THE RETURN OF COVFEFE: Donald Trump appears on Truth Social with hilarious dig at himself
Donald Trump made his debut on Truth Social, a Twitter rival, with a self-deprecating joke about one of his many infamous tweets. On Thursday evening, April 28, the former president wrote in his inauguration post: "I'M BACK! #COVFEFE."
Trump sent the message with a photo of himself on a gorgeous green polo grass outside his Mar-a-Lago country club in West Palm Beach, Florida, glancing at his phone. The hashtag #COVEFE is a joking reference to Trump's 2017 tweet criticizing the media's coverage of his administration. "Despite the constant negative press covfefe," the then-president had posted on Twitter on May 30, 2017, which he pledged not to rejoin, despite Elon Musk's $44 billion purchase. Before being deleted, each incident got over 100,000 likes and retweets, igniting an internet frenzy.
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BREAKING: Donald Trump just posted on Truth Social. pic.twitter.com/69JJGtncuB
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 28, 2022
Truth Social was launched by Trump Media and Technology group after the former president was banned from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram last year in the aftermath of the January 6 riots. With this, Trump's social media hiatus has now come to an end after more than a year. He has stated that he will not return to Twitter, despite the fact that it was purchased by Elon Musk, who has promised a considerably less censorious approach to content management, raising speculation that Trump may be permitted to return. Musk has, however, not mentioned whether the ban on Trump has been lifted or not.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said: "I'm not going on Twitter, I'm going to stay on Truth. I hope Elon buys Twitter because he'll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth." Truth Social representatives claim the platform is "better than Twitter" and will have a good impact on the social media industry, although they see it as a competitor to Twitter. They want to take the company public as part of a $3.5 billion special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), but many potential users say they've had trouble signing up.
"I think it is good. We want liberty and justice and fairness in our country, and the more we can have open, the better, but no, I don't view that as a competition for what I am doing," Trump told the portal. "This is a platform for my voice. TRUTH is a platform for my voice and for my supporters."
Prior to Musk's takeover, Trump chastised Twitter for banning Republicans and limiting political discourse. He said that there were "no interactions" and that it had become "boring" because "conservatives were thrown off or got off the platform when I left."
"It became boring because there was no interaction, the interaction on TRUTH has been amazing," he said, adding, "Truth Social will be a voice for me. And that’s something nobody else can get."
Meanwhile, Twitter's new owner Musk criticized Trump's Truth Social for its 'terrible name.' In a tweet, Musk stated, "Truth Social (terrible name) exists because Twitter censored free speech," adding, "Should be called Trumpet instead!" The Tesla co-founder, however, highlighted that in Apple's App Store's ranking of the most-downloaded free apps, he highlighted that the Truth Social app is presently beating Twitter and TikTok.