President Trump is now a troll-I thought he always lived under a bridge

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

This is the president. We can all be so proud. “Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours.”

President Trump is now a troll

Analysts can also map the relationship between extremists online, and they’ve found that a very small number of social media accounts can be very influential. Sometimes these accounts are unusually engaged or fanatical. But sometimes they are popular because they cross boundaries, posting things from different types of sources, some more mainstream and some more fringe. They have an impact because they normalize the madmen and the conspiracy theorists, give false stories the same status as those which are true, offer tiny grouplets the same exposure as major organizations and, again, enhance their feeling of belonging.

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, now runs a Twitter account that functions in exactly this way. Some of the time it is “normal”: There are photos of White House Christmas decorations, pictures of Air Force One. But some of the time, it includes videos, memes, conspiracy theories and other material that can only be described as extremist. This week, for example, the president retweeted some videos that were originally posted — out of context and misleadingly labeled — by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of a tiny fringe group called Britain First.

Britain First physically harasses British Muslims; last year its members were banned from entering mosques. They march through suburbs holding crosses. Thanks to the ease of Internet conversation, Britain First is also part of an international extremist network. Among other things, Fransen appeared recently at a rally organized by Jacek Miedlar, a former priest whose vicious language won the public condemnation of the Polish Catholic church.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/our-president-is-an-online-troll/2017/11/30/42345a86-d5f3-11e7-b62d-d9345ced896d_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-c%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.256a42aef95e