President Donald Trump’s Twitter account ― a platform he used to govern and pick fights like no president before him ever has ― was permanently taken down Friday, and some lawmakers couldn’t be happier about it.
Several had called for the social media network to take down Trump’s account in recent days, citing the way he used the platform to incite violence by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
Trump’s presence in office and on Twitter is “a clear and present danger,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said earlier Friday. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) echoed that: “Twitter should revoke the privileges of Trump for the safety of our country.”
Twitter initially banned Trump’s account for 12 hours following the riot as Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s election win, allowing Trump to unknowingly send out what would be his final tweets on Thursday and Friday.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” he announced in his last tweet.
Several lawmakers said Twitter’s decision was an important, if not overdue, move to prevent another violent uprising.
Others couldn’t help but poke fun at Trump losing access to a platform where he so often went off the rails. His penchant for tweeting throughout the day and late into the night ― sometimes to reveal major policy decisions or announce White House shakeups ― has become a defining characteristic of his presidency.
The Washington Post estimated in May that, at the time, Trump had spent 9 days, 16 hours and 30 minutes of his time in office writing tweets, once topping out at 200 tweets in a single day.
A few other lawmakers and Trump allies weren’t so happy with Twitter’s decision, largely citing free speech issues in their complaints about the company’s action.