On Friday evening, in previewing Trump's upcoming "war room" effort in response to the escalating media reports about Russia, the WSJ reported that one of the contemplated changes was a drastic cut to Trump's Twitter privileges, with lawyers allegedly tasked to comb through and preapprove the president's social media outbursts, to wit:
One major change under consideration would vet the president’s social media posts through a team of lawyers, who would decide if any needed to be adjusted or curtailed. The idea, said one of Mr. Trump’s advisers, is to create a system so that tweets “don’t go from the president’s mind out to the universe.” Some of Mr. Trump’s tweets—from hinting that he may have taped conversations with Mr. Comey to suggesting without any evidence that former President Barack Obama wire-tapped Trump Tower—have opened him to criticism and at times confounded his communications team.
As of Sunday morning, that has clearly not been implemented, because just a few hours after his return from his first international trip, Trump unleashed a 6-tweet (for now) tweetstorm, touching on everything from the "great success" of his first foreign trip, to the controversial special election in Montana, and finally going back to his favorite topic fake news in general, and "anonymous sources" in particular.
In a series of tweets, the president focused news reports that include the words "sources say":
"It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media," the president tweeted.
"Whenever you see the words 'sources say' in the fake news media, and they don't mention names...it is very possible that those sources don't exsist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!"
It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017
Whenever you see the words 'sources say' in the fake news media, and they don't mention names....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017
....it is very possible that those sources don't exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017
Trump's attack on "fake news" may have been spurred by a tweet from Matt Drudge, who late on Saturday took offense with a statement in a Washington Post article:
"'Mainstream media organizations generally try to maintain editorial independence from their owners' -- funniest line ever in WASH POST!"
'Mainstream media organizations generally try to maintain editorial independence from their owners' -- funniest line ever in WASH POST!
— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) May 27, 2017
Separately, Trump touted his first foreign trip, saying it brought "big results." "Just returned from Europe. Trip was a great success for America. Hard work but big results!"
Just returned from Europe. Trip was a great success for America. Hard work but big results!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017
There were four main highlights in Trump's first trip: the $350 billion arms contract he signed with the world's biggest importer of weapons, Saudi Arabia; the infamous handshake with new French president Emanuel Macron and the snubbing of NATO, calling for more funding by alliance member states, and finally Trump's refusal to endorse the G-7 position on the Paris climate treaty, resulting in an infuriated German chancellor and even more diplomatic fallout.
Finally, in his tweets Trump also mentioned Thursday's special election for Montana's open House seat, which the president said wasn't well covered after the Republican candidate came out victorious.
"Does anyone notice how the Montana Congressional race was such a big deal to Dems & Fake News until the Republican won?" Trump tweeted. "V was poorly covered."
Big win in Montana for Republicans!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017
Does anyone notice how the Montana Congressional race was such a big deal to Dems & Fake News until the Republican won? V was poorly covered
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017
Republican Greg Gianforte won the special election last week for Montana's House seat despite an altercation ahead of the election that led to an assault charge against him. After the victory, Trump praised Gianforte's victory, calling it a "great win." Gianforte apologized to the reporter involved in the confrontation during his victory speech Thursday night.
"Last night, I made a mistake and I took an action that I cant take back — and I'm not proud of what happened," he said. "I should not have responded in the way that I did and for that I'm sorry."
Moments later, Democrat Adam Schiff responded to Trump stating that the president should express some disapproval over the assault charge.
GOP victory probably a bit overshadowed by the assault charges. Between #FakeNews tweets you might express some, I don't know, disapproval? https://t.co/0DkBwrLuov
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 28, 2017
In any case, it appears that any radical change in behavior out of the White House following Trump's return, and certainly a filtering of Trump's access to twitter is, if only for the time being, fake news.