How @realDonaldTrump reshaped the presidency

Since taking office, President Trump has turned Twitter into a means of communication as vital as an official statement from the White House press secretary, connecting the ultimate seat of power to the darkest corners of the web.

He uses his account to announce policies, attack rivals and amplify a stream of disinformation, retweeting suspect accounts and lending credibility to white nationalists, anti-Muslim bigots and otherwise obscure conspiracy theorists.

The Times investigation: Our reporters reviewed Mr. Trump’s 11,000-plus tweets as president, his retweets and his followers. They also interviewed nearly 50 current and former administration officials, lawmakers, and Twitter executives and employees.

By the numbers:

47 accounts, in total, that the president follows are mostly those of his family, celebrities, Fox News hosts and Republican politicians. Some of those accounts follow and channel conspiracy theories and anti-Islamic ideas or white nationalist ideas.

5,889 of the president’s tweets — more than half — have attacked someone or something.

1,710 of his tweets have promoted conspiracies.

Plucked from obscurity: Mr. Trump’s occasional retweets of low-profile supporters can stun them with new prominence.