I’m skeptical of the project to keep Trump “not normal” — not because he’s not abnormal, but because the human psyche is a relentless normalizer, able to make everything from extermination camps to death row to slavery “normal” and trying not to adapt to stimulus is a hard target to shoot for.
But if we can’t keep Trump “not normal,” then at least we can periodically denormalize him periodically with clever, jarring reminders of just how terrible Trump is when juxtaposed against the symbols of normalcy.
@RealPressSecBot, a twitterbot knocked up in 40 minutes by coder/activist Russel Neiss, after seeing former Obama White House staffer Pat Cunnane’s tweet proposing that all of Trump’s tweets should be formatted as official presidential statements, “because he’s President.”
The result is a bracing shock to the system indeed.
So far, the bot has amassed over 55,000 followers, and Neiss said that it’s a “pretty good haul,” especially considering that (by the time of our publication) it hadn’t even been active a full 24 hours. He said the bot will run until the next President is inaugurated.“When the President tweets, we should treat those words as formal,” Neiss said. “This gives the proper honour to his word.”
We Talked to the Coder Behind the Best Trump Twitter Bot Yet
[Lisa Cumming/Motherboard]