One of Donald Trump’s original 2016 election campaign promises – if not one of the most resounding and memorable ones, not least because it has since been used against him rather heavily – has been the pledge to build a wall along the southern border of the United States with Mexico.
The goal of that “wall” – or even rather, a “fence” – had been to stop illegal migrants from pouring into the country unchecked. That in and of itself might not sound super controversial – but it has become very controversial in the intervening years.
But what this rather simple formula seems to have left out of the equation is that Trump has played the social media game very deftly ever since becoming America’s possibly unlikeliest president, three years ago.
And that means he is not only tweeting fast and furious – but also adopting, and promoting, some new ground rules and expectations when it comes to the internet game.
Now, the Washington Post is reporting that the White House intends to livestream the construction of the border fence with Mexico, in early 2020.
It could turn out to be a stroke of digital media savviness – reportedly originating from Trumps’ son-in-law Jared Kushner – but not everyone is on board.
The report suggests that the US military and customs officials are not happy about livestreaming their efforts – apparently in a bid to stave off even a hint of controversy, such as “proprietary techniques” and – violating a country’s sovereignty, in this case, Mexico’s.
But the Trump campaign seems to understand and value real-time communication with its constituents, and also seems to want to time it just right to support the President’s re-election bid in late 2020.
