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If Donald Trump鈥檚 Twitter feed was a must-read for political junkies before the election, it is now a must-read for anybody trying to understand the next leader of the free world.

Since Thanksgiving Day, the world has learned the following about President-elect Trump via the popular social-networking tool:

• That he is serious about getting to stay in the United States.
• That he marked the passing of Fidel Castro听听and wants to renegotiate
• And most important, that the presidential vote recount in Wisconsin and possibly Michigan and Pennsylvania has gotten under Trump鈥檚 skin, big league. His epic tweet storm on Sunday 鈥� including a claim that 鈥渕illions of people who voted illegally鈥� cost him the popular vote 鈥� has ironically cast doubt on an Electoral College result that favors Trump. Fact-checking sites have 听

If anything, Thanksgiving weekend displayed a key element of Trump鈥檚 leadership style: He remains committed to using social media as a way to communicate directly with the world, bypassing the traditional media. (He hasn鈥檛 had a press conference since July.)

鈥淚t鈥檚 a great form of communication,鈥� Trump said on speaking of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and touting his millions of followers.听鈥淚 have a method of fighting back.鈥�

Trump also said he would continue to use social media as president, adding that he would be 鈥渧ery restrained," before going back to praising it: 鈥淚 find it tremendous. It鈥檚 a modern form of communication. There should be nothing you should be ashamed of.鈥�

Technology and the presidency have come a long way since 2009, when a newly inaugurated President Obama was cleared to use 听Twitter launched in 2006, but Mr. Obama didn鈥檛 join until May 2015. Even then, he has kept his engagement fairly limited. Tweets composed by Obama himself end with his initials, 鈥淏O.鈥�

As a rule, the president鈥檚 鈥渘o drama鈥� ethos has infused his social media presence. With Trump, it鈥檚 all about the drama. And to his supporters, that鈥檚 the point: This is Trump being Trump, unfiltered and unapologetic. This approach, both on social media and on the stump, helped get him elected.

And it may also be deepening the wedge between his voters and the mainstream media.

鈥淭hink about it: Every time Trump claims, without substantiation, that millions voted illegally, and every time the news media call him out for it, that only delegitimizes the media among Trump's supporters,鈥� write

Why focus is on 'sore winner', not sore loser

But to many observers, Trump鈥檚 unfiltered style has flown in the face of presidential restraint 鈥� a concept that mattered less when he was a candidate, but grows in importance as Inauguration Day approaches. Will Trump become more 鈥減residential,鈥� as he has long promised he would? Or are the rough edges essential to his persona?

Trump鈥檚 ability to communicate directly with the world takes on special importance on matters of foreign policy and national security. If today鈥檚 tweet storm is about illegal-voter conspiracy theories, which are likely only to agitate his supporters, will tomorrow鈥檚 be aimed at Russian President Vladimir Putin or the leadership of Iran 鈥� and centered on matters of global importance?

The recount move, a super-longshot effort led by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, has created a major distraction from Trump鈥檚 presidential transition 鈥� a distraction that he has encouraged by issuing a stream of tweets.

The recount gambit has also not covered Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in glory, exposing her to charges of hypocrisy as her campaign participates in the effort. She did, after all, concede the election soon after it was called.

But Mrs. Clinton鈥檚 image as a 鈥渟ore loser鈥� is overshadowed by Trump鈥檚 image as a 鈥渟ore winner鈥� 鈥� if only because he has much more at stake. He鈥檚 the next president, and is in the throes of setting up his administration.

And yet now part of the narrative coming out of the holiday weekend is that Trump is allowing himself to be sidetracked by a fringe candidate鈥檚 quixotic effort to reexamine the votes in three battleground states.

What really sets Trump apart

By the Monday after Thanksgiving, Trump was back at his headquarters in Manhattan, and back to the business of setting up his presidency. The other drama of the weekend centered on the debate over who will be his secretary of State 鈥� and the clear objections by top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, as conveyed 听

Governor Romney, the GOP鈥檚 2012 presidential nominee, had been a leading 鈥渘ever-Trumper鈥� during the 2016 campaign, but was still invited recently to meet with Trump for a chat. The debate over whether the job at State should go to Romney, or former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani 鈥� a Trump loyalist 鈥� or someone else has for more than a week.听

And it has led to predictions that a Trump White House will be 听

That seems overstated. After all, Election Day was less than three weeks ago, and Trump is ahead of many presidential predecessors in pulling his team together. When he named Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) of Alabama as his first Cabinet choice (attorney general) on Nov. 18, that of his immediate predecessors.

But what really sets Trump apart as a president-elect is his continued 鈥� and at times, inflammatory 鈥� use of social media. In tone and temperament, he is miles apart from Obama 鈥� who is really the only basis of comparison, given the newness of the genre.

Yet it has also come out that Trump continues to consult regularly on the phone with Obama. The two spoke on Saturday for 45 minutes about Cuba and other issues, on 鈥淢eet the Press.鈥澨�

So Trump is also revealing a pragmatic side. He鈥檚 just been elected to a job for which he is in a way unprepared, given his lack of experience in government, and he鈥檚 reaching out to the guy whose job he鈥檚 about to take over.

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Trump also got good news Monday afternoon on electoral matters: Michigan certified its result, handing its 16 electoral votes to Trump 鈥� though a recount still looms. But assuming none of the recounts overturn any results, Trump鈥檚 final victory in the Electoral College will stand at 306 to 232.

At the same time, Clinton鈥檚 lead in the national popular vote has risen to more than 2.1 million votes, as votes continue to be counted 鈥� a clear irritant to Trump, and the impetus for his claim that he if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.鈥� The popular vote doesn鈥檛 decide anything, but still matters, especially given the disparity with the Electoral College result.

Maybe Trump鈥檚 irritation will die down after the recount effort runs its course. Then maybe he鈥檒l find something else to blast away at on Twitter. Or maybe he will decide that that kind of behavior doesn鈥檛 fit his new role as president of the United States. With Trump calling the shots, only he knows for sure.