Donald Trump Tweets Are Being Turned Into Official White House Press Statements Via A Twitter Bot

Official White House press statements are one thing, Donald Trump tweets are something else. The latter seem to come unfiltered from the president's mind, the former carefully worded by his press team. But, if the Trump tweets are coming from the POTUS, surely they should be taken as official statements as well?

That's the idea behind @RealPressSecBot which was created by technologist, coder and activist Russel Neiss ("I needed something to do during the kids' nap time..." he tweeted). Every 15 minutes the bot searches for some new Trump tweets, and if it finds some it mocks them up to look like an official White House press statement.

Seeing them mocked up like that definitely gives the Trump tweets an even more alarming edge. Draped in the formal look of official documentation, they seem even more preposterous. And it also highlights even more how absurd most of the stuff Trump tweets is, especially when it comes to other government officials from the US and beyond.

A Recent Example Of The Trump Tweets Bot

For instance when Trump tweets about the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, in a disparaging way. It goes from this:

At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is "no reason to be alarmed!"

To this:

A statement by the President:

Russel Neiss Explains The Idea Behind The Bot

Neiss tells The Huffington Post that there were a couple of inspirations behind the bot, not counting the president's own tweet storms that is. He cites a tweet from a former press aide for Obama, Patrick Cunnane. And also one from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.

And calling them "tweets" minimizes them. They're statements from the president made on Twitter.

For context - because he's President - all of Trump's Tweets should be mocked up in the correct Presidential statement format. It's telling.

Trump Tweets As Official Policy?

Other reporters have also cited that what Trump tweets should be treated as official policy.

It doesn't matter who Trump's flack is (see Sean). WH statements (see below) are useless. His Tweets should be treated as official policy.

Trump Tweets Get The Proper Traditional Format

Now, thanks to Neiss, they can be at least seen in that format. "Putting it in the traditional format made it all the more jarring between what we’ve expected to see from those formal press releases—and the kind of stuff we see coming out of the president’s Twitter account on a regular basis." Neiss told the Atlantic in an interview, continuing. "Everyone’s been telling Trump not to tweet, and he continues to tweet, and so I think it’s important to take him seriously, even if not literally. These are serious words coming out of the highest office holder in the land, and all that this bot does is just give those messages the proper honor they deserve."

Check out some tweets below and follow the bot for more.