“He is a very strategic thinker,” Sean Spicer said. “He thinks about where things are going to end up. | AP Photo Spicer: I don't 'get a memo' before Trump tweets

Sean Spicer, Donald Trump’s incoming White House press secretary, doesn’t “get a memo” before the president-elect tweets, he said on Wednesday.

“I do not know, I do not get a memo,” Spicer said at a University of Chicago event, The Wall Street Journal reports . “He drives the train on this.”


Trump’s use of Twitter to do everything from thanking his voters to disparaging news organizations and making policy pronouncements has upended existing expectations for its role in the government.

During the campaign, Trump took to Twitter to skewer opponents and drum up enthusiasm among his most fervent supporters to surprising success, and Spicer said Wednesday that Trump will continue to use the platform in office.

“You know that he can drive a message and influence people in a way that hasn’t been done before,” Spicer said.

Trump’s Twitter feed has also raised concerns, though. His attacks on individuals during the campaign prompted trolls online to inundate journalists such as Megyn Kelly with angry, and sometimes violent, messages.

A Twitter outburst last month about nuclear weapons especially alarmed experts who warned that it is irresponsible, and even dangerous, to dictate the U.S. position on a sensitive issue like weapons of mass destruction on the fly, in just 140 characters.

Democrats, in the minority in Washington, have cited Trump’s impulsive online behavior in a line of attack: “With all due respect, America cannot afford a Twitter presidency,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week. “Many Americans are afraid, Mr. President-elect, that instead of rolling up your sleeves and forging serious policies…that, for you, Twitter suffices.”

In Chicago on Wednesday, Spicer pushed back on that, saying that it is a “misconception … that he is just randomly tweeting.”

“He is a very strategic thinker,” Spicer said. “He thinks about where things are going to end up.