Donald Trump in the Oval Office on May 18th, 2017. (Getty)
It’s no secret that Donald Trump is very active when it comes to his Twitter account. And through this constant social media presence, he has incurred the anger of those who disagree with his views or his politics as a whole. As a result, these users have been blocked.
But for some, what was once a source of minor inconvenience has turned into what The Washington Post has called “a badge of honor.” The dubious honor of being blocked by Trump’s Twitter account has actually amounted to something of a special achievement in the Twitterverse, marked with the hashtag #BlockedByTrump.
So while debate continues as to whether being blocked is a violation of constitutional rights, here are the most notable Twitter users who have been #BlockedByTrump.
1. Stephen King
Trump has blocked me from reading his tweets. I may have to kill myself.
Famed horror author Stephen King has been vocal in his opposition of the President. Among his most notable comments regarding the Commander in Chief include calling him a “textbook case of narcissistic personality disorder,” and the fact that he has his finger on the nuclear trigger is “worse than any horror story I ever wrote.” Still, many were surprised to find out that King had been blocked by Trump on Tuesday, mere hours after the same thing was done to the military group VoteVets.
King took it in stride, tweeting out that he “may have to kill himself” because he can no longer send direct messages to President Trump. Fellow author J.K. Rowling, who previously compared Trump to her fictional villain Voldemort, offered to “DM,” or direct message the tweets to King so that he may stay in the loop.
King was gracious, joking that he still has the account of Vice President Mike Pence to go after. Read the full tweet below.
@jk_rowling @BevVincent Thanks. Maybe it’s a hoax. I’m good either way. I’ll always have Pence, hahahaha.
2. Jules Suzdaltsev
HOLY SHIT HE ACTUALLY DID IT! I told Trump to spend more time with his son AND HE BLOCKED ME!
Jules Suzdaltsev is a freelance journalist based out of San Francisco. According to The Washington Post, Suzdaltsev, who is usually a critic of the President, actually tweeted out his support in the wake of the controversial Kathy Griffin joke. “This is actually something we can agree on!” he tweeted at the Trump, “Her joke was tasteless and stupid and attention seeking!” Suzdaltsev followed up the tweet with another, this time regarding Trump and his youngest son, Barron. Read the messages in their entirety above.
Within minutes, Suzdaltsev’s account had been blocked. “I was elated,” he told The Washington Post, “Maybe initially bittersweet, but when I realized I could still reply, I was absolutely elated.”
When asked what his reasoning was for criticizing the President, he explained: “First of all, he’s incredibly easy to respond to. Other times, he’ll say things that are vividly untrue. It’s almost like there’s this compulsion to prove that ‘You’re not fooling anyone.’ I don’t care if you’re the President.”
3. VoteVets
The Commander in Chief can block @VoteVets, the voice of 500k military veterans and families, but we will NOT be silenced.
VoteVets, a nonprofit organization of progressive veterans, have been the latest victim of Trump’s twitter account. The organization tweeted out a screenshot on Tuesday, June 13th, showing that they had been blocked. “The Commander in Chief can block @VoteVets, the voice of 500k military veterans and families, but we will NOT be silenced, it wrote.
“The President’s tweets are more than official statements… they constitute a public forum.” #BlockedByTrump t.co/dtYbZ6RA3E
The tweet went viral, racking up over 12,000 likes in the first two hours. This not only led to outrage from the veteran community, but those who quick to recall the praise that Trump had previously given the military in the past. Newsweek reports that during Trump’s campaign last October, he referred to veterans as “amazing,” “distinguished,” and “tremendous.”
The block came as a result of the criticisms that VoteVets had made about Trump’s Muslim Ban, saying it was “unconstitutional, immoral and a threat to our national security.”
4. Bess Kalb
OH. MY. EFFING. GOD.
The President of the United States just blocked me on Twitter because I hurt his feelings. #MAGA
Bess Kalb is an Emmy-nominated writer whose credits include the 2017 Academy Awards, the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! from 2011 to 2016. She sent a single tweet to the President on May 28th, saying that his visit to the Middle East had been “embarrassing,” and found herself blocked from his account immediately.
Unlike some of her fellow #BlockedByTrump compatriots, however, this wasn’t Kalb’s intention at all. “OH. MY. EFFING. GOD.” she tweeted upon learning the news. Kalb was also blocked from the twitter account of Donald Trump, Jr.
I 100% deserve this one.
Kalb recounted her feelings to The Washington Post, saying “I thought, oh, that’s quite unsettling because I never expected that that would happen, and I’d always been a little afraid of that.” She went on to say that while unsettled, she ultimately felt that it was a good thing: “I sort of thought, I’m not going to change [what I tweet at Trump], because that’s the definition of a chilling effect.”
5. Rob Szczerba
Tonight I am honored to join an elite club … #BlockedByTrump. Apparently, I hurt the feelings of the “leader of the free world”. SAD!
Rob Szczerba is a journalist for Forbes magazine, the CEO of X Tech Ventures, and one of the many who partook in the “Cofveve” memes that broke the internet after Trump’s infamous tweet. Szczerba’s June 1st joke had to do with ice cream: “I heard #cofveve is a new flavor from Ben & Jerry’s. But it’s mostly just nuts!” His message was also marked with the hashtag #ParisAgreement.
Szczerba tried to send a second tweet to the President, but found that he was no longer allowed.
@realDonaldTrump I heard #covfefe is a new flavor from Ben & Jerry’s. But it’s mostly just nuts! #ParisAgreement #ParisAccord
“When you look at all his responses to tweets,” he told CNN, “You almost sit back and laugh. It was really comical.”
6. Holly O’Reilly
Holly O’Reilly‘s #BlockedByTrump moment came on May 28th. O’Reilly, a #MarchForTruth organizer who refers to herself as a “Grammy losing songwriter,” tweeted at President Trump after he said that Prime Minister Theresa May was angry that information given to the U.S. by the U.K. was leaked.
O’Reilly’s tweet was blunt in its intent, saying “YOU ARE THE LEAKER, you bloody idiot. God you’re embarrassing.” It was the first in a string of tweets, including one with a viral photo of Pope Francis giving Trump an unflattering look (seen above). “I think that the Pope tweet was probably the clincher,” O’Reilly told Time magazine.
Here’s the letter we sent to the president today.
t.co/U8WK7U3sVU
And though she continues to be blocked by Trump’s account, O’Reilly is going to great lengths to undo this action. She’s hired three attorneys– Jameel Jaffer, Katie Fallow, and Alex Abdo— to make a case that Twitter is a “designated public forum” and that by blocking people the President “suppresses speech in a number of ways.” They sent a letter to the White House last week, and if users aren’t unblocked, a potential lawsuit may follow. You can read the letter below.
“It’s like FDR took my radio away,” she explained to Time, or “He [Trump] needs to hear people holding up a virtual disagree sign… If I don’t get to see what he’s saying, I don’t know what’s happening and it puts a wall between us, but it’s more about engaging with people who disagree with me.”
With the number of #BlockedByTrump growing at a head-spinning rate, check out some of the most recent additions below. You can also use the hashtag #BlockedByTrump on Twitter.
@CNN @realdonaldtrump isn’t a regular citizen. He’s @potus His tweets are public record. Unblock us this is unconstitutional #BlockedByTrump
The last line of my resume (written in early January, obviously) #BlockedByTrump
The tweet that got me #blockedbytrump. #tinyhands #thinskin
