For an example of shallow analysis, go no further than White House advisor Sebastian Gorka in TPM:
Gorka — a controversial member of the Trump administration, given his affiliations with right-wing nationalist groups tied to anti-Semitism and the targeting of Roma people, among other things — said China’s use of North Korea as a “buffer state” was not be worth the instability that the missile tests brought the region.
Hemmer returned to Gorka’s earlier comment: “With all due respect, can a Twitter feed change the mind of those leading China?”
“If you can win a U.S. election with it, I think it’s pretty powerful, Bill, don’t you?” Gorka replied.
If you’re going to be a serious advisor, you’d better be asking yourself why, or even if, Twitter was a powerful in the last Presidential election. The answer, of course, is that it reached a sizable number of American voters.
Voters who have very little leverage when it comes to China.
Especially a country which is not a democracy.
Gorka seems to think Trump found himself a bazooka – point and shoot and watch the target explode. But that’s not even a close characterization. He found one of those funny little screwdrivers that only works with specialty products. And we all hate those damn specialty screwdrivers.
Bu the point is that Gorka apparently hasn’t given the least thought to the power of Twitter, or more accurately, its limitations. China doesn’t feel any pressure through Twitter, and even a call for boycott via Twitter isn’t going to be especially problematic. Twitter is how Gorka’s boss persistently shoots himself and all his subordinates in their feet.
If Gorka thinks Twitter is going to move international politics, he’s even more inexperienced than I thought.
