Donald Trump was a prolific poster on Twitter before he was elected president of the United States. As a private citizen he exploited the social media platform to express his racist views and to initiate online feuds with celebrities for publicity and his own perverse amusement.

Trump ramped up his abuse of Twitter when he became president, using it as his primary way of communicating with his base and as a tool to intimidate reluctant Republicans from dissenting from Trumpism.

On January 8, 2021 Twitter finally permanently banned his account, but only after he used it to whip his followers into a frenzy of violence and insurrection.

Trump insurrectionists desecrated the temple of American democracy: murdering a police officer, committing multiple acts of vandalism, burglary and violence, smearing feces on the walls and urinating on the halls, and hunting down, with the intent of executing, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence.

The defiled, desecrated and despoiled Capitol building is a metaphor for how Trump employed Twitter to destroy democracy and civil discourse.

Without access to his Twitter feed Trump has been rendered mute; he’s hiding out in the White House while members of his administration resign in protest and an increasing number Republican congressional leaders repudiate him.

Trump is a corrupt, racist, incompetent, amoral and authoritarian buffoon, and his administration would have ended in American carnage without Twitter as one of his most potent weapons to destroy democracy.

But his access to social media platforms to spread wild conspiracy theories, incite his cult-like followers and attack defenders of liberty and democracy was a turbo boost for his nihilist agenda.

Going forward social media sites must clamp down on twisted individuals, especially politicians, who use their lies to spread conspiracy theories, insurrection and racism. We must stop the rise of another Donald Trump.