Twitter censors come for Scaramucci over ‘fat shaming’ Trump

Anthony Scaramucci, onetime supporter turned vocal critic of US President Donald Trump, got locked out of Twitter for what the platform said was “abusive behavior,” after calling the president fat.

“The Mooch” reached out to media outlets on Friday, complaining that his Twitter account was on lockdown after he called Trump “the fattest President since William Howard Taft.”

Twitter confirmed it, saying that the account was locked for violating the platform’s abuse policy and demanded the deletion of the offending tweet. 

Taft, the 27th president of the US, reportedly weighed 350 pounds (150kg) at the end of his presidency in 1913. 

A portrait of US President William Howard Taft. © Reuters / Library of Congress

Scaramucci’s unfortunate comparison came after an incident at Trump’s campaign rally in New Hampshire on Thursday, where the president called out what he thought was a heckler for being overweight.

“That guy’s got a serious weight problem. Go home, start exercising,” Trump said in front of a large crowd, before adding the man had “a bigger problem than I do.”

The twist was that the person Trump was calling out ended up being a supporter, who had alerted the security to a heckler. The man later told the media he got a call from Trump and did not take offense at the comments.

Scaramucci was an outspoken Trump supporter early in the current presidency, at one point even getting accused of “Russian ties” by CNN, in the only anti-Trump story the network has ever retracted. He also set the record for the shortest tenure in the Trump administration, serving as the White House communications director for only 11 days in July 2017.

The Mooch publicly turned on Trump this week, however, accusing the president of “divisive rhetoric.” It is still unclear what precipitated the sudden change of heart, though it coincided with Trump supporters calling CNN’s Chris Cuomo “Fredo,” an insult referring to the Godfather films.

Scaramucci’s suspension baffled Twitter users, as many did not consider his violation serious enough. Some pointed out that if Trump himself were judged by the same standards, his account “should’ve been permanently suspended years ago.”

Others reminded that “much worse things” have been said about Trump on the platform on a daily basis, without any consequences, resulting in the unusual consensus that Twitter is applying double standards and that perhaps a move to another platform might be in order.

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