Trump depended on Twitter to communicate directly to the public in an informal and unedited way. Though we still don’t know how much was scripted, and whether certain tweets were written by White House staffers, Trump’s Twitter account was a source of constant commentary. He used the platform to attack his opponents, spread disinformation to his political advantage and taunt foreign leaders such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

But more important for Trump was the way that he used Twitter to shape the 24-hour news cycle. Whether or not he was self-conscious about his strategy, Trump had an innate feel for the way modern media is drawn to controversy, provocative statements and sensational stories. With a willingness to communicate without any guardrails, Trump was able to shape the news of the day with just a few words on Twitter. When you are a powerful leader willing to say just about anything — be that outlandish statements, incendiary words or simply nonsensical comments — it is a safe bet that media coverage will follow. Remember covfefe?

Indeed, the campaign to delegitimize the 2020 election relied in part on Trump’s repeated Twitter blasts that fueled his narrative. What we saw on January 6 was a real mob that came together through the world of social media, chanting slogans that grew out of Trump’s Twitter feed as they stormed Capitol Hill.