Article:

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump Donald TrumpCrowd goes wild as Trump brings mini-Trump on stage Trump: 'I may be limping across that finish line’ Trump: 'I love WikiLeaks’ MORE boasted about his social media prowess on Tuesday, saying his Twitter habits are an advantage for him. 
  
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 "It is a modern method of communication," he said during a CNN town hall. "And you know, when I have 16 or 17 million people, when you add it up, it gives me a big advantage." 
  
 He said he writes almost all of his own tweets, though during the day he'll dictate posts to his office staff. 
  
 "During the day, when I'm in the office, I'll just shout it out to one of the young ladies in the office," he said. 
  
 "But during the evenings, after 7 o'clock or so, I will always do it by myself," he added. ||||| During tonight’s CNN town hall, Donald Trump‘s family didn’t exactly have anything critical to say about the GOP frontrunner’s tweeting habits (which can get pretty nasty). 
  
 Anderson Cooper asked Trump’s four children, “Do you monitor your dad’s social media?” They all laughed, but Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. both talked up how great it is their dad is unfiltered and not tailoring his message like a professional politician. 
  
 Cooper told Trump, “You don’t have to retweet people.” Trump shrugged and Cooper got him to pull back the curtain a bit to give us an insight into his tweeting habits. 
  
 His wife Melania admitted she might try to discourage him from tweeting, but he doesn’t listen and in the end, “he’s an adult, he knows the consequences.” 
  
 Watch above, via CNN. 
  
 [image via screengrab] 
  
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 Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac 
  
 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| NEW YORK (AP) — Melania Trump controls what her 10-year-old son can do on social media — but her husband, Donald, is another matter. 
  
 The wife of the Republican presidential front-runner said Tuesday he is "an adult and he knows the consequences" of his prolific and sometimes inflammatory Twitter use. 
  
 She was asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper if she ever tried to get Trump to put his phone away and rein in his social media activity. 
  
 "Anderson, if he would only listen. I do say it many times," she replied, after revealing that she doesn't let their young son, Barron, on Twitter. 
  
 Trump, who has 7.5 million Twitter followers and nearly as many on Facebook, boasted about his social media prowess, saying it gives him a huge advantage over his rivals while marveling at its great reach. 
  
 "I really enjoy doing it but it's an asset," he said. "You see what's going on and there is some genius there. You just have to find the right genius." 
  
 Trump, who said he would sharply curtail but not eliminate his Twitter use if elected president, acknowledged that his retweets of supporters comments have gotten him in trouble. He has come under fire several times for his Twitter usage, most recently when he retweeted an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz, the wife of Republican rival Ted Cruz. 
  
 But Trump insisted that he composes his own tweets and doesn't run any posts past an adviser or focus group. 
  
 "During the day when I'm in the office, I just shout it out to one of the young ladies in the office," who then does the typing, Trump said. But "during the evenings, after 7 p.m. or so, I will always do it by myself." 
  
 The Twitter revelations came near the end of an hour-long town hall in which Trump was joined by his wife and his four grown children. Trump ceded center stage for much of the evening, as his children answered a dozen question from the New York City audience and attempted to cast a warm, humanizing light on their sometimes abrasive father. 
  
 Ivanka Trump, who gave birth two weeks ago, spoke eloquently about her father, who is aiming to decisively win the primary next week in his home state of New York, increasing the chances that he can clinch the GOP nomination before the party's convention this summer. 
  
 "We know what he's capable of," Ivanka Trump said. "And we know what he could bring to the country, so we're just happy to support him." 
  
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 Contact the author on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire ||||| New York (CNN) Donald Trump said Tuesday night that the political system is "stacked against me," and accused the Republican Party of conspiring to stop him from clinching the party's nomination. 
  
 At a special CNN town hall in New York City ahead of next Tuesday's crucial New York primary , Trump said: "I know the rules very well, but I know it's stacked against me by the establishment." 
  
 His comments elicited a tough response from Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who tweeted: "Nomination process known for a year + beyond. It's the responsibility of the campaigns to understand it. Complaints now? Give us all a break." 
  
 Nomination process known for a year + beyond. It's the responsibility of the campaigns to understand it. Complaints now? Give us all a break 
  
 The feud between Trump and rival Ted Cruz engulfed the RNC Tuesday night, after the GOP presidential front-runner at CNN's town hall blasted "unfair" results in Colorado . He was swept there in the delegate hunt by Cruz at a party convention this weekend. A similar outcome emerged from Louisiana, where he won the primary but Cruz is seeking to sway delegates. 
  
 "They changed the rules a number of months ago," Trump told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "You know why they changed the rules? Because they saw how I was doing and they didn't like it." 
  
 JUST WATCHED Donald Trump: Colorado, Louisiana primaries 'unfair' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Donald Trump: Colorado, Louisiana primaries 'unfair' 01:16 
  
 Trump, saying the Republican Party is "100%" controlled by the Republican National Committee, said he believes the RNC is rooting against him. 
  
 "No, I don't think so," Trump said, responding to a question from Cooper on whether he believes the RNC does not want him to get the GOP nomination. 
  
 'Give us a break' 
  
 Without mentioning Trump by name, Priebus' tweet Tuesday night sent a clear message about how he felt about the front-runner's complaints. 
  
 It also further escalates an ongoing feud between the GOP front-runner and Priebus. In an interview with The Hill earlier in the day, Trump called the GOP's nominating process a "scam." 
  
 "It's a disgrace for the party. And Reince Priebus should be ashamed of himself," Trump had said. "He should be ashamed of himself because he knows what's going on." 
  
 Softer side 
  
 In the rare family appearance, Trump's wife, Melania, and children -- Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr. and Tiffany -- shared the spotlight with the Republican presidential front-runner at Tuesday's town hall, answering questions from New York voters in the audience. 
  
 Ivanka Trump called politics "a vicious industry," and said she and her siblings are committed to supporting their father. 
  
 "We know what he could bring to the country so we're just happy to support him," she said. 
  
 Tiffany Trump , the daughter of Trump and his second wife Marla Maples, said: "Whenever my father puts his heart and soul into something, he goes full force." 
  
 As soon as Trump announced his campaign, she added, "All of us knew, you know, here we go." 
  
 She also said the quality she most admires in her father is his work ethic. 
  
 "His hard work ethic is truly inspiring. Whenever I'm at school studying these long hours ... It just makes me want to continue to work harder and improve myself and keep on pushing to my limit," she said. 
  
 Eric Trump said his father was perhaps his "best friend in the entire world." 
  
 "He's been the greatest father in the world. He's an amazing deal maker," he said. 
  
 Trump's treatment of women 
  
 Responding to criticism Trump has received on the way he has spoken about women , Ivanka said her father's respect for women was evident in how he raised her and her sister, Tiffany. 
  
 "It's a testament to the fact that he believes in inspiring women, in empowering women," she said. 
  
 She added that her father instilled in her the belief that she has "the potential to accomplish exactly what her brothers could." 
  
 "To me, his actions speak louder than words spoken by other politicians," Ivanka said. 
  
 Tiffany said her father has "just had faith in me." 
  
 "He wants us to do the best, and he has the utmost faith that we can accomplish whatever set our minds to just as well as men, if not better," she said. 
  
 Melania Trump added that her husband treats men and women equally. 
  
 "He treats everyone equally, so if you're a woman and they attack him, he will attack back no matter who they are," she said. "We are all human. He encourages everybody, you're a man or a woman." 
  
 "He treats everyone equally." Melania says Donald Trump has no gender bias https://t.co/oZz0jUmo8i #TrumpFamily https://t.co/ViT2tdRzVb — CNN (@CNN) April 13, 2016 
  
 Acting 'presidential' 
  
 Trump's family members said they have privately pleaded with Trump at times to tone down his rhetoric and sound more "presidential" in the public spotlight. 
  
 Asked by an audience member whether he speaks to his family in the same manner he speaks to his GOP rivals at the presidential debates, Trump joked: "I think I'm much nicer to them." 
  
 The businessman said his family is constantly asking him to be "nicer" at the debates -- a piece of advice that he said he has had trouble following. 
  
 Melania Trump says she wishes her husband would use nicer language — sometimes https://t.co/djdKZRFCMM #TrumpFamily https://t.co/TAcVDzyaIZ — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 13, 2016 
  
 "They're always saying be nicer on the debates," Trump said. "They're coming at me from all these different angles -- how can I be nice? I can't do that." 
  
 Ivanka Trump said watching her father run for president has taught her how difficult it is for politicians to avoid getting into battles. Though she has asked her father to hold back sometimes, she says she now also understands his instincts to hit hard. 
  
 "It's like a cage match. They're jumping on him, hitting him from the left, hitting him from the right," she said. "I don't think you can be particularly laid back and make it through this experience." 
  
 JUST WATCHED Ivanka: I've told dad to withhold his fire at times Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Ivanka: I've told dad to withhold his fire at times 01:43 
  
 Twitter 
  
 Trump and his family also discussed the candidate's prolific use of social media -- particularly Twitter. Trump has been criticized on multiple occasions during the 2016 campaign for tweeting or retweeting inflammatory things. 
  
 "It kind of makes him the person he is," Eric Trump said, calling his father "authentic." "I think that's actually what makes him the great candidate that he is." 
  
 Trump said he believes Twitter is a "powerful" forum, even as he acknowledged that some of his retweets have gotten him in trouble. 
  
 "There is some genius there," he said. "You have to find the right genius. It is a powerful thing." 
  
 As president, he added, he would use Twitter "very little." 
  
 His wife, Melania, said she's learned that it is futile to try to pull him back on social media. 
  
 "I say, OK, do whatever you want," she said. "He's an adult. He knows the consequences." 
  
 New York primary 
  
 The town hall comes ahead of New York's Republican primary next Tuesday. Trump, who was born in Queens and now resides in the famous Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan, is expected to easily win the state's contest next week, where 95 delegates are at stake. 
  
 JUST WATCHED Ivanka and Eric Trump, not registered to vote in Primary Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Ivanka and Eric Trump, not registered to vote in Primary 01:22 
  
 Tuesday's event with the Trump clan is the second of three consecutive family town halls CNN is hosting this week. 
  
 On Monday night, Kasich took the stage with his wife, Karen, and two daughters, Emma and Reese. The family discussed everything from how the daughters deal with political attacks on their father, to Kasich's quirky habits to how the governor believes a potential contested convention this summer would play out. 
  
 Wednesday's CNN town hall will feature Cruz and his wife, Heidi. |||||
What is a summary?
– Curious about the source of Donald Trump's generally much-talked-about tweets? Wonder no more. CNN is this week hosting town halls with the 2016 candidates and their families, and the Trumps were up Tuesday night. Donald, Melania, Eric, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Tiffany turned out for the occasion, and the talk turned to Twitter. Anderson Cooper asked if Trump composed all his own tweets (and there have been roughly 31,600 of them). "I would say yes," said Trump, other than occasions when "we release some information." Trump explained that during office hours, most tweets initially take the form of shouts. "During the day, [when] I'm in the office, I'll just shout it out to one of the young ladies. ... But during the evenings, after 7 o'clock or so, I will always do it by myself." So would there be shouting from the Oval Office? Less, per Trump, who says he would use Twitter "very little" as president. As for what his family thinks of his Twitter use, Mediaite notes the kids laughed when first asked if they "monitor your dad’s social media?" Son Eric says "it kind of makes him the person ... the great candidate that he is." Wife Melania has mostly washed her hands of it all. "I say, OK, do whatever you want. He's an adult. He knows the consequences." The AP notes Cooper asked if she ever attempted to get him to put down the phone. "Anderson, if he would only listen. I do say it many times," Melania explained, noting son Barron, 10, isn't allowed on Twitter.