Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was harshly criticized for allowing President Donald Trump to threaten to commit war crimes in Iran.
Longtime political analyst Charles Johnson, the founder of the blog Little Green Footballs, blasted Dorsey after Trump threatened to attack 52 Iranian sites -- including cultural targets.
"What better place to make hyper-aggressive war threats than Twitter?" Johnson wrote.
"These are the kinds of tweets that Twitter really SHOULD DELETE. He’s using your network to start a war, @jack," he said, tagging the CEO's account.
"It isn’t the first time Trump has threatened Iran with war, but this is the MOST deranged and hysterical — and specific! — threat yet," he explained. "To be fair, I don’t see anything in the Twitter Rules about starting an international conflagration in the Middle East, so maybe they’re off the hook."
"This also is far from the first time Trump has threatened to commit war crimes — which is what targeting Iranian cultural sites would be," Johnson noted. "Trump is clearly excited by war crimes and war criminals — his often-stated goal of 'keeping the oil' in Iraq and other places would also be a war crime. And he pardons soldiers who commit war crimes. War crimes are his thing. He’s the war crime president."
Johnson's thread was noticed by prominent GOP attorney George Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.
He wrote Trump "is too dumb to know it's a war crime, but also too demented to care."
Here's what others were saying:
@waltshaub @Twitter Twitter must ban Trump for violation of terms of service. #WarCrime https://t.co/acOkHqBQfg— Nancy Levine (@Nancy Levine)1578182146.0
threatening to blow another country the fuck up should be a violation of twitter's terms of service— Jeff Tiedrich (@Jeff Tiedrich)1578182154.0
Trump is threatening to commit war crimes right now. https://t.co/9sLr286utt— Caroline Orr Bueno (@Caroline Orr Bueno)1578180745.0
Someone better let the President know he's threatening war crimes. - 52 sites for purely symbolic reasons would b… https://t.co/aAEFDmIe5E— Tom Nichols (@Tom Nichols)1578181701.0
Pompeo this morning: This is about de-escalation. Trump: I’m gonna do some war crimes. Sunday shows tomorrow: D… https://t.co/1VOfxZ9TU5— Adam Parkhomenko (@Adam Parkhomenko)1578181705.0
As written, this constitutes 1) a war crime, and 2) state-sponsored terrorism. You don't get to target cultural her… https://t.co/yi5MoqdUsr— 🕷Dante Atkins🕷 (@🕷Dante Atkins🕷)1578182449.0
Let me put even a stronger point on this. Any U.S. officials or personnel who followed through on this statement b… https://t.co/gbVdxD0jVe— Ryan Goodman (@Ryan Goodman)1578181764.0
Leave it to the dumbest President ever to be on fairly firm legal ground to strike a terror kingpin, and then follo… https://t.co/veRuiDPoBb— Tom Nichols (@Tom Nichols)1578182183.0
For what it's worth, I find it hard to believe the Pentagon would provide Trump targeting options that include Iran… https://t.co/kHDpoedQT7— Colin Kahl (@Colin Kahl)1578181589.0
I wish we could all agree that threatening war crimes by tweet is not good but alas it will yet again split along party lines.— Brian Klaas (@Brian Klaas)1578181606.0
4 days into this new decade and we have the President of the United States of America publicly stating his plan to commit war crimes.— Eliot Higgins (@Eliot Higgins)1578181342.0
at the start of the war on terror, the early stories we told about why we were better than them involved the execut… https://t.co/yoEWpWJoTw— Christopher Hooks (@Christopher Hooks)1578186492.0
@jack. Trump is threatening to kill civilians on your platform. The hell with clicks. This is life and death. Take… https://t.co/oVYNZ9LUYp— MikeFarb (@MikeFarb)1578182233.0
What better place to make hyper-aggressive war threats than Twitter? Jesus fucking Christ. https://t.co/wZ3CJpwWJb— Charles Johnson (@Charles Johnson)1578179069.0
These are the kinds of tweets that Twitter really SHOULD DELETE. He’s using your network to start a war, @jack.— Charles Johnson (@Charles Johnson)1578179158.0
@jack It isn’t the first time Trump has threatened Iran with war, but this is the MOST deranged and hysterical — and specific! — threat yet.— Charles Johnson (@Charles Johnson)1578179464.0
@jack To be fair, I don’t see anything in the Twitter Rules about starting an international conflagration in the Mi… https://t.co/YaLOplVs30— Charles Johnson (@Charles Johnson)1578179541.0
@jack This also is far from the first time Trump has threatened to commit war crimes — which is what targeting Iran… https://t.co/5qQTSNFOMC— Charles Johnson (@Charles Johnson)1578179881.0
@jack Trump is clearly excited by war crimes and war criminals — his often-stated goal of “keeping the oil” in Iraq… https://t.co/GNxD4aFhoM— Charles Johnson (@Charles Johnson)1578180018.0
@jack And of course, now I’m hearing from Trump cultists who also are turned on by war crimes.— Charles Johnson (@Charles Johnson)1578180914.0
.@realDonaldTrump is too dumb to know it’s a war crime, but also too demented to care. https://t.co/WcEywGa6ht— George Conway (@George Conway)1578180333.0
