The only way to get real freedom of speech in this country is to pay for it. That’s the promise that disgraced, twice-impeached president Donald Trump’s Truth Social application declares. Amongst other things, the social media network promised to create an ultra right-wing digital presence that could be used as a propaganda hub for people like Trump. This was for people who felt Twitter was controlled by “liberals” who were censoring the “truth” about things like ivermectin being a secret treatment for COVID-19 and that the 2020 elections were stolen from Trump by the ghost of Hugo Chavez.
Former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes left his lapdog position in the GOP to become the head of the news venture, a perfectly hypocritical move for a perfectly hypocritical man—who is still suing a satirical fake cow (you read that right) Twitter account that was making fun of him. The Truth Social app, evaluated at $3.5 billion, launched in February and presented the world with a less polished Xerox copy of Twitter (albeit with more characters allowed per post), and boy has it been the kind of bumpy ride usually reserved for either incompetent business disasters or complete scams. First there was the fact that the business logo was likely to face a copyright infringement lawsuit, and then people signing up for Truth Social accounts ran into the problem that they could not get an account.
It’s been a few weeks since launch day. How are things going now? Thoughts and prayers, y’all.
RELATED STORY: Trump and Nunes launch Truth Social, probably face copyright infringement lawsuit
There have been all kinds of reports about Truth Social over the last couple of weeks, and not a single one of them can be thrown onto the positive news pile. First there were the delays in signups, with some people unable to get their account activated for a couple of weeks. Then there are the stories that Donald Trump is barking into phones, whining about how his crap idea seems to be crapping out. According to the Daily Beast, Trump has been heard articulating his thoughts in phrases like “What the fuck is going on” and experiencing considerably lower traffic than hoped for.
SimilarWeb’s estimates show a sharp spike of around 2 million daily visits to the site when it first debuted, before traffic dipped to an average of approximately 300,000 visits each day, putting the site on par with Gettr. Meanwhile, the far-right Gab has averaged around 650,000 daily average visits in the same time period.
Considering how low-energy of mind Trump is, the only real number that he is likely looking at is the 140,000 followers Trump had a few weeks after launch—about 89,860,000 less than what his Twitter numbers were at their most pumped up. This might be why The Donald hasn’t used his stumpy thumbs to write more than, “Get Ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!”
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He isn’t alone, according to The Guardian—there are “missing major players” from the con-man-o-sphere that “include the rightwing media figures Steve Bannon, Glenn Beck and Tucker Carlson, as well as Trump’s sometime lawyer Rudy Giuliani.” Maybe Nunes and Trump haven’t cut them a truth-y enough financial deal? But no worries, two of the top tech executives at Truth Social, Josh Adams and Billy Boozer—the company’s chiefs of technology and product development—joined last year and have the institutional no-how to right this sinking ship!
RELATED STORY: So much for free speech: Trump’s ‘Truth Social’ Twitter rip-off already banning and censoring users
On Monday, Reuters reported that Adams and Boozer have resigned (sad trombone sound). I’m sure they can explain their departures with a positive spin that will continue to instill confidence in this confidence game application. “Boozer declined to comment and Adams did not respond to a request. Representatives for TMTG and Trump did not respond to requests for comment.” (Double sad trombone.) No worries, this isn’t a big deal, executives bop around all the time—they’re interchangeable, like con men!
“If Josh has left … all bets are off,” one of those sources said of tech chief Adams, calling him the “brains” behind Truth Social’s technology.
(Triple sad trombone.)
RELATED STORY: Devin Nunes is still suing an imaginary cow, and still subpoenaing people who might know the cow
At the same time, the Daily Beast reports that famed Trump-pardon receiver Roger Stone, who is actually on Truth Social, found himself censored by the First Amendment freedom of speech-i-fiers. After vomiting out some post about how “Trump also warns again a growing threat of terrorism by radical Islam mix in the predicted the 9/11 attack,” and getting tagged with a “sensitive content” marker, Stone created a new post complaining: “Why would this be censored content on TruthSocial?” No worries—Stone regained his senses and told the Daily Beast that this was simply a “glitch.”
Maybe it’s a “glitch,” or maybe since there are quite a few examples of other accounts having been censored by Truth Social, Trump and Nunes’ concept of “free speech” is just their personal freedom to say whatever they like with no dissenting opinions allowed.
Also possibly not a glitch is whether or not Donald Trump actually gives a rat’s ass about Truth Social beyond the cash influx he is now connected to through the “special acquisition company (SPAC) Digital World Acquisition Group” that seems to be where all of the big cash investments in Truth Social have been hidden.
Digital World Acquisition, which was incorporated in Miami in December 2020 shortly after Trump lost the 2020 election, also has ties to Brazil, as its chief financial officer, Luis Orleans-Braganza, is a current member of Brazil's National Congress and supporter of the country's far right president, Jair Bolsonaro.
So even while it flops, the fact of the matter is the people on the top of this pyramid of crap, like Trump and Nunes, will likely sulk away with lots of cash.
