As Comey speaks, a nation awaits a presidential tweet

As the much-anticipated testimony by former FBI Director James Comey beamed onto televisions, computers and radios across the country, many people prepared as well for a piece of counter-programming: President Trump’s lashes and snipes from his famous Twitter account.

A bar in Washington, D.C., went so far as to tempt potential patrons with a free drink for every time the president tweeted during Thursday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.

Alas, those tracking Trump’s feed were left staring at a stale Wednesday tweet about a policy speech in Ohio. A president known for unleashing himself on social media had refrained — perhaps because his advisers got to him, or because the legal stakes were too high. And people who in general wish the president would stop jabbing his thoughts into his phone were left with the pang of an absence.

“I’ve never wanted Trump to tweet so badly in my entire life,” actor Chris Evans tweeted in the morning. “Pick your phone up! Do it!! DO IT!!!!”

This file photo taken on May 18, 2017 shows US President Donald Trump waiting for a meeting with Colombia's President President Juan Manuel Santos in the Oval Office of the White House. This file photo taken on May 18, 2017 shows US President Donald Trump waiting for a meeting with Colombia's President President Juan Manuel Santos in the Oval Office of the White House. Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, AFP/Getty Images Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close As Comey speaks, a nation awaits a presidential tweet 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

It’s a preoccupation that will extend into the evenings and mornings to come — millions waiting for the president’s next barrage of tweets.

“It is very unique to have the country following a feed, every minute, to read the real, unfiltered thoughts of POTUS,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of public affairs and presidential historian at Princeton University. “It is not simply communication with the voters — it is instant, unedited, and unscripted.”

Trump’s restraint, however, did not mean that he was unrepresented on Twitter. His son, Donald Trump Jr, executive vice president of the family business, the Trump Organization, launched a running commentary on Comey’s testimony — live-tweeting the affair in the way many had expected his father would.

The president’s son lashed out at, among other things, Comey’s disclosure to senators that he had asked a friend to share with a reporter the contents of a memo detailing his interactions with Trump — a move Comey made after Trump tweeted that the ex-FBI director had better “hope there are no ‘tapes.’”

“Did I miss something,” Trump Jr. wrote, “or did Comey just say he asked a friend to leak information to the press? Is this a joke?”

Some observers, such as Professor Michael Cornfield at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, wondered whether there was more to the tweets from the president’s son.

“Maybe his son is tweeting for him in his own words,” he said. “Trump has spoken through disguises and surrogates in the past.”

The Washington Post reported that some White House staffers were “relieved” that Trump hadn’t live-tweeted the Comey hearing and that his son had channeled him.

One presidential historian said Trump may have done something unusual, heeding the advice of those around him to stay off Twitter, perhaps in part because he understood the seriousness of the circumstances.

“I believe that the president's own legal advisers have told him to stand down and to think before he tweets,” said Brooks D. Simpson, a presidential historian and professor at Arizona State University.

This was, after all, the same president who earlier in the week used Twitter to criticize his own Department of Justice for its approach to his travel ban, which has been blocked by federal courts, and to attack the mayor of London following a deadly terrorist attack.

“The FAKE MSM is working so hard trying to get me not to use Social Media,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. “They hate that I can get the honest and unfiltered message out.”

By Thursday afternoon, the anticipation grew again. The true test, some said, would be whether the president would resist the urge to tweet in the evening or the early morning, as he’s wont to do.

“Let us see what the dawn brings,” Cornfield said. “That is his prime time to let loose.”

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz