'If somebody can't handle a Twitter account, they can't handle the nuclear codes': Obama taunts Trump after aides 'take away tweeting privileges because he has no self-control'

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Barack Obama has taunted Donald Trump after reports that Republican staff have forced him off Twitter because he keeps scuppering his own campaign.

Speaking at a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton in Kissimmee, Florida, Sunday, Obama told the crowd about the alleged time-out enforced by campaign aides.

'In the last two days, they had so little confidence in his self-control, they said: "We’re just going to take away his Twitter,"' he joked. 

'Now, if somebody can’t handle a Twitter account, they can’t handle the nuclear codes. If somebody starts tweeting at three in the morning because "SNL" made fun of you, then you can’t handle the nuclear codes.'

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Joker: In a Florida push for Hillary Clinton, President Obama joked about Trump having had his Twitter privileges taken away by staff, who are scared he will damage his campaign

Under control: Trump's firey rhetoric on Twitter made him appeal to voters tired of slick Washington patter. But since October 20, his tweets appear to have been edited and filtered

The 'SNL' remark referenced Trump's early-morning Tweet in mid-October, in which he complained about Alec Baldwin's depiction of him and complained that the show was part of a negative, media-wide campaign to discredit him.

'Watched "Saturday Night Live" hit job on me,' he wrote at the time. 'Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!'

Obama was referring in his speech to a report published in The New York Times  Sunday, in which it was claimed that Trump's campaign staff had forced him to tweet through an editor.

The President also said that Trump had been relieved of his Twitter privileges two days ago, but it is believed that he actually made his last independent tweet on October 20. 

That's when he posted: 'Why didn't Hillary Clinton announce that she was inappropriately given the debate questions - she secretly used them! Crooked Hillary.'

Since then the Republican candidate - who has a history of going off-message and undercutting his own allies - has tweeted through a human filter.

Star: Obama was speaking shortly after Stevie Wonder performed at the rally in Florida

Making the cut: Spokeswoman Hope Hicks (pictured) is one of those who now takes Trump's tweets in dictation, then edits them before posting them to his official account

A final word: This appears to be the last unedited tweet sent by Trump, according to a Gawker robot that filters out posts not made from Trump's preferred phone, his Samsung Galaxy

Trump's outlandish, unfiltered stream-of-consciousness tweets were a reliable reminder to his supporters that the firebrand was not part of a slick political machine like arch-rival Hillary Clinton.

But leaving him to his own devices - literally - has backfired for the campaign, as the candidate has ended up running interference for his own party.

On the morning of October 16, Mike Pence said on multiple TV channels that Trump's claims about the election being 'rigged' were only in reference to a supposed anti-Trump bias in the media, not actual vote-rigging.

Hours later, Trump tweeted: 'The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary - but also at many polling places - SAD.'

Four days after that, it would appear, Donald Trump made his last solo tweet.

According to Gawker's Real Real Donald Trump bot, which filters out only those tweets that have come from Trump's Samsung Galaxy phone, October 20 was the end of Trump-only tweets.

Contradictions: When Trump was free to make his own comments, he undercut his own race, including contradicting running mate Mike Pence

War of words: This Oct 16 post, in which Trump said the election was 'being rigged... at many polling places,' was made hours after Pence said Trump didn't believe in vote rigging

Since then, all tweets appear to have come from other phones - and according to The New York Times, have been either written by others or filtered by staff.

One tweet, made on November 3 was edited by Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks from Miami airport.

While on board his private campaign jet the disgruntled candidate saw Air Force One across the tarmac and dictated a tweet to her: 'Why is he campaigning instead of creating jobs and fixing Obamacare? Get back to work.'

Hicks added '...for the American people' to the end.

Throttling Trump's famously aggressive tweets and tying him down to the teleprompter have been major tactics in the last two weeks to stop the motormouthed candidate from scuppering his own race, the Times reported.

It certainly seems to have worked - giving the Clinton campaign's email woes air to breathe has resulted in Trump clawing his way back up the polls.

Whether it will be enough for him to finally crack the nut and take America - and whether he'll be allowed his Twitter account back if he does - remains to be seen.

Edits: Some of the edits are minor - such as this one in which Hicks added 'for the American people!' to the tweet that Trump dictated to her