A Washington Post analysis piece cheered the Biden White House sending out "feisty" tweets personally attacking Republicans, claiming its recent digs on GOP lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA., have gone viral and are drumming up Democratic enthusiasm ahead of the midterms.
On Friday, Washington Post staff writer Yasmeen Abutaleb claimed that the time of President Biden’s White House Twitter account being boring is over. She opened her piece by hailing, "After four years of unpredictable, headline-grabbing tweets from @realDonaldTrump, the White House account has been quiet and unassuming, largely regurgitating press releases and explaining Biden’s policies. Not anymore."
Abutaleb explained this turnaround, writing, "the White House account this week decided to hit back in uncharacteristically feisty — and personal — fashion after a number of Republicans hammered Biden’s decision to wipe out up to $20,000 in student debt for many borrowers."
Here, the piece referenced recent White House tweets taking direct aim at GOP members of Congress, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who insisted that Biden’s student loan handout proposal was "unfair" to American taxpayers.
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The White House tweets called each of these lawmakers hypocrites by way of mentioning that they took out large Paycheck Protection Program loans from the federal government to keep their small business workforces employed during the pandemic-era shutdowns.
Conservatives on Twitter decried the use of the official government account taking personal digs at the lawmakers, though liberals supported the move.
Abutaleb remarked how the tweets ginned up excitement on the left, writing, "But the White House tweets have succeeded in changing the conversation, and they did not go unnoticed. Democrats responded with enthusiasm, with nearly 200,000 people retweeting the thread and more than 700,000 liking it as of Friday afternoon, making it one of the White House’s highest engagement tweets ever."
The staff writer added that the tweet gained the account "more than 49,000 followers Thursday and more than 71,000 on Friday," which is "far more than the couple thousand it generally gains per day."
She shared one of the responses to show how much fun Democrats were having with the tweets. Author Scott Lynch wrote, "Hey, WH staff, just so you know, if you’re going to continue to drag these hypocrites with clear and hard-hitting messaging, you run a serious risk of surging enthusiasm, electoral success, and continued improvements to the lives of millions of Americans."
Abutaleb also featured another response from Monica Lewsinksy, who wrote, "I am so here for these @WhiteHouse tweets."
According to the piece, "the newly punchy tone seems to be part of a revamped strategy leading up to November’s midterm elections, with Biden increasingly attacking Republicans directly and sometimes by name." It also reported that "White House officials acknowledge privately they are trying to unleash more zingers."
Abutaleb added that this "feisty" new attitude comes with new Democratic enthusiasm about their shot at the upcoming midterm election. "Still, the new strategy seems to reflect growing optimism within the administration as polls have shown rising approval ratings for Biden and growing enthusiasm among Democrats," she wrote.
In addition, she noted that "Democratic strategists said they welcomed the fiery new approach to the White House’s Twitter account." Abutaleb cited Democratic Party consultant Kurt Bardella, who claimed that the account is "showing a certain personality that we haven’t seen yet from this administration, and it was incredibly effective. We saw it had a very galvanizing impact in terms of how the Democratic apparatus responded to it."
"There was an enthusiasm there that also matches the moment that we’re in right now," he added.
