Now that he’s been banned we can say it: Donald Trump was a genius at Twitter | Dan Brooks

His behaviour was unbelievably irresponsible - but no politician was better at posting

On 8 January, Twitter indefinitely suspended the account of one Donald J Trump, president of the United States. Banning Trump from Twitter is a little like banning E coli from your large intestine: even if he never comes back, the memories will be enough.

Trump used the social media platform in a way that no figure in American government has ever managed before. Between last November and 6 January, when a mob of his supporters briefly overran the US Capitol and interrupted the certification of the 2020 electoral college vote, he used it to whip his followers into a frenzy. The riot was the reprehensible end to an extraordinary online career. Over the course of his presidency, Trump did for Twitter what James Dean did for the open-top sports car, making a cultural touchstone of a vehicle that ultimately destroyed him.