An Illinois congressman wants to make the president’s tweets part of the presidential record and prevent Twitter Fingas from deleting tweets.
The Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically for Engagement (COVFEFE) Act (I see what he did there) was introduced Monday by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) to amend the Presidential Records Act to “include social media, meaning that Trump’s prolific Twitter missives would be documented and preserved—including deleted tweets,” Yahoo! News reports.
“What the president says matters,” Quigley told Yahoo! News Tuesday. “He doesn’t have the luxury of deciding what’s his legacy. … The president must be held accountable for any posts.”
Makes sense to me, considering that the president prefers to use social media as his direct line of communication. Since being handed the White House through skullduggery and 53 percent of white women, President Donald Trump has deleted 18 tweets, including his dumbest “covfefe” tweet, which went viral for its massive stupidity. Since launching his campaign, Trump has deleted more than 160 tweets. Under the COVFEFE Act, deleting social media posts would become illegal.
Trump has noted that social media is his direct link to his followers. He’s also added that “fake media” can’t stand that he has a direct connection to the people and that he plans to use social media throughout his presidency.
“Many of Trump’s deleted tweets contain typos or misspelled words, such as when he recently decried the appointment of a “special councel” while referring to the special counsel for the Russia probe. During the campaign, his account deleted a couple of tweets with anti-Semitic or Nazi imagery,” Yahoo! News reports.
Quigley argues that even though users save the president’s deleted tweets, that isn’t enough.
“It has to be documented appropriately, in an appropriate and accurate fashion,” Quigley told Yahoo! News. “It’s not official if Joe from Iowa documents it or saves it—that does not mean it’s historical record.”
Because most presidents above a third-grade reading level wouldn’t use social media the way this president does, the Presidential Records Act doesn’t include a mandate regarding social media posts.
“This is a president of the United States that uses social media to comment on everything from NATO to the Paris agreement to the London attack,” Quigley told Yahoo! News. “The Presidential Records Act is important, but it has to be relevant … and include the means of communication of the president.”
Press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed last week that Trump’s tweets are “considered official statements by the president of the United States,” despite earlier insistence from top White House officials that the president’s tweets were “not policy.”
Yahoo! notes that Quigley is still looking for co-sponsors for his bill.
Read more at Yahoo! News.