Alongside massive balloon drops and the use of children as political surrogates, the political Tweetstorm has become one of the defining features of the 2016 election season.
A week after tech billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban unleashed a barrage of tweets mocking Donald Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Trump and his one-time rival Marco Rubio turned their own Twitter cannons on Hillary Clinton on the night of her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Marco Rubio had the faster trigger finger, calling the convention a “disaster,” mocking Clinton for promising to give people “free stuff,” and gouging her for the rich speaking fees she received from investment banks.
The boos & catcalls from Sanders supporters during Hillary speech at #DNCinPHL are distracting, even watching on tv. What a disaster.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 29, 2016
Here comes the part of the speech on free stuff @HillaryClinton is going to give away.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 29, 2016
Now that Wall Street & corporations no longer have to pay Hillary her speaking fees,should have plenty of $ to pay higher taxes she wants
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 29, 2016
Hillary and Kaine may have to be rescued from that stage they are about to drown in balloons
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 29, 2016
Donald Trump picked up the baton some 15 minutes after Rubio finished. The Republican presidential nominee concentrated his fire on Clinton’s terrorism and immigration policies, with a not-so-subtle nod to her Wall Street speeches.
Hillary's refusal to mention Radical Islam, as she pushes a 550% increase in refugees, is more proof that she is unfit to lead the country.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016
Hillary will never reform Wall Street. She is owned by Wall Street!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016
Hillary's vision is a borderless world where working people have no power, no jobs, no safety.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016
Hillary's wars in the Middle East have unleashed destruction, terrorism and ISIS across the world.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016
Trump’s campaign released a scathing statement shortly afterward. In the words of Stephen Miller, a senior policy advisor to the Republican nominee:
Hillary Clinton’s speech was an insulting collection of clichés and recycled rhetoric. She spent the evening talking down to the American people she’s looked down on her whole life.
Hillary Clinton talks about unity, about E Pluribus Unum, but her globalist agenda denies American citizens the protections to which they are all entitled—tearing us apart. Her radical amnesty plan will take jobs, resources and benefits from the most vulnerable citizens of the United States and give them to the citizens of other countries. Her refusal to even say the words ‘Radical Islam’, or to mention her disaster in Libya, or her corrupt email scheme, all show how little she cares about the safety of the American people.
Miller went on:
Hillary Clinton says America is stronger together. But in Hillary Clinton’s America, millions of people are left out in the cold. She only stands together with the donors and special interests who’ve bankrolled her entire life. Excluded from Hillary Clinton’s America are the suffering people living in our inner cities, or the victims of open borders and drug cartels, or the people who’ve lost their jobs because of the Clintons’ trade deals, or any hardworking person who doesn’t have enough money to get a seat at Hillary Clinton’s table.
Fortune has contacted the Trump campaign and will update this story with any reply.
