President Donald Trump sent an early morning tweet to his Twitter followers on Saturday, August 26. President Trump also took to Twitter on Saturday to give kudos to the response thus far to Hurricane Harvey to the people on the ground dealing with the storm. As seen in the below tweets, Trump used Twitter to make sure to show he was keeping on top of the storm in a way that former President George W. Bush did not stay on top of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
However, President Trump was accused of using the cover of the storm and the lateness of Friday night to drop bad news about things other than the storm. As reported by the Washington Post , President Trump told the Pentagon to follow through on his previously tweeted ban of transgender people from the military as the Category 4 hurricane approached Texas. President Trump also issued a pardon for former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The news also broke that Trump’s adviser, Sebastian Gorka, was fired – and did not resign – from the White House.
It was quite a bit of news for a Friday night, and President Trump was accused of using an old trick of politicos to break news on Friday evenings when plenty of people aren’t focusing on the news, but on their upcoming weekend plans.
However, detractors claim that such rules no longer apply in the 24-hour news cycle of the internet. Still, others claim that President Trump turned to Twitter to break news on Friday night because he didn’t want the hurricane to dominate the news cycle more than him.
Either way, there is plenty of news to be had for a Friday night and Saturday morning, with North Korea firing short-range missiles. As reported by NBC News, Robert S. Mueller III has issued subpoenas for people in relation to former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Those with ties to Manafort will be required to testify in front of a grand jury.
In the midst of all of this news, folks are wondering why President Trump didn’t break his news about pardoning Arpaio during Trump’s Phoenix rally on Tuesday.
Closely monitoring #HurricaneHarvey from Camp David. We are leaving nothing to chance. City, State and Federal Govs. working great together!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2017
. @ChuckGrassley – got your message loud and clear. We have fantastic people on the ground, got there long before #Harvey . So far, so good!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2017
[Featured Image by Carolyn Kaster/AP Images]