Donald Trump's Return To X Feels Like A Parody Of Himself, And Elon Musk Seems To Be Applauding It
Trump's tweet shares a link to his official website, which feels even more of a parody of Trump's presidential rally than anything else.
Donald Trump is slowly becoming a parody of himself. If you think that's an unfounded statement, just check out his Fulton County Jail mugshot, taken after he was put under arrest for Georgia election racketeering and conspiracy charges. After reportedly spending about 20 minutes in jail and getting released on a $200,000 bond bail on Friday, the former US president (the only one to have a mugshot) took to X (formerly Twitter) with an incredulous promotion of his website, where he is asking for donations to support his presidential election campaign.
The doltish mugshot shows Trump with a stern (some might say determined) look on his face, appearing rather inconvenienced to appear in prison after announcing his plans to surrender earlier this week. However, what's even more asinine was to see how he used that mugshot as a glorified PR tool. Trump shared his mug shot accompanied by the text: "ELECTION INTERFERENCE! NEVER SURRENDER!"
https://t.co/MlIKklPSJT pic.twitter.com/Mcbf2xozsY
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2023
Trump's post garnered over 41 million views at the time of writing.
The tweet found support from several Trump fans. Even X owner Elon Musk shared the post, calling the move "next-level".
Next-level https://t.co/E81JKWTJPS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2023
Now, Trump's tweet shares a link to his official website, which feels even more of a parody of Trump's presidential rally than anything else. The website asks followers to donate to Trump's campaign, to help "evict Crooked Joe Biden from the White House and SAVE AMERICA during this dark chapter in our nation’s history."
If you try to close the website, a sudden popup with a 'Uncle Sam Wants You'-style photo of Trump, with this message:
No matter how many vicious lies and attacks they throw our way, President Trump will NEVER SURRENDER our great country to the Left’s tyranny! But the Democrats will spend billions and billions of dollars to try and stop our movement, and we’re counting on YOUR support to finish what we started.
Together, we will DISMANTLE the Deep State, WIN BACK the White House, and SAVE AMERICA in 2024! Please consider completing your contribution today.
Trump's move comes after a considerable hiatus following his suspension due to his supporters' assault on the US Congress on January 6, 2021. His last tweet was posted on January 8 of that year.
Later on, after Musk took over Twitter in a hostile $44-billion bid, the billionaire entrepreneur reversed the platform's stance on Trump's ban in November 2022, to support "free speech".
It's worth recalling that Twitter's permanent suspension of Trump's account in January 2021 was attributed to the concern of further incitement of violence, post the Capitol siege. The former President had extensively exploited Twitter and other social media avenues to propagate theories of voter fraud, specifically in relation to his defeat in the 2020 election.
In recent weeks, Trump has exhibited a clear interest in reclaiming the presidency, as indicated by his bid to contest the White House in 2024, launched on November 15. Notably, Trump opted out of a Fox News Republican primary debate, instead engaging in a conversation with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. This interview drew nearly 250 million views by Thursday night.
While Trump had initially aligned himself solely with his new platform Truth Social, developed by his Trump Media & Technology Group startup, he made an intriguing departure from this commitment on Thursday evening. Trump's Truth Social, boasting 6.4 million followers as of Thursday, has become his primary channel for direct communication with his audience since his regular engagement from May onwards. Here, he has promoted allies, critiqued opponents, and shielded his reputation amid ongoing legal scrutiny from multiple investigative bodies.
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