It’s officially a permanent ban: Trump’s thumbs will never tweet again

Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial is probably not the only concern he currently has. Twitter, Trump’s social media platform of choice, confirmed that the former president is facing a lifelong ban, not a temporary ban, from the platform. Whether or not Trump decides to run for president again will not impact this decision—he will remain banned, Twitter Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal told CNBC News.

“The way our policies work, when you’re removed from the platform, you’re removed from the platform — whether you’re a commentator, you’re a CFO, or you are a former or current public official,” Segal said. “Remember, our policies are designed to make sure that people are not inciting violence, and if anybody does that, we have to remove them from the service and our policies don't allow people to come back."

Segal’s statement comes amid Trump’s impeachment trial in Congress. If acquitted, Trump would not be barred from seeking the presidency again in 2024.

"The way our policies work, when you're removed from the platform, you're removed from the platform whether you're a commentator, you're a CFO or you are a former or current public official," says $TWTR CFO @nedsegal on if President Trump's account could be restored. pic.twitter.com/ZZxascb9Rz

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) February 10, 2021

Despite more than four years of consist racist and ill-advised tweets, Trump was only removed from the platform in January after the Capitol riots following concerns that his words carried “risk of further incitement of violence.” The move to remove him was probably because Democrats were transitioning to power, not because of his references to violence since he’s been doing that for years—and in some cases, his tweets have been far worse—but better late than never. Just before his Twitter ban, Trump not only tweeted about the “stolen” election and his refusal to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration, but about other conspiracy theories as well.

“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the company announced in a blog post on Jan. 8.

Calls to ban Trump from Twitter and other platforms go back years before his role in the White House. While he was never banned before, Twitter began temporarily locking his account and flagging several tweets as misinformation. Following the Capitol insurrection, Facebook and YouTube also took action, with Facebook prohibiting Trump from posting "indefinitely" and YouTube confirming it would issue strikes on his account. Snapchat has also permanently banned Trump.

Trump’s Twitter ban didn’t stop him from his tweeting addiction, though. He was so desperate to use the platform that he attempted to tweet from @TeamTrump, the official Trump campaign account, and his @POTUS account. Both tweets were quickly deleted. While @TeamTrump was issued a ban, the @POTUS account was not since it was a government account, which was later transferred to Biden.

In response to Twitter losing users on the platform after banning Trump, Segal noted that many users joined the platform despite the known ban.

“We added 40 million people to our DAU [daily active user count] last year, and 5 million last quarter,” Segal said. “In January, we added more DAU than the average of the last four Januarys, so hopefully that gives people a sense for the momentum we’ve got from all the hard work we’ve done on the service.”

Usage details in earning reports backed this statement in which the company noted that it ended 2020 with 192 million daily users—a number that continued to grow in January despite Trump’s ban. While daily usage figures weren’t shared for January, Twitter told The Verge that daily user growth was “above the historical average from the last four years.”

Either way, one thing is for sure: No matter how much he denies it, Trump is definitely upset that he was removed from Twitter for good. Who knows—maybe he’ll attempt to make Parler his home.

While some users have said they’re missing his tweets as the platform no longer has the same drama it used to, online misinformation, especially about the election, decreased 73% following Trump’s ban, research from Zignal Labs found. As his followers continue to leave the platform, perhaps Twitter and other social media platforms will be more credible outlets for users to seek information from.

Devin Nunes On Big Tech Parler Ban: ‘There Should Be A Racketeering Investigation’

Republicans Congressman Devin Nunes, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that the Justice Department should launch an investigation into tech companies’ efforts to remove Parler from their platforms.

Nunes made his comments on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

RELATED: AOC Calls For Trump To Be Impeached – ‘We Came Close To Half Of The House Nearly Dying’

Nunes On Parler Ban: ‘It’s Far Worse Than What I Could Even Imagine’

“Well, Maria, when I wrote that book, I was hoping to warn Americans so that they would vote right and that maybe this wouldn’t happen and this could be prevented,” Nunes told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.

Nunes said the move by Big Tech violated antitrust laws, civil rights and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

“Unfortunately, it’s far worse than what I could even imagine,” Nunes said. “The effect of this is that there is no longer a free and open social media company or site for any American to get on any longer, because these big companies, Apple, Amazon, Google, they have just destroyed a — what was likely — Parler is likely a billion-dollar company.”

“Poof, it’s gone,” he added.

‘This Is Clearly A Violation Of Antitrust’

Nunes then stressed that conservatives need to have the same social media abilities that non-conservatives enjoys.

“But it’s more than just the financial aspect to that,” Nunes explained. “Republicans have no way to communicate.”

“If — and it doesn’t even matter if you’re a Republican or conservative,” he continued.

“If you don’t want to be regulated by left-wingers that are at Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, where you get shadowbanned, nobody gets to see you — nobody gets to see you, they get to decide what’s violent or not violent, it’s preposterous,” Nunes said.

Nunes then cited the violation of antitrust laws.

“So, I don’t know where the hell the Department of Justice is at right now or the FBI,” Nunes said. “This is clearly a violation of antitrust, civil rights, the RICO statute.”

RELATED: GOP Sen. Ben Sasse Will Consider Impeachment, Ilhan Omar Predicts President Trump WILL Be Removed

Nunes Denounces ‘Attack’ On Parler And Conservatives Being Able To Operate On Social Media

“There should be a racketeering investigation on all the people that coordinated this attack on not only a company but on all of those like us, like me, like you, Maria. I have 3 million followers on Parler,” he added.

“Tonight, I will no longer be able to communicate with those people,” Nunes lamented. “And they’re Americans.”

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Biden Suggests Trump Should Have Announced China Air Travel Ban Sooner — ’45 Nations Had Already Moved’

On ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, 2020 Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden said President Donald Trump should have stopped air travel from China sooner in the effort to battle the coronavirus pandemic, adding that 45 nations had already blocked “China personnel from being able to come to the United States.”

‘We have to move more rapidly’

Commenting on President Trump’s approach to the crisis, former vice president Biden said, “I would tell him what we went through a similar crisis, you have to move swiftly. We have to move more rapidly.”

 

RELATED: AOC, Omar, And Bernie All Calling For Sanctions To Be Lifted On Iran During Coronavirus Crisis

“You have to implement the Defense Production Act, empower a supply commander, create, you know, a Defense Production Act for banks for small business loans, you got to faster than slower, and we started off awfully slow,” he added.

“He indicated that I complimented him on dealing with China,” Biden continued. “Well, you know, 45 nations had already moved to keep — to block China personnel from being able to come to the United States before the president moved. It’s about pace. It’s about —it’s about the urgency, and I don’t think there’s been enough of it.”

Dems Originally Bashed Trump’s China Travel Ban

Keep in mind that while Biden now says Trump should have implemented the travel ban sooner, when he actually did so, many Democrats were calling it racist.

Biden referred to it as “hysteria” and “xenophobia”– and now he’s changing his tune?

 

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, claimed in an interview last month that President Trump’s travel ban was key to America not getting hit as hard by the coronavirus crisis as other nations.

RELATED: Dr. Fauci: President Trump’s Travel Ban Is What May Save This Country From Becoming Italy

 

Democrats Were Distracted By Impeachment During Coronavirus Spread Early Days

In late January, a time when coronavirus was spreading and we can ostensibly believe Biden thinks Trump should have enacted a China travel ban, Democrats were obsessed with just one thing – impeachment.

Joe Biden or any other Democrat accusing Trump of taking his eye off the ball in this moment is laughable at best.

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Dr. Fauci: President Trump’s Travel Ban Is What May Save This Country From Becoming Italy

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, claimed in an interview Sunday that President Trump’s travel ban may be a key to America not getting hit as hard by the coronavirus crisis as other nations.

Never forget that while congressional Democrats were singularly focused on impeaching the President in late January as news of the coronavirus spread, Trump was implementing a crucial travel ban blocking visitors from China, the source of the deadly contagion.

This, Fauci believes, may prove critical in keeping America from going down the path of Italy, which has the highest number of cases and deaths resulting from coronavirus in the world.

Praise for the President

Fauci, in a segment with CBS’ “Face the Nation,” expressed optimism that the United States will “not necessarily at all” end up like Italy.

Why? Because of that travel ban Democrats tried to portray as a racist move by the President.

“Early on they [Italy] did not shut out as well the input of infections that originated in China and came to different parts of the world,” the renowned physician who has worked with six different administrations explained.

“One of the things that we did very early and very aggressively, the president put the travel restriction coming from China to the United States and most recently from Europe to the United States because Europe is really the new China,” Fauci continued.

RELATED: Coronavirus Fears Spread – Democrats Respond By Trying To Restrict Trump’s Travel Bans

Preventing an Influx

Dr. Fauci went on to explain that the ‘social distancing’ efforts touted by the White House and the restrictions on travel were key to keeping the coronavirus relatively at bay.

“The kinds of mitigation issues that are going on right now, the things that we’re seeing in this country, this physical separation at the same time as we’re preventing an influx of cases coming in,” said Fauci, “I think that’s going to go a long way to preventing us from becoming another Italy.”

It’s a testament to the President’s leadership that he implemented such a travel ban within days of the outbreak spreading, even in the face of impeachment. Even knowing the Democrats would label him a racist for doing so.

RELATED: Former White House Physician Appointed By Obama: Trump Is Saving American Lives With Response to Coronavirus

Democrats Wanted to Ban the Ban

Despite an unparalleled expert in the field praising the travel ban, Democrats just two weeks ago were actively pushing to end the President’s authority to implement new restrictions.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) alleged such bans “hurt families and hurt our national security, and we must stop this president from overextending his authority and banning people from entire countries.”

“This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia — hysterical xenophobia — and fearmongering,” Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden said the day after Trump’s travel restrictions were imposed.

The resistance party’s reckless partisan politics are an attempt to smear President Trump and will end up costing people their lives.

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