Will Donald Trump be able to resist when he launches a fresh presidential campaign, given that he appears to have avoided returning to Twitter? After it was reactivated by the platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, on Sunday, all eyes were on his account for any action.
After his followers attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Twitter put a “permanent” ban on Trump in an effort to overturn his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
However, Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist,” published a poll on Twitter on Saturday in which the majority supported the reinstatement of the former president, and the platform’s new owner moved quickly to respond to it.
The resurrected account of the “45th President of the United States of America,” with its blue “confirmed” checkmark, has not yet posted any new messages as of 11:30 a.m. EST (1630 gmt) on Sunday. The most recent communication was sent on January 8, 2021, the day the billionaire said he would miss Biden’s inauguration.
The account, which had 88.8 million followers, was blocked by Twitter the same day due to the possibility of further inciting violence.
As of Sunday, Trump had 86.6 million followers; however, it was unknown how many of them were actual people and how many were bots. He was also being followed by 49 other accounts as of that day.
The account was also linked to a website where people could donate money to help Trump run for president in 2024.
It was unclear who connected the website to the account or what any changes in the number of followers meant because Twitter’s communications crew was completely eliminated by Musk’s latest round of mass layoffs.
Throughout his presidency, Trump took great pleasure in using Twitter to interact with his followers and announce policy decisions. With 237 million people using Twitter every day, Musk’s poll got more than 15 million votes, with 51.8% in favor of bringing back Trump’s controversial profile and 48.2% against.
Reinstate the former President Trump was a straightforward “yes” or “no” question posed by Musk.
Trump encouraged his 4.6 million followers on Truth Social, the Twitter alternative he started, to vote for him on Saturday while the poll was still open.
But he added this: “We aren’t leaving, so don’t be alarmed.” “The Truth Social is unique!” Elon Musk is jubilant as Twitter followers vote to restore Trump to office.
Additionally, speaking via video at an RJC event in Las Vegas, Trump said he approved of Musk and welcomed the poll, but he seemed to be against returning to the platform. He declared, “I don’t see it because I don’t see any justification for it.” “Better options”
In recent months, Trump has engaged more brazenly than ever with extremist content, including dozens of posts from proponents of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Trump posts frequently on Truth Social, sometimes dozens of times per day.
Despite the fact that he has a limited audience there, experts claim that the false information he disseminates spreads widely online.
His return to Twitter, a much bigger and more popular platform, comes as his announcement that he will run for president once more in 2024 is not being received with the same level of enthusiasm as his previous runs.
Just after the midterm elections, in which he had endorsed hundreds of candidates, he declared his candidacy.
Musk presents a new vision for hate content amid the Twitter chaos. But the unexpectedly strong performance by Democrats and the absence of the anticipated Republican “red wave” led to a backlash against Trump and an increase in Republican Party extremism.
There would be “better choices” than Trump, according to former Vice President Mike Pence, who himself may run for the Republican nomination in 2024, in an interview with CBS on Sunday.