SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
- Trump, barred from Twitter, is writing out “insults and observations” instead, The Daily Beast reported.
- “He has resorted to suggesting put-downs for others to use or post to their own Twitter,” per the outlet.
- Trump is taking aim at opponents in the GOP as he battles to retain his hold over the party.
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
Former President Donald Trump is so frustrated by being barred from Twitter that he is writing out insults and trying to get aides to post those messages from their own accounts, The Daily Beast reported.
Sources close to Trump told the publication that he sees the political fate of Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-most powerful Republican in Congress, as key to his continued hold over the GOP.
Cheney was one of ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over the Capitol riot on January 6.
But the former president was deprived of his most important tool for rallying supporters and attacking opponents when permanently him from its platform in the wake of the insurrection.
Deprived of his usual platform, Trump has instead “written out insults and observations, several of them about Cheney,” and, unable to tweet them himself, “he has resorted to suggesting put-downs for others to use or post to their own Twitter,” The Daily Beast wrote, paraphrasing a source.
Trump has previously claimed that he owed his election to the presidency to his ability to communicate directly with voters via Twitter. As president, he would tweet from early morning to late at night, stirring conflict with critics and opponents, and praising allies and supporters.
Before the ban, Twitter has restricted or labeled as misleading dozens of Trump tweets as he spread conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
In recent weeks, a rift had widened in the Republican Party between lawmakers who want to rid it of Trump's influence in the wake of the Capitol riot, and others who have steadfastly defended the former president in spite of it.
A group of Trump loyalists had moved to remove Cheney from her position as House Republican Conference Chair following her impeachment vote, but in a closed-door vote held on Wednesday, Cheney survived the bid to oust her from the role.
Trump has given his support to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, whom Democrats have called to be expelled from Congress after comments emerged in which she expressed support for violence against Democrats and for a range of right-wing conspiracy theories.
At the Wednesday GOP meeting where lawmakers voted for Cheney to remain in her leadership role, a number of House Republicans reportedly gave Greene a standing ovation after she defended herself.