The US president is working to satisfy the media’s need for “goddamn headlines,” the Brazilian leader has said
US President Donald Trump should focus on running his country instead of spending too much time on social media, his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has said.
Trump has published more than 2,100 posts on his Truth Social platform since returning to the White House on January 20, issuing 17 messages per day on an average, The Independent reported in early June.
He was even more active online during the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran this month, in which he warned both sides not to violate the US-brokered ceasefire in a Truth Social post.
Lula criticized Trump’s extensive use of social media in an interview with the news site g1 on Wednesday, saying, “in this troubled world, where we have a president of a country the size of the US, who must watch his words, think about what he says, must spend less time on the internet and more heading the state, must think more about free trade, multilateralism, must care more about peace.”
“And what do we see every day in the press? The need for goddamn headlines,” the Brazilian leader said.
In an interview with The Atlantic in April, Trump revealed how his Truth Social posts are made. “I go quickly as hell. You would be amazed. You would be impressed. And I like doing them myself. Sometimes I dictate them out, but I like doing them myself.”
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers previously defended Trump’s use of social media, saying it makes him “the most transparent president in history and is meeting the American people where they are to directly communicate his policies, message, and important announcements.”
Lula has attacked Trump, who had good relations with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, on a number of occasions in recent months. In February, he said the US president was elected to govern his country, “not rule the world.”
In March, during the standoff over tariffs announced by Washington, Lula stated: “There is no point in Trump shouting from over there because I learned not to be afraid of an angry face.”
