The Influence Of Donald Trump’s Tweets

There has likely never been a more influential Tweeter than President Trump. His impact on the Twitter universe started even before he became President of the United States, but since then it has reached a whole new level. Since his election to the Presidency, he has become the owner of a second twitter handle, @Potus, the traditional presidential twitter handle, in addition to his personal one, @realDonaldTrump. In fact, President Trump’s tweets have become such an important part of the news cycle that CNN’s Politics section has started a regularly updated article called All the President’s tweets in order to keep the public informed. However, if you really want to get an understanding of what the President of the United States likes to talk about on Twitter, you have to check out the Trump Twitter Archive. Here you can search through all of Trump’s 30,000+ tweets. President Trump often makes remarks or tells his opinions about policy-related matters on Twitter, which may be why all the news stations have paid so much attention to what he tweets.

There’s no denying that President Trump is a fan of Twitter because he uses it so often. In fact, Twitter has become such an important part of government decisions since President Trump took office, that recently when the President tried to block critics from his Twitter count, a Federal Appeals court intervened when the White House requested to overturn a lower court’s decision, citing that blocking critics on Twitter would violate the First Amendment of the Constitution. However, the President seems to have different feelings about another big social network---Facebook. As was recently reported, Facebook plans to join the crypto space with its own cryptocurrency, Libra, but the announcement has been met with mixed emotions. Some feel that it will be good for the cryptocurrency space to have a company as well known and influential as Facebook developing a new currency, while others, including some governments and government leaders, are concerned by the news. President Trump’s tweets on July 11th about Bitcoin, Libra, and other cryptocurrencies expressed his concerns about digital currencies and his support of traditional fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar.

Trump's Tweets About Technology Create Real Market Change

Trump vs. Cryptocurrencies

Here are the exact statements that President Trump made regarding cryptocurrencies.

“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity...
....Similarly, Facebook Libra’s 'virtual currency' will have little standing or dependability. If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other Banks, both National…
..and International. We have only one real currency in the USA, and it is stronger than ever, both dependable and reliable. It is by far the most dominant currency anywhere in the World, and it will always stay that way. It is called the United States Dollar!”

Like many of Trump’s tweets, his thoughts on cryptocurrencies seemed to come out of nowhere. It’s true that Facebook has been in the news a lot lately, but there was no previous indication that the President would be commenting on this particular subject. However, the impact of this sudden announcement went far beyond its coverage in the news. Sadly for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin’s price dropped immediately after Trump’s tweets critiquing it, and other digital currencies lost more than 20% of their value. After all, he is the President of the United States of America. Still, sometimes it’s still surprising that a few simple posts on Twitter can impact the trading price of a currency, even if the posts did come from the President.

Trump vs. Amazon

Interestingly, this is not the first time that President Trump’s tweets have impacted financial markets. It is also not the first time that his tweets have focused on the technology industry. In March 2018, Trump posted a negative tweet claiming Amazon does not pay taxes and that the company uses “our postal system as their delivery boy, (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.)” After the tweet, Amazon’s stock price decreased from $1,431 per share to $1,406 overnight. Of course, this is not the first time that Trump has mentioned Amazon in a tweet, and he usually doesn’t have nice things to say about the company or its founder, Jeff Bezos.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Follows Trump’s Lead

Since Trump’s tweets about cryptocurrencies, others in his administration have followed with their own critiques. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin took the dialogue a step further in the cryptocurrencies-are-bad direction when he stated in a press conference that they pose a national security threat. He seems to view as a threat to the financial system. However, prior to the past few days, the Trump administration has made very few mentions of cryptocurrencies. Despite the negative tone of recent comments, Donald Trump has been known to change his opinion on topics he tweets about or that become trending news subjects. Due to this, it’s difficult to speculate on what lasting impact Trump and his Administration’s comments about cryptocurrencies will have, if any.

Donald Trump, Tweeter In Chief?

Although it’s too early to tell if Trump’s cryptocurrency comments will continue, if they will alter cryptocurrency prices for a long time, or if he will change his mind about them, one thing is clear; Donald Trump’s tweets will continue to be watched closely, because when he tweets about something, it is more than likely going to change for at least a short time. This seems especially true when he tweets about the tech sector. It would be difficult, and likely impossible, to find someone whose tweets have more potential to change policies and financial systems, and there has never been a President who has used Twitter in quite the same way, which is perhaps how Trump has added another title to his many titles as President...Tweeter in Chief.