Jim Geraghty is the senior political correspondent of National Review.
Within weeks of taking over Twitter, Elon Musk chose to let the platform’s users decide whether former president Donald Trump, banned by the previous owners, should have his account restored. About 15 million Twitter users participated in the poll, and 51.8 percent voted to bring Trump back. “The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Musk announced on Nov. 19.
But then, strangely enough, Trump did not jump back onto Musk’s social media platform. Clearly, Musk supported his return; the Twitter CEO even posted a tasteless image portraying Twitter trying to seduce him. And yet, Trump still stayed away. As of this writing, Trump’s most recent tweet was posted Jan. 8, 2021.
It’s not like Trump lost his appetite for unhinged rants on social media; elsewhere, he recently called for the “termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution” and his reinstallation as president. (Just who does Trump think has the authority to do this?) And yet, Trump’s tantrums have remained on his own social media platform, Truth Social, where he has 4.7 million followers. He hasn’t even bothered to re-post them onto his Twitter account — which has about 88 million followers.
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Donald Trump is not a man brimming with self-control, discipline or the ability to restrain his impulses. What has made him so oddly loyal to Truth Social? Here are five reasons why he’s unlikely to return to Twitter.
Follow this authorJim Geraghty's opinionsOne source of Trump’s reluctance is undoubtedly his deal with Truth Social. The former president agreed to make his posts exclusively available on Truth Social for eight hours before he could share them elsewhere. Trump probably still has enough wherewithal to recognize that if he posts his thoughts on Twitter eight hours after they appear on Truth Social … few Twitter users will ever feel any need to set up accounts on Truth Social. Plenty of people already cut-and-paste screenshots of Trump’s Truth Social outbursts and post them on Twitter.
But Trump’s willingness to break contracts and obligations is legendary, so it can’t be just his contract. A second and more important cause of Trump’s disinclination to return to Twitter might simply be his sense of ownership of Truth Social. When the possessive Trump feels that something is “his,” he can’t let go. He could no more easily sever his ties to Truth Social than he could give up boxes of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
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A third likely factor keeping Trump off Twitter: rivalrous feelings toward Musk. The Twitter CEO is an erratic billionaire who often seems to blurt the first thing that pops into his head, savors controversy, doesn’t care about whom he offends and trolls his critics by posting unflattering online memes. Trump might well look at Musk and think, Wait, he’s stealing my act!
The fourth reason Trump might stay off Twitter: He might actually prefer Truth Social. On Oct. 28, with Musk’s Twitter purchase in the news, Trump told Fox News Digital, “I am staying on Truth. I like it better, I like the way it works; I like Elon, but I’m staying on Truth.”
Yes, Trump could reach a much bigger audience on Twitter, but maybe he doesn’t need that — or he prefers to believe that someday Truth Social will be bigger than Twitter. Maybe Trump just wants an outlet to vent his spleen, read adoring messages from fans and see fewer responses from critics.
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There is one last factor worth considering. Musician and fashion mogul Kanye West, now legally known as Ye, who quit posting on Twitter after his account was restricted in October because of his antisemitic commentary, recently returned to the platform — and was suspended within days, for the same offense. When Musk was asked whether a West tweet accompanied by an image of a swastika inside a Star of David really qualified as what Musk had termed an “incitement of violence,” the Twitter CEO replied, “I personally wanted to punch Kanye, so that was definitely inciting me to violence. That’s not cool.”
A big part of Trump’s mind-set is that the world treats him unfairly. If Trump returned to Twitter and once again ran afoul of standards, prompting a second suspension of his account — this time even under Musk’s more lenient management — Trump might have a difficult time convincing people he had done nothing wrong and was once again being persecuted unjustly.
Trump does not exactly brim with self-awareness, but maybe even he recognizes that his return to Twitter would likely be just a precursor to another suspension after he inevitably crosses the invisible line of what is permissible.
Then again, maybe Trump just forgot his password and can’t be bothered to look it up.
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