‘Mean Tweets’ Longed For By MAGA Make Sunday Comeback, But Is Trump’s Return to Musk Platform Permanent?

Kipp JonesAug 25th, 2024, 5:16 pm
 

Trump gives judge stubborn face during deposition - image via screenshot

Donald Trump’s absence from X (formerly Twitter) throughout the last three-and-a-half years has left many of the former president’s most passionate supporters longing for a return to so-called “mean tweets” over the policies of the Biden-Harris administration.

But on Sunday, Trump unleashed a torrent of attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris on the platform and his re-emergence led to excitement on the right for the return of his biting attacks and – depending on who is asked – un-presidential commentary on everything from politics to inconsequential social events to feuds like his infamous Rosie O’Donnell insults.

Elon Musk reversed a permanent Twitter ban on Trump when he bought the platform and rebranded it in 2022 – paying $44 billion and bringing an actual kitchen sink to the company’s headquarters when he took over.

Trump has almost never used his old account, at least not the way he historically did. Since his reinstatement, he has mostly reached out to voters via Truth Social, a platform he founded and in which he has significant financial interests – for now.

That all changed Sunday afternoon when Trump fired off numerous posts in just a matter of hours and some within just minutes of one another. Most of them were aimed at Harris:

It is too soon to tell if Trump’s return to X is permanent or if he will retreat back to the confines of the echo chamber that is Truth Social. That is a place where his chances for large-scale engagement are slim.

In any event, some of his ardent supporters celebrated the return of “mean tweets” on Sunday afternoon as a sort of inflection point after Trump was sent into exile after the Jan. 6, 2021, riots and the storming by his supporters of the U.S. Capitol:

It was peculiar that some of Trump’s X posts were not shared on Truth Social while others were. Perhaps Trump sought to make a few waves and grab some attention by returning to his old stomping ground for a few hours – a place where he used to harness the ability to drive news cycles for days. Trump’s power to reach people directly and to control the narrative has been diminished if not completely overtaken in recent weeks by the Harris campaign, which has seized media attention. Harris also has the advantage of media coverage that is decidedly less adversarial than his.

Still, the man has just under 90 million followers on X, and before Sunday he had refused throughout his campaign for a second term in the White House to seriously engage with any of them.

Trump’s Sunday return to “mean” tweeting could also signal his campaign is struggling and he knows it. He is facing a different race than he was just five weeks ago – when President Joe Biden dropped out and Harris grabbed the attention of voters.

He faces the reality that the dynamics no longer favor him and he is now the old man making the case for a second chance to lead the country.

To end a week in which he finally wrestled some attention away from Harris by receiving the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump made his case on Twitter in a way that elicited nostalgia from many.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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