Twitter may be a cesspool of inflammatory accusations, half-truths, and despicable child pornography. But there can be no doubt that it is a primary way to make one’s voice heard — the digital town square, to steal a phrase that has already been used to death. That is, of course, unless you have been shown the door of that town square and told never to return. Such was the case for President Donald Trump, who used Twitter throughout his campaign and during his term in office to great effect until the bird flipped him the bird. The Twitter ban in question was enacted after the Jan. 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol.
But of course, Elon Musk has lifted the ban on #45 and all systems have been “go” for Trump to return to the platform. However, he has not tweeted since November. Multiple sources cite a report in Rolling Stone that Trump may have to sit out of the Twittersphere until June, when his current exclusivity contract with his own media platform, Truth Social, expires. Rolling Stone is running the headline “Trump Looks to Ditch His Social Media Site” — a bit inflammatory, but what should anyone expect from the media?
Related: REPORT: Trump to Return to Twitter Soon
According to a piece in The New York Post, the exclusivity clause that was part of the filing with the SEC requires Trump to post any social media to Truth Social first and wait six hours before posting on another platform. Trump would merely allow the clause to expire in June and not renew it. That would free him up to post on Truth Social as well as doing so in real-time on Twitter and Facebook. The Post says that the things specifically related “to political messaging, political fundraising or get-out-the-vote efforts” are exempt from the clause, and Trump will need to give Truth Social notice to avoid an auto-renewal.
Publicly, Trump has not announced a return to the two social media giants, and on Friday, Devin Nunes, the CEO of Trump Media and Technology Group, told Newsmax that any reports to the contrary were “fake news.” Nunes was referring to a story by NBC that Trump wanted to “regain control” of his Twitter and Facebook accounts. Nunes said:
If President Trump was going to return to any such other social media platform, he would probably have posted on Truth Social first, and probably the last people that he would tell it to would be fake NBC News… I was just with President Trump yesterday. He likes Truth Social. He has no interest in going back to Twitter.
Nunes also accused NBC of conflating Trump with the Trump campaign, which would want access to Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. Which of course makes perfect sense, and if the media were smart, it would shut up and let Trump return to social media in all his former glory. Then they might get their viewer back, provided he or she hasn’t gotten off the treadmill at the gym and left the big screens behind to go hit the showers. Of course, the impetus behind the Rolling Stone and NBC pieces is to start ginning the potential for problems and spreading the idea that there is conflict within the campaign itself. Trump is making news with Twitter and he isn’t even back yet.
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