I then put my phone down and went about the day with what I assumed were no more tweets from the president. When I opened my computer later that evening, there were messages from multiple people on Twitter saying they had been blocked by Trump. I went to check it out, and found that I’d been blocked as well.
When I realized that he’d blocked me, I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. Then I started getting angry. It’s one thing if the president blocks me; I’m just one person, and I can certainly do something else with those five minutes of my day. But when he began systematically blocking dozens of people who simply didn’t agree with him, that’s when I started to worry that this is something more than just one person blocking another one. This is an elected official trying to silence an entire sector of the dissenting populace. This is what dictators and fascists do. This isn’t what we do here in America.
Press secretary Sean Spicer said just yesterday that Trump’s tweets are considered “official statements by the president of the United States.” When Trump blocks people for disagreeing with him, he isn’t just deciding not to hear our voices; he’s cutting us off from receiving these official statements. So, by blocking people on Twitter, Trump is effectively removing the radio from his version of FDR’s fireside chats, or more accurately, closing the door of a Town Hall meeting to everyone except people who agree with or say nice things about him.
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