Donald Trump's tweets: Are they presidential statements or not?

[Benton]

(11-21-2017, 05:11 PM)Matt_Crimson Wrote: I guess I'm confused about how this is a debate. If Donald Trump is tweeting something that is not in the form of a question or of general fact, then isn't that a presedential statement considering its an "opinion"? 

If Trump tweeted "We should go to war with North Korea" I don't see how that's any different from him reading it from a teleprompter or a piece of paper.

It's not, to most folks. But to the people who have to deal with the fallout (department heads, ambassadors, spokesmen, etc), pretty much the only card they've got left is to say "well, that's not his official stance" whenever he does something super stupid. Or illegal. Or unethical. Like their only hope when the emoluments clause is finally challenged following him spending tens of millions of taxpayer money at his private businesses, or using White House resources to promote his brand. At least then they can say 'well, he wasn't using official channels when his spokes people encouraged shopping Trump.'