(File photo: Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier listens at left as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with pharmaceutical industry leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Donald Trump started tweeting eight years ago today, a strategy that ultimately turned him from a real estate magnate and reality-TV star to becoming the President of the United States.
Ever the self-promoter, Trump's first tweet was about him appearing on since retired David Letterman's late night show.
Since that time, has sent out nearly 35,000 tweets on a variety of topics, interacting with his fans, a strategy he has credited with winning the 2016 presidential election against Hillary Clinton.
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"I really believe that, um-- the fact that I have such power in terms of numbers with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et cetera, I think it helped me win all of these races where they’re spending much more money than I spent," Trump told "60 Minutes" Leslie Stahl in his first interview since winning the presidency in November 2016. "You know, I spent my money. A lot of my money. And I won. I think that social media has more power than the money they spent, and I think maybe to a certain extent, I proved that."
Despite initial claims that he would tamper down his tweeting -- which he said in the same interview -- President Trump has continued to fire off tweets from his personal account, as well as @POTUS, discussing everything from foreign and domestic policy to the Super Bowl.
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Most recently, President Trump has focused his Twitter attention on a number of topics, including attempting to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which was a campaign promise of Trump's he has yet to fulfill.
He has also called on Susan Rice, the former National Security Advisor under President Obama to testify, despite Rice turning down a request from Senator Lindsey Gram (R.-SC) to do so.
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