Social media aids, hurts candidates in 2016 campaign

GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump tweets on a daily basis, so much so his son, Eric was asked if the family monitors Trump’s Twitter account.

“He writes the tweets himself. He doesn’t have a team of hundreds and hundreds of people behind him and I think that’s what makes him the great candidate that he is,” Eric Trump said.

Two recent tweets from the billionaire businessman hammered the Colorado GOP convention process.

The Republican Party state Chairman Steve House received death threats from Trump supporters who believe the caucus process stripped Coloradans of their voice.

In an interview with political reporter Eric Fink, House recounted one phone call he got from a man in Plano, Texas.

“He said I need you to do me a favor. I said that depends on what it is and he said I need you to get your gun, put in your mouth and pull the trigger.”

Public relations specialist Bob Stovall argues social media removes the vetting process.

“There’s an obligation to be careful on the part of candidates and on the part of elected officials, to be thoughtful about how you do this,” Stovall said. “There are tremendous benefits in the ability to communicate instantly, but it also allows people to do things anonymously and without accountability.”

U.S. Senate candidate Darryl Glenn of Colorado Springs who won a spot on the June primary ballot this weekend, declined an interview Wednesday because he said he didn’t want to open up his social media playbook to his opponents.