Trump calls protests 'unfair' in first controversial tweet as president-elect

CLOSE President-elect Donald Trump called for a "march on Washington" when President Obama was re-elected in 2012, but Trump appears to have mixed feelings about protests against him now. USA TODAY NETWORK

President-elect Donald Trump broke the relative calm that had fallen over his often controversial Twitter account Thursday night to blame the demonstrations against his election victory on "professional protesters" who he says have been "incited by the media."

"Just had a very open and successful presidential election," Trump tweeted. "Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!"

He posted the tweet amid the second day of anti-Trump protests in cities across the nation.

Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016

The tweet dismissing the protests as being professionally orchestrated and created by the media (it's not clear why the media would need to incite the protesters if they are professionals), seems to conflict with the conciliatory and unifying tone the president-elect had taken since his victory speech early Wednesday.

In fact, the tweet about the protesters came 9 minutes after another one describing his "great chemistry" with President Obama. "Melania liked Mrs. O a lot!" he tweeted.

A fantastic day in D.C. Met with President Obama for first time. Really good meeting, great chemistry. Melania liked Mrs. O a lot! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016

By Friday morning the president-elect was seeing the protests in a new light, however, tweeting that he loves that "small groups of protesters" have such "passion for our great country."

"We will all come together and be proud!" he wrote, returning to the unifying tone of recent days.

Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016

Trump didn't seem to think protests against the election winner were "unfair" when Obama was re-elected in 2012. He tried to incite protests in a tweet on that election night four years ago, tweeting, "We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!"

We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012

His tweet about "professional protesters" was quickly slammed by various voices on Twitter:

Not a good look for the POTUS-elect. Instead of reaching out, he reaches for his Twitter account. Again! Winners don't whine. They heal. https://t.co/RSi0ep7xsX — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 11, 2016

I mean this sincerely, with emotions in this country so raw, whomever is in charge of Donald Trump's twitter needs to stop him from tweeting — Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) November 11, 2016

.@realDonaldTrump We are Americans. We are allowed to protest. It's not "unfair", it's in the Constitution. — billy eichner (@billyeichner) November 11, 2016

They gave him back his Twitter. OMG. — Andy Cohen (@Andy) November 11, 2016

@realDonaldTrump that's democracy, dude. You're answerable to the people now. They're allowed to protest. — Dan Hatch (@Daniel_Hatch) November 11, 2016

@realDonaldTrump wait we can get paid to protest you? — Enrico (@The700Level) November 11, 2016

@realDonaldTrump Try listening to the protesters. You might learn a lot about the nation you are about to lead. — Dave Hogg 📎 (@Stareagle) November 11, 2016

@realDonaldTrump I was one of those protestors. Not a professional. Did it because I believed in it. Heard about it through friends. — Tom Coates (@tomcoates) November 11, 2016

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