A Trump expert has analysed every tweet of former President Donald Trump and one completely sums up his presidency - and should have warned us of what was to come.
Australian author Jasper Robinett has spent the last four years writing his book - Unpresidented - which looks at the 1000 most outrageous tweets from Donald Trump.
Donald Trump tweeted from his @RealDonaldTrump account 34,000 times during his presidency, averaging about 35 a day, and sometimes up to 200 times in a single day.
Of those, Trump used the phrase “Fake news” 970 times. In a close second place was the word “Russia”, which Trump mentioned 426 times, and then “fraud”, which he mentioned 234 times.
Although Trump has since been kicked off Twitter over fears he would block a peaceful transition to President Joe Biden, Robinett thankfully saved all the tweets and he’s pinpointed one which epitomises Trump.
A Trump expert has labelled this as the most telling tweet of Trump's of all time.Credit: Twitter“Lowest rated Oscars in HISTORY,” Trump tweeted on March 6 2018.
“Problem is, we don’t have Stars anymore - except your President (just kidding, of course)!”
“Lowest rated Oscars in HISTORY. Problem is, we don’t have Stars anymore - except your President (just kidding, of course)!”
Robinett admits it’s an unexpected and unusual tweet to choose out of them all, but he said it goes to the heart of why Trump made such a bad president.
“I chose this tweet as Trump’s magnum opus as it reminds people that Trump is a TV star first, and a politician second,” Robinett told 7NEWS.com.au.
“Trump is a product of the shallow excess of the 1980s with added varnish to weather the ups and downs of being an ageing television celebrity in the 90s and 00s.
“Behind the mirage of success lies a deep seated need to be ‘popular’ in ratings, in retweets in votes. This tweet reflects his deep seated need to be a ‘star’.”
Violent scenes at the US Capitol siege, which was incited by a tweet from Trump.Credit: REUTERS“Before he was a reality TV star, Trump learnt the power of publicity as a businessman.
“He was renowned for calling up New York media in a mock publicist voice to plant his own stories in the newspapers,” Robinett said.
“America took a chance by electing someone outside of the establishment. They elected a ‘television celebrity’ whose metric of success is viewer ratings.
“Twitter is like heroin to Trump – he’s addicted to the retweets, comments and likes. His followers were a live studio audience and he had them constantly in the palm of his hand.
“I truly believe in his mind he has never stopped being a ‘television star’, and this tweet sums up his personality and presidency in 123 characters.”
Robinett's book, out now.Credit: SuppliedAmong the 1000 tweets that made Robinett’s short list was one where Australia got a mention, in which Trump referenced his meeting with then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2017.
“Thank you to Prime Minister of Australia for telling the truth about our very civil conversation that FAKE NEWS media lied about,” the tweet reads.
Robinett also had to give an honourable mention to the tweet where Trump described himself as a “very stable genius”:
“Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence ... Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top TV Star ... to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius .... and a very stable genius at that!”
The near nuclear war between the Western world and Iran was also worthy of a reminder in the book.
“To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!”
Trump waves goodbye to his presidency.Credit: APRobinett believes Twitter gave Trump a “dopamine response”.
“Why did Trump love twitter so much?” Robinett said.
“I believe The President has always enjoyed media attention ever since he first started out in business. With 88 million followers, Twitter allows an immediate pickup of his messages.
“The retweets, likes and mentions, triggered a dopamine response, which possibly resulted in a form of media addiction to the platform,” he said.