When rock stars perform in small clubs with mini amp systems instead of huge arenas with a huge amount of material, it’s called “unplugged”. Donald Trump is currently trying his hand at the political version of this event. Instead of making tens of thousands of his fans happy at a rally, he performed in an intimate setting in front of a few hundred spectators last weekend.
Trump announced his candidacy for president months ago. However, after the Grand Old Party’s (GOP) miserable showing in the midterm elections, the announcement was met with muted cheers. Then, to everyone’s surprise, the ex-president disappeared for weeks, or rather, on the golf course. Trump only updated his fans with messages sent at irregular intervals on his Twitter contest Truth Social.
The two appearances over the weekend can therefore be seen as something like the start of Trump’s marathon back to the White House. They took place in the states of New Hampshire and South Carolina. In terms of content, there is nothing new to report from the Trump front. The ex-president rattled off his well-known hits, complained about fake news and windmills and once again complained that victory had been stolen from him in 2020.
The volume may be muted in the club atmosphere, but the content of the speech well known. Trump’s attitude, on the other hand, was new. He seems to have overcome his mini-depression and is fighting like May. “I’m angrier and more determined than ever,” he said.
Like his fans, Trump has continued to radicalize. He now no longer has any reservations about QAnon and even allows the unofficial anthem of the conspiracy movement to appear in his speeches. “It’s gotten even more extreme,” Jared Holt of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue told the New York Times. “No one can imagine that this will change once they can be active again on Facebook and Twitter. And when it comes to spreading conspiracy theories, no one can beat Trump.”
Why Trump isn’t tweeting yet
The fact that the ex-president has been re-registered on the two social platforms raises legitimate fears. You just have to look at the numbers. Trump has only 4.8 million followers on Truth Social, almost all of them hardcore fans who hang on to his every word. His posts published there therefore cause jokes among late-night comedians at best.
Trump has 88 million followers on Twitter, 34 million on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram. As a result, Twitter posts have regularly made headlines in the mainstream media in the past, and nowhere does the ex-president get more value for the campaign dollars he spends than on Facebook.
So why isn’t Trump already tweeting like he was in his prime, preferably while sitting on the toilet? He would not only deal the death blow to his platform Truth Social. There are also legal reasons that prevent him from doing so. He’s committed to being an exclusive to Truth Social in June. However, it is reasonable to assume that Trump will return to Twitter and Facebook after this deadline.
If he wants to return to the White House, Trump needs all the support he can get, because it’s not even certain that he will win the GOP election. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has received a tremendous boost from Republicans and is sometimes significantly ahead of Trump in several polls. Bill Palatucci, a longtime member of the GOP board of directors, told the Wall Street Journal, “Trump’s influence is waning. However, it’s not yet clear whether he’ll lose weight fast enough.” Fair is fair, it should not be concealed that there are also polls in which Trump is ahead.
So far, DeSantis has refrained from publicly announcing his ambitions for the presidency. But there are increasing signs that he will soon do so. He is already sending his advisers to the states of New Hampshire and Iowa to investigate the sensitivities of Republican voters there. The first primary elections are taking place in these two states, an important milestone.
Not only DeSantis would have ambitions for the White House. The GOP has no shortage of potential candidates. With former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, ex-Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, there are three members of the Trump cabinet.
A number of current and former governors are also named. They are Larry Hogan (Maryland), Asa Hutchinson (Arkansas), Kristi Noem (South Dakota), Chris Sununu (New Hampshire) and Glenn Youngkin (Virginia). Since no one wants to be the first to feel Trump’s anger, no one has yet announced his candidacy. But no later than the beginning of the summer, any candidates will have to drop their cover.
At the latest, Trump will also exchange his unplugged phase for the well-known MAGA rallies. At least he has already announced that.
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
