Image courtesy of ABC News
In the week following the formal indictment of Donald Trump, nearly 450 thousand Tweets have been sent mentioning the former President’s predicament. The indictment, unsealed on Tuesday April 4th, includes 34 felony counts of falsifying business records connected to alleged hush money payments made in 2016 to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Mentions reached a sharp peak on April 4th as the details of the charges came to light, with 186 thousand mentions of Trump and ‘indictment’ in a single day. The message with the most retweets that day was the Manhattan District Attorney’s own tweet:
We just announced a 34-count felony indictment of former President Donald J. Trump. Learn more: https://t.co/PTTh2zlsvv pic.twitter.com/IUE6JjdrS2
— Alvin Bragg (@ManhattanDA) April 4, 2023
Conservative voices were the loudest on Twitter that day, with the most popular Tweets coming from politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Ted Cruz. These and other Republican voices came to Trumps’ defense, calling the indictment at best anti-democratic or, at worst, fake.
The arrest and arraignment of former President Donald Trump by a left-wing Soros prosecutor today is making a mockery of the rule of law.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 4, 2023
Not only is the indictment frivolous, this political persecution marks a dark day for our country.
The severity of the charges against Trump and the likelihood of his conviction seem to depend on which source one consults. Unsurprisingly, perspectives seem to divide along partisan lines.
Former federal prosecutor Scott Fredericksen says the Manhattan DA’s case is "a powerful indictment":
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 4, 2023
"It’s no longer just the Stormy Daniels affair and the pay-off, it’s a scheme…a statement of evidence that no defense attorney would want to have to defend against.” pic.twitter.com/WsKGhGh7IN
Hey Dems – The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just awarded Donald Trump $121,962.56 in attorneys fees from Stormy Daniels
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) April 4, 2023
Yes, a *California* appellate court just made Stormy pay Trump today
But good luck with your Stormy indictment in NY
I’m sure he’s “going down this time!”
Trump himself is of course left out of the conversation on Twitter since his ban, but has been very active on TruthSocial, his own social networking site. Trump has posted 14 times in the past 24 hours and since the indictment has averaged over a dozen posts per day. Some of Trump’s posts seem cryptic and frightening, but most simply accuse, in myriad ways, the state of New York of conspiring against him. Trump maintains a loyal following on TruthSocial, with nearly every one of his posts receiving more than 20 thousand likes.
Donald Trump Jr. has also been active on TruthSocial since the indictment, but caused a stir when he shared a news article featuring a picture of the judge in Trump Sr.’s case, Juan Merchan, with his daughter, Loren, and claimed that she worked on the Biden-Harris presidential campaign. Trump Jr. has since deleted the post after it caused too much outrage.
Because nothing says “innocent” like threatening a judge’s family https://t.co/hk9fyvdflH
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 4, 2023
While the breaking news of the indictment struck, the conversation on Twitter reached a fever pitch. However, now that the news is out, the conversation seems to have died down. While the day of the arraignment saw over 186 thousand tweets about Trump’s indictment, today there have been only about 6 thousand.
Currently, prosecutors are seeking to prohibit Mr. Trump from posting evidence on social media or otherwise providing it to the media. Some speculate that Judge Merchan may have to consider a gag order for Trump in order to keep the case progressing normally, but until then we look forward to keeping an eye on the conversation.
By Molly Riddell
