,” shortly after it appended a fact-check label to another of Trump’s tweets about mail-in ballots. It was the first time Twitter challenged Trump’s posts. Black lawmakers said Trump was encouraging violence against African-Americans.

October 2020: “Covid, Covid, Covid is the unified chant of the Fake News Lamestream Media. They will talk about nothing else until November 4th., when the Election will be (hopefully!) over. Then the talk will be how low the death rate is, plenty of hospital rooms, & many tests of young people.”