trumps joe scarborough conspiracy tweets test twitters hands off approach
Channel: ٌRMADY
Date: 2020-05-27

The U.S. president, amid the worst pandemic in more than a century, took to Twitter — his favored social media platform — to promote a debunked conspiracy theory that a cable news anchor might have killed one of his employees nearly 20 years ago.

In recent weeks, Donald Trump has mounted a campaign on Twitter insinuating that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough may have murdered an aide who died accidentally in 2001 when Scarborough was a U.S. congressman. The response to Trump’s obsession in stirring up questions about the death of the former staffer, Lori Klausutis, included a plea to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey by her widowed husband that the company delete the offending and hurtful tweets.

“The President of the United States has taken something that does not belong to him — the memory of my dead wife — and perverted it for perceived political gain,” Timothy Klausutis wrote in the letter, which was provided to The New York Times. “My wife deserves better.”

So far, Twitter hasn’t taken any action to delete Trump’s tweets or suspend his account, perhaps fearing reprisal from the White House or the president’s followers. But the latest outrage over Trump’s noxious online behavior hit a boiling point that could force Twitter’s hand in dealing with its highest-profile user.