Politics - News Analysis

People Can’t Stop Laughing Because Trump’s New Site Appears to be an Exact Copy of Twitter

Donald Trump Jr., ever the brown-nosing eldest son shared in Twitter and Instagram posts that are thought to be a screenshot of dear old dad’s first post on his upcoming social media platform Truth Social (which hasn’t gone live just yet), which looks remarkably like Twitter’s very own interface.

I’m sure that’s just a coincidence, right? Sure, sure. Well, whatevs.

“BREAKING: This was Donald Trump’s first post on Truth Social. Time for some Truth!!” Junior wrote.

At least one other conservative is over the moon about the purportedly upcoming platform. Liz Willis, Vice President of Right Side Broadcasting Network, a company that’s notable for live streaming Trump rallies seemed ecstatic as she was all too eager to praise the beta launch of the site. It’s not available to the general public as yet.

“TRUTH Social (beta) has dropped and President Trump is active on his own account! The world is healing,” she tweeted and turned the ecstasy up a notch.

“Beta testing the new ‘Truth Social’ app and all I can say is, y’all are gonna LOVE it! I can’t wait for everyone to join me,” she wrote. “Thank you, President Trump.”

I kind of feel sorry for someone who’s this delusional. If the world is “healing” it’s because Trump is out of office — not because he’s writing his usual nonsense on this platform, which will likely fail just like all the other ones he’s tried to start.

And others have taken the opportunity to mock Truth Social for looking so much like Twitter. Created by the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the neophyte platform is receiving its share of derision for this and the fact that Trump’s first post had to be promoted on social media sites where he’s been banned. All because the site still isn’t ready to be rolled out just yet.

Jeremy Goldman, an author and podcast host criticized Trump for “completely stealing Twitter’s interface” with Truth Social. “Now *that* is what committing to your brand looks like,” he tweeted.

Writer Kelly Scaletta couldn’t resist responding either. “Donald Trump Jr. tells about Donald Trump Sr.’s first post on ‘Truth Social,’ as ‘Breaking News’ even though ‘Truth Social’ doesn’t exist yet, and it’s not truth. ON. BRAND.”

Author Grant Stern quipped: “Truth Social is so f**king successful the only place you can see it is on Twitter. LOL.”

Trump originally announced Truth Social last October after being banned from virtually every single social media site over fears he would use them to incite more violence in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 failed siege on the Capitol. The launch of the site was originally scheduled for February 21, to coincide with President’s Day.

But former Congressman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) who quit his job so he could join TMTG as chief executive officer in January said the launch has, however, been postponed until the end of March.

Some social media experts are questioning whether Truth Social will have what it takes to compete with mainstream media sites when it finally does launch. Trump supporters eagerly await the new site but even so that doesn’t mean it will be up to much.

“There’s a whole social network for beer enthusiasts where they can come together and post reviews of beers,” Kristina Lerman, a research professor of computer science at the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute told Time. “It’s great that such a community exists where like-minded people can meet each other. But that doesn’t mean that kind of niche community will be attractive to the mainstream.”

And while Trump can suck the energy out of a room with ease, some, like Joshua Tucker, co-director of NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics, say that even if Truth Social doesn’t turn out to be mainstream, it may still “suck the air” of other right-wing platforms like Parler, Gettr, and Gab, therefore reducing their popularity.

“If Trump’s able to do that, it probably means the rest of those platforms fade away and we’re in a new world where we have the mainstream platforms and one really big right-wing platform,” Tucker said.

While I think Trump will crash and burn with this just as he has with his other attempts at launching platforms, there may be one benefit if he’s successful: He and his supporters can spill their guts here, and maybe they’ll shut up elsewhere.

Okay, that’s probably unlikely but it’s a nice thought anyway.

Twitter had some thoughts:

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

Comments

Comments are currently closed.