Seoul is poised to make a new hire to handle swaths of uncertainty presented by the incoming US administration: A government official dedicated to watching what Trump does on Twitter.
It may not be as silly as it seems. After all, Trump spent far less money than his opponent to accumulate the required 270 Electoral College votes for admission into the Oval Office as Commander in Chief. Trump displayed a degree of social media-savvy unforeseen in recent political history by using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to broadcast his message to millions globally. Of course, all three outlets are free for content users and producers on the outlets.
While South Korea’s on-boarding of the "Trump-scanner" has not been officially announced by the nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it certainly would not come as a shock if South Korea and other governments pay closer attention to Trump’s Twitter broadcasts, with officials committed to watching every move he makes on the platform.
Seoul-based news outlet Korea Joongang Daily first reported the news that an official would be delegated to attend to Trump’s online presence. Perhaps officials in Seoul agreed with the assessment provided by the newspaper, which wrote, "His 140-character posts are currently the most effective insight into policies of the incoming administration."
One reason analysts have cited for Trump’s ascension to power is his masterful use of social media tools. It certainly is not crazy to think that the President-elect will continue to deploy the mass-messaging, instantaneous update platform while in office—even if it is unprecedented.
Hillary Clinton had a virtually unlimited war chest for her bid for the White House. Pro-Clinton PACs and Super-PACs dished out more than $1.18 billion, according to Bloomberg, which all went right down the drain when the final vote tallies became history.
Meanwhile, Trump’s cost-minded approach produced a far more reasonable budget, relatively speaking, for a stunning win. While Trump broke with his pledge to only dip into his personal fortune to finance his campaign, the $616.5 million spent, according to Bloomberg, by Trump’s team is about half of Clinton’s expenditure. But the key difference, obviously, is that Trump won. When it comes to Trump’s business acumen, perhaps this simple math is Trump’s first lesson in “return on invested capital.”
This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.