UNITED STATES (WASHINGTON POST) - President Trump has a ready weapon in hand to return fire when he feels under attack.

"When somebody says something about me, I am able to go bing, bing, bing and I take care of it," the president said.

Trump, of course, was talking about Twitter, which has become a staple of his presidency.

In a revealing few minutes in a larger interview with Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business Network, Trump repeatedly said he might not have been elected without his use of social media and explained why he finds it such an appealing outlet.

"You have to keep people interested also," Trump said. "You know, you have to keep people interested."

Bartiromo asked Trump if some of his unscripted tweets get in the way of the larger message his administration is trying to sell.

Trump acknowledged that he has friends who tell him not to use social media. But, he said, it's a very useful tool to counter "fake news" and respond to critics.

"I can express my views when somebody expresses maybe a false view that they said I gave," Trump said.

He also marveled at how quickly some television networks put his tweets up on the screen for their viewers to see.

"Tweeting is like a typewriter," Trump told Bartiromo. "When I put it out, you put it immediately on your show. I mean the other day, I put something out, two seconds later I am watching your show."

Trump - whose tweets sometimes contain spelling errors and randomly capitalised words - also relayed that he thinks he is well-suited for the medium.

"You know they are well-crafted," he said of his tweets. "I was always good student. I am like a person that does well with that kind of thing. And I doubt I would be here if weren't for social media, to be honest with you. Because there is a fake media out there, I get treated very unfairly by the media."

Segments from the interview, recorded on Friday (Oct 20), are scheduled to start airing on Sunday morning.