📷 Key players Meteor shower up next 📷 Leaders at the dais 20 years till the next one
ON POLITICS
Donald Trump

Trump calls protests 'unfair' in first controversial tweet as president-elect

William Cummings
USA TODAY

President-elect Donald Trump broke the relative calm that had fallen over his often controversial Twitter account Thursday night to blame the demonstrations against his election victory on "professional protesters" who he says have been "incited by the media."

"Just had a very open and successful presidential election," Trump tweeted. "Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!"

He posted the tweet amid the second day of anti-Trump protests in cities across the nation.

Thousands protest Trump in Milwaukee, Madison, other cities

The tweet dismissing the protests as being professionally orchestrated and created by the media (it's not clear why the media would need to incite the protesters if they are professionals), seems to conflict with the conciliatory and unifying tone the president-elect had taken since his victory speech early Wednesday.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

In fact, the tweet about the protesters came 9 minutes after another one describing his "great chemistry" with President Obama. "Melania liked Mrs. O a lot!" he tweeted.

By Friday morning the president-elect was seeing the protests in a new light, however, tweeting that he loves that "small groups of protesters" have such "passion for our great country."

"We will all come together and be proud!" he wrote, returning to the unifying tone of recent days.

Trump didn't seem to think protests against the election winner were "unfair" when Obama was re-elected in 2012. He tried to incite protests in a tweet on that election night four years ago, tweeting, "We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!"

His tweet about "professional protesters" was quickly slammed by various voices on Twitter:

Featured Weekly Ad