Maggie Haberman, a CNN commentator and veteran New York Times reporter has been covering Donald Trump for decades. She knows him so well that she probably knows what he’s going to do before he does it. This time around, she’s saying Donald Trump is absolutely determined to make his Truth Social platform appear to be a successful social media company. And to hell with “external reality.”
As most of us know, last week was a real roller coaster for Truth Social, with the platform publicly trading under the DJT (Donald John Trump) and when that happened, the company’s shares plummeted, virtually wiping out billions in paper assets that belonged to Trump, according to Mediaite.
Truth Social was born in February 2022, 13 months after Trump was banned from Twitter for encouraging the failed January 6 2021 siege of the Capitol. The platform grew in popularity among some conservatives but the site is still relatively small. Last year, it earned an embarrassing $4.1 million in revenue while hemorrhaging $58 million.
But Trump keeps hanging on to the platform and his desperation is showing and when Haberman joined Thursday’s edition of CNN’s The Source that’s exactly what the topic of conversation was.
Guest host Brianna Keilar observed that Trump is trying to make the best of it, refuting unfavorable press about the platform by boasting about his ratings when he’s on television.
“how hard is this for him to accept that truth social isn’t the twitter killer or just a success of a sort in its own right that he’d hoped it would be,” Keilar asked.
Haberman noted that Trump does not like hard realities. We saw how he was on January 6, 2021 when he clearly failed to acknowledge his loss and encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell.”
“i think we have seen him over and over to refuse to accept external reality and to continue to try to paint things as he wants them to be seen,” Haberman explained. “And this is one of those times. However, the objective reality is the fact that the stock tumbled earlier this week. you know, what was initially adding to his net worth — at least on paper by several billions — is no longer that he is getting a lot of headlines around this and he is just trying to will it into some kind of a different reality.”
But despite painting a positive aspect to this, Haberman said Trump is nevertheless “keenly aware” of the negative press surrounding the platform. And for anyone who hoped Trump would return to X now that Elon Musk has reinstated him, well, that’s a nope.
“i still think that this is going to be where you see him focus his energy — is truth social,” haberman added. “i think he is not likely to return to twitter anytime before the election, but this is not — this is not the week they were hoping to have, certainly, with truth social.”
Haberman has a point. Trump can’t stand losing (as we all found out) and I think he’s almost certainly angry that he was booted off Twitter/X to begin with. He was using Twitter to encourage his supporters to keep fighting on January 6, 2021 and deserved to be kicked off.
But Trump never accepts the word “no.” And he never will.
I’m thoroughly hoping Truth Social continues to tank, especially since it’s a sewer of right-wing conspiracy theories and other ridiculous bunk. I’m also hoping there won’t be a second Trump presidency because if that happens America won’t be America anymore.
America has never been great but it will be one hell of a lot worse under a Trump presidency.
You can watch the video here.
I think it’s a lot simpler than that. Truth Social is not a real business and has no prospects of ever being one. Rather, they are promoting it in plain sight to the dictators and oligarchs of the world as a money laundromat and deposit box for bribing Trump, in case he happens to be the next president of the Untied States (no, that was not a typo), or even for the next attempted coup in case he isn’t, because as far as he’s concerned, the actual vote is irrelevant.
I have to disagree with you saying America never was great. When Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo, the infamous Axis, attacked the world and murdered millions, FDR rallied Americans and American industrial might to build the arsenal of freedom which our brave and mighty military forces then used to eventually squash these monsters and free the world. America was definitely the greatest nation in the world and so remained for many years.
That being said, it took Japan bombing Pearl Harbor before we took action. We were willing to let Europe go to hell in a hand basket because it was across the ocean. The majority house of repugs is doing the same thing with Ukraine. I’d much rather give Ukraine our aging military weapons and pay US citizens good wages to make upgraded replacements. The fighting would stay on Ukraine soil. If we allow Ukraine to fail because we failed to support them, Europe will be attacked by Putin eventually & they are our NATO Allie’s. We will have boots on the ground then.
and create jobs in the USA!
Ira. Having had five uncles scattered across the globe in that war…you are right…we stopped Hitler, Mussollini and the Emperor of Japan. That being said, we detained Japanese Americans in concentration camps, denying their rights for three years while others helped us decode the Japanese messages to win the pacific. African Americans that had to drink out of colored only fountains, go around back at stores and restaurants, and ride on the back of the bus, sent boys to fight and die in that war. When they came home as heros, they remained niggers in our culture. They remain second class citizens to this very day. Yes we did save the world, but our track record is not greatness. Tell that to Dr King’s family or Medgar Evers’ family, or any number of victims of racism since. Greatness is not a word we have lived up to. Trump being an EX PRESIDENT is proof there is a rotten element of our culture. Nothing can erase the stench or the blood we have spilt here and abroad in the name of America. We are reaping what we have sown…just like the Book says.