The president turns to his digital strategy director for validation of his policies on everything from immigration to troop levels in Syria.
Shortly after President Donald Trump announced plans to yank U.S. troops out of Syria last December, a group of lawmakers came to the White House to talk him out of the idea, which critics called a threat to national security.
Trump responded by calling in the man who oversees his Twitter account.
“Get Dan Scavino in here,” Trump called out in the middle of the meeting earlier this year. In walked a man in his early 40s with close-cropped brown hair.
“Tell them how popular my policy is,” Trump instructed Scavino, who, according to two people with knowledge of the exchange, proceeded to walk lawmakers through the positive reaction he had picked up on social media about Trump’s Syria decision.
The sudden pivot from geostrategy to retweets and likes surprised the lawmakers. It was a remarkable moment given that not long ago Scavino was managing Trump’s golf club. But for Scavino himself, it was just another day on the job.
With few allies left in the West Wing, Trump frequently leans on his unassuming social media guru for affirmation and advice about how his most sensitive policies will be received, according to interviews with more than two dozen current and former White House officials, and others close to the president.
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Trump’s critics worry his use of social media metrics to steer policy is dangerous.
Trump “has this interest in data, but it’s Trumpian data, which means it’s a little bit of cotton candy and it’s not grounded in reality,” biographer Tim O’Brien said. https://t.co/3fbxiTMCuq
— POLITICO (@politico) May 17, 2019
You know, as the Founders intended. https://t.co/hhn4rpI8IF
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 16, 2019
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