"Trump Social" redirects here. For the social network created by Donald Trump, see Truth Social.
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Donald Trump's use of social media attracted attention worldwide since he joined Twitter in May 2009. Over nearly twelve years, Trump tweeted around 57,000 times,[1] including about 8,000 times during the 2016 election campaign and over 25,000 times during his presidency.[2] The White House said the tweets should be considered official statements.[3] When Twitter banned Trump from the platform in January 2021 during the final days of his term,[4] his handle @realDonaldTrump had over 88.9 million followers.[5] On November 19, 2022, Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, reinstated his account, although Trump has stated he will not use it in favor of his own social media platform, Truth Social.[6] The first tweet since 2021 was made in August 2023 about his mugshot from Fulton County Jail,[7] but the account remained inactive until he tweeted again in August 2024.[8]
For most of Trump's presidency, his account on Twitter, where he often posted controversial and false statements,[9][10][11][12] remained unmoderated in the name of "public interest".[13][14] Congress performed its own form of moderation: on July 16, 2019, the House of Representatives voted mostly along party lines to censure him for "racist comments" he had tweeted two days previously.[15] In the face of this political censure, his tweets only accelerated. An investigation by The New York Times published November 2, 2019, found that, during his time in office to date, Trump had already retweeted at least 145 accounts that "have pushed conspiracy or fringe content, including more than two dozen that have since been suspended."[16]
As Trump continued to issue brief statements, his spokesperson Liz Harrington tweeted screenshots of them under the Save America logo from June 2021 to June 2022.[32] Since then, however, her Twitter handle @realLizUSA has been infrequently used. She said she would move to Truth Social,[33] a Trump-affiliated social media application that launched on February 21, 2022.[34]
On April 4, 2023, at his arraignment hearing, Trump was warned by Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan not to use social media to incite violence.[35]
^Madhani, Aamer; Colvin, Jill (January 9, 2021). "A farewell to @realDonaldTrump, gone after 57,000 tweets". Associated Press. Archived from the original on January 15, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021. @realDonaldTrump frequently spread misleading, false and malicious assertions...For the most part, @realDonaldTrump and its 280-character posts effectively allowed Trump to work around the Washington media establishment and amplify the message of allies.
^Maegan Vazquez; Christopher Hickey; Priya Krishnakumar; Janie Boschma (December 18, 2020). "Donald Trump's presidency by the numbers". CNN. Archived from the original on January 30, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021.