This is what a tipping point looks like. Following allegations of comedian-turned US senator Al Franken groping women, a cadre of his colleagues in the senate are now calling for him to step down. What appears to start as a coordinated effort amongst some of the Democratic women of the Senate, has rapidly turned into broader calls for his resignation.
Here’s how it all went down:
1) 11:28am ET T-0
2) 11:30am T+2min
3) 11:34am T+6min
4) 11:35am T+7min
5) 11:44am T+16min
6) 11:46am T+18min
7) 12:03pm T+35min
8) 12:05pm T+37min
9) 12:16pm T+48min
10) 12:25pm T+57min
11) 12:32pm T+64min
12) 12:33pm T+65min
★ 12:39pm T+71min
Over an hour after the first tweet, the senator’s staff announced Franken would be making an announcement tomorrow.
…but the calls to resign continued.
13) 12:39pm T+71min
14) 12:58pm T+90min
15) 12:59pm T+91min
16) 1:15pm T+107min
“Senator Franken’s situation has become untenable,” the satement linked here says, “He has to step aside.”
17) 1:21pm T+113min
18) 1:22pm T+114min
19) 1:26pm T+118min
20) 1:40pm T+132min
21) 1:41pm T+133min
22) 2:07pm T+159min
★ 2:20pm T+172min
Franken’s Minnesota colleague, senator Amy Klobuchar, referred to his announcement and did not explicitly call for him to step down.
https://twitter.com/amyklobuchar/status/938488422490132481
23) 2:29pm T+181min
★ 2:44pm T+196min
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto also did not explicitly call for Franken to step down.
https://twitter.com/SenCortezMasto/status/938494493371916289
24) 2:48pm T+200min
“I think it’s time for my friend to resign” senator King wrote.
25) 2:51pm T+203min
26) 3:15pm T+227min
27) 3:30pm T+242min
28) 3:44pm T+256min
29) 7:37pm T+489min
Correction: An earlier version of this story miscalculated the elapsed time for some tweets.