Donald Trump finally struck a more presidential tone on Twitter Sunday, admitting that protests are a “hallmark of our democracy” after more than 2.5 million Americans took to the streets the day before.
“Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don’t always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views,” he wrote just before 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
The message came just two hours after he launched into his typical Sunday morning tweetstorm, where he bashed protesters for failing to show their disdain for his administration at the voting booth.
“Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election!” he wrote on his personal Twitter account. “Why didn’t these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly.”
He also boasted about his television ratings released by Nielsen, which revealed that 31 million people watched the inauguration.
“11 million more than the very good ratings from 4 years ago!” he wrote.
While Trump’s 30.6 million viewers did trounce former President Obama’s second inauguration, it was still far from his first swearing-in ceremony when 37.8 million people tuned in.
But Ronald Reagan still holds the record for largest TV audience during an inauguration — with 41.8 million viewers watching when he took the oath of office in 1981.