Twitter Was Watching Trump’s Controversial Press Meet Very Closely

Trump’s comment that reporters were “the only ones who cared” about his tax returns garnered over 1,65,000 tweets.

US President-elect Donald Trump during the press conference on Wednesday. (Photo: AP)

When the future is designed by a carnival of idiots, you tend to lose faith in humanity. You may choose to work to bring about change, you may effectively use social media to channel your outrage, you may even engage in some armchair criticism.

But whatever you do, don’t be like Donald Trump. Because the US President-elect does not take too kindly to any sort of opposition. On 11 January, he called for a press conference, where he criticised everyone who opposed his ideas.

In his first news conference since the 8 November election, Trump set social media ablaze with his remarks on the press. He also defended his efforts to improve ties with Russia.

“Fake News”

The session, held in the lobby of his Trump Tower headquarters in Manhattan, featured a number of viral moments, like an exchange with a reporter whom Trump accused of peddling “fake news”.

“I’m not going to give you a question,” Trump told the journalist from CNN, which reported on Tuesday that he had been briefed by US intelligence agencies about allegations that Russian operatives had compromising information about him.

“You are fake news!” he told the reporter in a moment that Twitter pounced upon.

Trump's comment that reporters were “the only ones who care” about whether he released his tax returns stirred up 1,65,000 tweets during the session.

“Retweet if you're not a reporter and still care about seeing Trump's tax returns,” was a common refrain.

Donald Says he Hopes to Get Along With Putin

In Russia, the hashtag #TrumpPressConference was a top-trending topic during and after the conference.

“I don't know that I'm going to get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do. But there's a good chance I won't,” Trump said, prompting thousands of tweets from people in Russia.

There were some 80,000 tweets worldwide stamped with the #TrumpPressConference tag during the hour-long session with about 250 reporters.

Twitter sentiment regarding Trump during the event was 14 percent positive, 63 percent neutral and 23 percent negative, according to global digital marketing technology company Amobee.

Who’s Paying for “The Wall”?

Twitterati also reacted vehemently to Trump's comments about the wall he has pledged to build on the US-Mexico border.

He said he would not wait for negotiations with Mexico before beginning construction, but added: “Mexico in some form... will reimburse us.”

In response, former Mexican President Vicente Fox tweeted: “Neither today, nor tomorrow nor never Mexico will pay for that stupid wall”.

“This SNL Sketch Isn’t Funny”

(With inputs from Reuters)