Michelle Obama knows how much words matter, especially on social media platforms and she made some thinly veiled swipes at Donald Trump Twitter habits.
The former first lady sat down with poet Elizabeth Alexander for a discussion at The Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago on Wednesday to talk about the dangers of social media and the importance of thinking before you speak… or tweet.
“This whole ‘tell it like it is’ business, that’s nonsense,” Obama said during the sit-down.
“When you have a voice you can’t just use it any kind of way. You just don’t say what’s on your mind. You don’t tweet every thought,” she continued. “Most of your first initial thoughts are not worthy of the light of day.”
Though Obama said she wasn’t “talking about anybody in particular,” a knowing laugh from the audience seemed to confirm her comments were a thinly veiled dig a President Trump’s Twitter addiction.
Michelle Obama is totally not shading Donald Trump’s tweeting habits. Nope, not at all. pic.twitter.com/KunTJZgw4K
— Mashable News (@MashableNews) November 1, 2017
Feeding the audience’s perceptions, Alexander chimed in, “We are so not talking about anybody in particular.”
Obama continued to drop some knowledge bombs about online communication, calling social media a “powerful weapon.”
″You need to think and spell it right and have good grammar too,” Obama said, perhaps taking another hit at the Trump twitter style.
“I am honered to serve you, the great American People, as your 45th President of the United States!” Trump infamously tweeted (and then deleted) around the time of the inauguration.
And everyone, of course, remembers covfefe.
But Obama’s message was about more than just making subtle digs at Trump. She discussed the importance of crafting intelligent messages when in a position of power.
“And I think when you’re the first lady or the president, the commander in chief, and you have that voice, and that power, and that platform, I think what comes with that is the responsibility to know that every word you utter has consequences.”
Michelle Obama on choosing what you say carefully in a high office: “Words matter at this level” pic.twitter.com/dBDFJVjARP
— Mashable News (@MashableNews) November 1, 2017
But it’s not just the powerful who need to watch what they say (or tweet), she said.
“Words matter at this level and you learn how much they matter at this level, but that doesn’t mean that anybody in this room is free to be careless with words and how they debate. At this level you see how much words matter, but the truth of how much words matter is true for each and every one of us, so you can’t just slash and burn up folks just because you think you’re right. You have to treat people as if they are precious — all of them. Even the people you don’t agree with.”
