More than two months after its February launch, Donald Trump has finally posted on Truth Social, the platform that exists largely because he was permanently banned from Twitter.
On April 28, the former president uploaded his first "truth," which is Truth Social's equivalent of a tweet or status update. "I'M BACK! #COVFEFE," it reads, and it includes a photo of Trump on his phone in front of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump’s 2nd Truth Social post #COVFEFE pic.twitter.com/59OOJIAsL6
— JT Lewis (@thejtlewis) April 28, 2022
What triggered Trump's return to social media is unknown. Perhaps it's the potential of recovering access to his Twitter account after a report in The Wall Street Journal claimed that Elon Musk, who is poised to buy Twitter for $44 billion, was against his ban.
"I'm not going on Twitter, I'm going to remain on TRUTH," Trump said on Fox News, denying that this is the case. "I hope Elon buys Twitter because he'll improve it and he's a fantastic man," he continued, "but I'm going to stay on TRUTH."
Maybe it's because of the growing popularity of Truth Social. Although the platform isn't yet available on Android, it was the most popular free app on the App Store on April 29, owing in part to Trump's tweet. At the time of writing, the app has slipped to fourth place.
In any case, it appears that Trump is finally utilizing the social media site that was created specifically for him and from which he will never be banned. (Though this was not the case with Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.)