"From the office of Donald J. Trump", the former president's alternative "social network"
The political career of former president Donald Trump has been marked by his presence and intensity on social networks. After the riots on Capitol Hill last January, the former president was banned from the main networks. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were the first to close the accounts of the then president of the United States and these measures were repeated even on younger networks such as TikTok. In this new and unusual situation for Trump, press releases have so far been the way to disseminate his public statements. His earlier announcement that he would introduce a network of his own has led him to launch "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump", a "social network" without interaction or participation that resembles a personal blog. He also calls the site a place to speak freely and safely, which his advisers describe as the beginning of his return to the internet.
The modest and simple website clashes with the image full of ambition and grandeur that Trump is trying to project. Users of this new web platform will be able to "like" posts as well as share them directly on their personal Twitter or Facebook accounts. One of the most recurring themes in these short messages with an average of 80 characters and which closely resemble the format of tweets on the Twitter social network is the past 2020 elections. Trump continues to insist on the fraudulent nature of the vote count and that the remote voting was totally rigged, which he sees as the cause of his defeat in the elections.
The announcement of this website comes just the day before Facebook's supervisory board announces its decision on whether or not the former president's ban will be permanent. However, the unveiling of his own web platform does not come out of the blue. As the BBC reports, Trump's top adviser Jason Miller had previously stated that a new medium would be launched. "This new platform is going to be big," he added last March.
If Facebook allows him to post again on its platform, he will be given seven days to have his account reactivated. The same social network removed a post by Trump's daughter-in-law in March that featured a video with Trump's voice. YouTube has already commented on the reactivation of Donald Trump's account and insisted that his return will take place when the threat that the former president's publications could be translated into violence in the real world is removed.
Campaign Nucleus has been in charge of creating the page. The digital service company is owned by Brad Parscale, Trump's former campaign manager. The page is headed by a promotional video showing a night-time shot of the planet on which we read that we are "in a time of silence and lies". It then focuses on the former president's current luxurious Florida residence, which is defined in the video as the place from which "a beacon of freedom arises".
"Unusual" is a personal trademark of the Republican. Even before he reached the White House, his well-known and eccentric appearances on the public stage were a premonition of what his government would be like. Now out of the Oval Office the eccentricity continues, the former president has made it clear that his priorities are focused on leading the party while he continues appearing on television, above all on his most like-minded channel, Fox News.
Far from conforming to the usual mould of former presidents, who notoriously take family holidays or gather and write their memoirs as ex-presidents, Trump continues his attack on Joe Biden's policies. Claiming that the current administration is bent on "destroying the country" and appropriating the merits of the COVID-19 vaccine. In his first 100 days out of office Trump has called himself the "father of the vaccine" and responsible for the debatable widespread availability of the shots in the country.
