In this op-ed, Lincoln Blades explores the ramifications of Donald Trump's use of Twitter and how it affects diplomacy.

After Barack Obama was elected to be the 44th president of the United States, one of the more lowkey controversies leading up to his inauguration was whether or not he'd be able to keep his trusted BlackBerry. In an age where the different methods of cyber-espionage were growing almost as fast as handheld technological innovation, pundits, lawyers, and Secret Service all lamented the possible security breaches that could arise. President Obama was allowed to keep his BlackBerry as many rules were put in place, and extreme monitoring was done. Articles published back in 2009 cite invasive hacks as a point of consternation, yet none of those same pieces lament the potential issue of a President-elect using his phone to initiate conflicts. It was literally unheard of.

Fast forward to today, and we see an unprecedented problem that even the most astute political scientist probably couldn't have fathomed or predicted. Donald Trump hasn't held a press conference since July 27, yet in those 160 days he has tweeted over 1,500 times. That last press conference was not only laden with lies but it was also eerily punctuated with Trump saying, "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," referring to the FBI investigation of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton who, while U.S. Secretary of State, used her private email server for official communications, resulting in her aides deleting over 30,000 personal emails before turning over copies to the State Department. By comparison, while Trump has yet to hold a press conference as President-elect, Barack Obama fielded questions from the White House press corps on 18 different occasions between his election and inauguration in 2008 to 2009.

And consider this: In just 56 days as the president-elect, Trump's frequent daily use of Twitter has already resulted in inciting world leaders, insulting global organizations, causing domestic market volatility, and disregarding America's intelligence agencies. The vast majority of what Trump spews onto his timeline has not only been gravely inaccurate, but it's also mostly comments that have clearly avoided serious vetting from experienced and knowledgeable sources who, at the very least, could communicate to him the controversies he creates with his off-the-cuff remarks.

Pippa Norris, a Harvard professor, political scientist and the director of the Electoral Integrity Project, tells Teen Vogue, "diplomatic signaling (when state officials use platforms such as the media or the internet, to exchange informal information between government leaders) is a delicate art that requires considerable finesses about the exact choice of words. Any unfiltered commentary, without carefully consulting professional diplomats in the State Department, could easily send inappropriate signals that generate confusion and uncertainty about America’s foreign policies and thereby destabilize the world." Unfortunately, this statement has already proven to be all too accurate.

After Donald Trump took to Twitter to aggressively posture in response to North Korea's claim that they're in the final stages of creating a nuclear weapon that can reach the U.S., he then immediately followed that tweet with another one chastising China for not doing more to "help" the U.S. stand against North Korea. In response, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said, “We hope all sides will avoid remarks and actions to escalate the situation.” And although Trump isn't even officially in office yet, his relationship with China is already rocky thanks to his tweet about accepting a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan's president (for context, since 1979, American presidents have only recognized Taiwan in an unofficial manner as Beijing still views Taiwan as a part of China). China's responded by stating that they were "seriously concerned" about Trump's potential stance. "Adhering to the 'one China' [viewing Taiwan as part of China and not a sovereign nation] principle is the political bedrock for the development US-China relations. If it is comprised or disrupted, the sound and steady growth of the bilateral relationship, as well as bilateral cooperation in major fields would be out of question," said Geng Shuang.