2023-08-25 04:28:02
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has returned to X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, posting his first message in more than 2 1/2 years shortly following he turned himself in to authorities in an Atlanta jail. on charges of conspiring to reverse his electoral defeat.
He published his criminal record photo and the message: “Electoral interference. Never give up!” Along with a link to her website, which directs the user to a fundraising page.
It was Trump’s first post since January 8, 2021, when Twitter indefinitely suspended his account, citing fears it might incite more violence following the assault on the federal Capitol. His account was reinstated last November, shortly following Elon Musk took over the company. But Trump had refrained from tweeting, insisting that he felt better on his own Truth Social platform, which he launched during the ban.
Trump, who is currently leading in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination, has said for months that he planned to return to the platform at the “right time,” according to a person familiar with his comments and who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak. broadcast private conversations. Trump’s post came as he was traveling on his private plane back to his New Jersey home from Atlanta late Thursday.
At the moment it is unknown if the publication was a one-time thing, or if he intends to continue posting frequently on X. Hours earlier he had posted the same message on Truth Social and continued promoting the platform on Thursday night.
“I love Truth Social. It’s my house,” she wrote.
Still, the message represented a homecoming for Trump to one of his most important platforms, one he used to dominate his rivals in the 2016 primary and to take the reins of the news cycle for years. Trump often bragged regarding how quickly messages from him poured from his account to news stations labeled “breaking news.”
A day earlier, Trump skipped the first Republican debate, choosing instead to record an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which was published on X as a counterweight to the debate.
His return to X with what was essentially a fundraising message is also a reflection of how much money the Trump campaign has been spending on lawyers while facing criminal charges in four jurisdictions. Trump’s political operation entered the second half of the year in financial straits as his bank account has been squeezed with tens of millions of dollars earmarked to defend the former president and his allies.
Trump has 86.6 million followers on X, vastly outpacing his rivals in the 2024 race.
But the platform has undergone major changes since Trump’s departure, including a name change.
Trump returned to Facebook in March posting “I’m back!” weeks following his personal account was reactivated.
But he has stuck with Truth Social, a Twitter-like platform he launched following he was suspended from Twitter and Facebook, to post daily broadcast missives and announcements, among other things. That includes using the platform to break news regarding his indictments and surrender plans as legal troubles mount once morest him.
As part of the deal with Digital World Acquisition Corp. to make Truth Social a public company, Trump had agreed — in order not to compete once morest his own company — that it would be the “first channel” for “any and all communications and social media messages from your personal profile,” according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
This included an exclusivity clause under which the president was “broadly required to use Truth Social for all his social media posts and not be able to post it on another social media platform for six hours” for a period of 18 months, to as of December 22, 2021. Said period ended in June.
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