Strengths and weaknesses of 'Truth Social', Trump's network of lies

Donald Trump is going through his lowest hours in recent times.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
22 November 2022 Tuesday 00:30
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Strengths and weaknesses of 'Truth Social', Trump's network of lies

Donald Trump is going through his lowest hours in recent times. His key candidates in the mid-term legislative elections failed. And both moderate Republicans and conservative media blamed him, for this, for the general fiasco of his party in the call. Some of the traditional donors to his campaigns turned their backs on him immediately. And all this while the judicial investigations against him do not abate. But what about his alternative network on the Internet, Truth Social?

The platform on which the former US president and his troops spread their continuous lies about Joe Biden, the country's economy, climate change, the covid and above all the alleged fraud in the 2024 presidential elections, its future is at stake these days. And that future is as predictable as that of Trump himself, that is, nothing at all.

Both, the politician and his toy, have not stopped lurching since its inception until today. And the two have exhibited often surprising strengths and weaknesses. Here is a sample of what the network has shown throughout its short history, from its launch last February to this very moment. The most recent is also the most significant.

When Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential elections on the night of Tuesday, November 15, the shares of companies linked to the leader and New York magnate, especially those of the company that intends to take his social network public, Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), they hit a strong rush in the bags. But when Elon Musk reinstated the former president on Twitter last Saturday, expelled from there and from Facebook following his instigation of the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, DWAC values ​​plummeted.

From August to October, Truth Social went from a total of 1.5 million monthly views to just under 8 million. However, in the last weeks of that period and in the first two weeks of November, the outlet began to incorporate more and more influential politicians from the extreme right in the US.

Figures such as the famous radio presenter and television commentator Dan Bongino, such as the former adviser to the leader Steve Bannon or the extreme right-wing Republican representative in the Lower House Marjorie Taylor Greene were some of those who contributed the most, with their excesses and barbarities, to the rise platform temperature.

Compared to the big networks, Truth Social pales in the world. Compared to Facebook's 1,562 million unique monthly visitors or Twitter's 990 million, Trump's platform has 2.4 million, according to the network traffic monitoring company Smilarweb.

But, at the same time, the former president's "free expression" vehicle has become much stronger than the rest of the networks that, under that same proclamation of freedom, serve as a refuge for ultras in the United States and beyond. For example, Gab does not exceed 1.5 million unique monthly followers; Parler does not reach one million (915,000) and Gettr stands at 1.77 million, always according to Smilarweb.

The bait that Musk threw at Trump on Saturday by reopening his account, which he did after a survey in which 15 million users participated and ended with 51.8% of affirmative votes, can be very tempting. The new owner of the blue bird network boasted of this through a tweet that was provocative for some, offensive for others and not a few stupid and in poor taste.

The former president replied that he is not interested; that his network is much better and works "phenomenal well." And although the facts show that his word is not to be trusted, he bets her to stay where he is while Musk jeopardizes his very expensive company is not without meaning.

Truth Social "may be the place" where the various ultra-extreme factions come together, said a few days ago in The New York Times the specialist in the matter and professor of Journalism at the University of Texas, Josephine Lukito. And she cited “the more traditional Republicans who are supporters of Trump and the more far-right, extremists and conspirators.” That, between one and the other, there are not few in this country.

The complex corporate and financial operation organized to promote and sustain Truth Social is quite a soap opera that has given rise to two investigations by federal prosecutors. At stake is funding for the network with a $1.3 billion injection through a long-delayed merger with Digital World Acquisition. If that operation fails, Trump and his team are considering consolidating their ties with the Rumble company, which is already a partner of Trump Media.

Everything is up in the air, and under the magnifying glass of justice, like the fate of Trump.

Truth Social, inaccessible from Spain, continues meanwhile serving as an echo to what is perhaps the most dangerous president in the history of the United States. To him and to the fans who espouse all kinds of conspiracy theories, insult minorities, advocate white supremacy, and support the biggest blow to their country's democracy. Always in the name of freedom, and generally with impunity.