U.S. President Donald Trump signaled Tuesday that he plans to continue offering his thoughts with frequent posts on social media.
"Only the Fake News Media and Trump enemies want me to stop using Social Media (110 million people)," Trump said on his Twitter account. "Only way for me to get the truth out!"
Contrary to Trump's contention, however, major U.S. news outlets, which he frequently derides as "fake news," have not asked him to quit his use of social media. Rather, they frequently quote his Twitter comments and view them as a window into his thinking at any given moment, from the early morning hours to late at night.
However, some White House aides and Republican and Democratic lawmakers have criticized his Twitter use, which totaled nearly 1,000 tweets in the fist six months of his presidency.
Trump's tweets range from congratulations to sports champions and groups he has made speeches before to biting, acerbic comments aimed at lawmakers who have rejected policies he wants approved and news outlets who have published or aired stories that cast him in unfavorable terms.
Trump also likes to applaud events that have occurred during his watch.
On Tuesday, he noted, "Stock Market could hit all-time high (again) 22,000 today. Was 18,000 only 6 months ago on Election Day. Mainstream media seldom mentions! Corporations have NEVER made as much money as they are making now....Jobs are starting to roar, watch!"
Sometimes Trump has surprised even his own aides with his Twitter comments, such as last week when he said he plans to reverse a policy put in place by former President Barack Obama and ban transgender people from serving the in the U.S. armed forces.
As it turned out, the Defense Department and key lawmakers who consider military issues were unaware of the policy shift and details of its implementation remain uncertain.
Trump appointed a new White House chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general who assumed his new post Monday, and tasked him to bring order to the often chaotic White House operations.
But Trump's tweet about social media would seem to indicate that any changes at the White House do not extend to limits on his tapping out 140-character messages on Twitter.
