ONGOING HEADACHE

Senate Republicans are facing new headaches from an old source: President Trump’s Twitter account.

The president this month has weighed in on the handling of protesters, called out several Republican senators by name and, most recently, amplified a conspiracy theory about a 75-year-old man injured by police in Buffalo, N.Y.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) distanced himself from the president’s latest tweets on Tuesday but acknowledged that GOP senators would also largely prefer to not have to talk about Trump’s social media habits.

“Most of us up here would rather not be political commentators on the president’s tweets because that’s a daily exercise,” Thune said.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who is retiring, said he would leave it up to others, including the “distinguished media,” to evaluate Trump’s tweets.

“The voters can evaluate that,” he added. “I’m not going to give a running commentary on the president’s tweets.”

Trump’s Twitter account has been a persistent headache for congressional Republicans, many of whom outsource their own message-disciplined social media accounts to their staff. But Trump’s tweets have been a key source for news, with the president using it to fire top staff, announce executive orders, opine on legislation and even vent against members of his own party.

The president tweets, sometimes hundreds of times a day. GOP lawmakers are then asked to weigh in, forcing them to decide whether to break with Trump, support him or, in many cases, say they haven’t seen the tweet in question — extending the news cycle.