On Saturday, President-elect Trump went after civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, a man millions of Americans rightly admire for his courage and principles. Lewis had commented Friday that he didn’t view Trump as a “legitimate” president since in his view “the Russians participated in helping this man [Trump] get elected.”
Well, Trump used Twitter to go after Lewis: “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart.”
In a second tweet Trump added, “All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!”
It appears that to Trump, Lewis risking his life in leading a civil rights march in 1965 across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, and being instrumental in leading the way for the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts is just talk and not action.
In any event, the reaction to Trump’s slam was swift, but probably not what Trump had expected.
There was an awe-inspiring outpouring of support for Lewis online. Add to that Lewis’ book, “March,” a graphic novel trilogy about the Civil Rights movement, jumped to No. 1 on Amazon. Lewis’ memoir, “Walking with the Wind,” skyrocketed to No. 2.
The lesson: A Trump attack on Twitter translates into a spike in popularity and even profits.
This is far from the only time Trump’s Twitter attacks have yielded a windfall of benefits for the targets. In December, Trump went after Vanity Fair magazine hard, tweeting that the publication was, “Way down, big trouble, dead!” and he called its editor, Graydon Carter, “No talent” and demanded he be fired.
What had Vanity Fair done to earn Trump’s wrath? Had they made racist or bigoted remarks? Had they possibly colluded with some foreign actor to influence our election? Nope, they had simply published a bad review of Trump’s restaurant, “Trump Grill.”
But Trump’s hope of crushing Vanity Fair with his tweets saw the opposite result. The article panning Trump’s restaurant received 1 million plus views and Vanity Fair gained more than 10,000 new Twitter followers. Vanity Fair reported that in response to Trump’s attack, the magazine had seen the highest number of new subscriptions sold in a single day among the family of Conde Nast publications.
And, naturally, Trump has unleashed a barrage of tweets directed at “Saturday Night Live” for its comedic jibes and especially in response to Alec Baldwin’s hilarious depiction of Trump. In fact, Trump even took to Twitter in October calling for this legendary comedy show to be canceled after they skewered Trump: “Watched ‘Saturday Night Live’ hit job on me. Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!”
So have Trump’s tweets hurt “SNL”? Apparently not. As of November 21, 2016, “SNL” was up 26% in ratings from the year before. In fact this “SNL” season got off to a roaring start with the highest ratings for early episodes of the show in 24 years!
You get my point. So President-elect Trump, here’s my humble plea to you: Mock me on Twitter.
That’s right, call me a “low energy loser,” “overrated,” and/or “third rate.” You can even give me a nickname like “Despicable Dean.” In fact, I’ll make it as easy as possible for you: Here’s a sample tweet you can simply copy and paste and instantly share with your nearly 20 million Twitter followers:
Just read Despicable Dean @Deanofcomedy new @CNNOpinion article. Total loser. Unfunny Clown. And do NOT listen to his @SIRIUSXM radio show!
I think I’ve earned a tweet or two from Trump. After all, I’ve written countless articles for CNN and The Daily Beast over the last year and a half calling out Trump’s racism, bigotry and sexism. My radio show is like a nonstop anti-Trump tirade. And I’ve debated just about every Trump surrogate on cable news and even screamed at one or two on live TV.
So Mr. Trump, if you are reading this: Bring it on. I — as well as my agent and accountant — anxiously await your Twitter attacks on me.