After Months of Waiting, I Finally Got Access to Truth Social

No surprises to be found. It’s pretty much what I expected.

I felt a jolt of excitement yesterday when I saw the email from Trump’s new social media platform, Truth Social, welcoming me to join the app. I had tried signing up back in February but found myself on a very long waitlist. #696,760 in line. A number that never budged, until, one day, I was on.

What is Truth Social?

Truth Social is a social media platform alternative to Twitter. It markets itself as a free speech app. Instead of tweets, users can post “Truths.” Instead of retweets, there are “ReTruths.”

Does this mean it will be a wild free-for-all on Truth Social? Not exactly. They have terms of service users must agree to, and these terms include the usual such as no discrimination, illegal activity, pornographic materials, or racist language.

My test drive of the platform

I quickly skipped through setting up my account, eager to get on the app to see the action. And hopping on to check it out, I could see it is remarkably similar to Twitter. Well, similar in appearance and functionality. It’s of course missing the massive following Twitter enjoys, although it has experienced a surge of popularity recently.

Trump is posting up a storm

The first thing I did was check to see if the former president has been active lately. As it turns out, his first Truth in the past two months and his second posting ever on the platform came through just a couple of days ago.

“I’M BACK! #COVFEFE,” he said.

What’s this about covfefe?

Covfefe, originally a misspelling on a Tweet, has turned into a rallying cry for Trump fans to show how savvy Trump is and how stupid the media is. In case you forgot, Trump tweeted this back in 2017, “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.”

Obviously, it was a typo and was meant to say “coverage.” But it turned into a thing, and Sean Spicer, the press secretary at the time would not admit to it being a typo. Neither he nor Trump nor anyone from the White House could admit that Trump might make a mistake. Instead, Spicer told the press, “The President and a small group of people know exactly what he meant.”

And now you’ll hear the word covfefe used in the same line of “Let’s go Brandon” among Trump loyalists.

Trump retruthed a post from “Catturd”

Trump has been busy. He posted multiple times about Truth Social making it to the number one spot in the Apple App Store. He also had a few ReTruths, including one from a user named “Catturd.”

He’s also still upset over the election. As of this writing, Trump’s latest post decried the Democrats as the “Party of Disinformation.” And, “their biggest LIE, by far, is the results of the Presidential Election. They know it, and so does everyone else!”

Is the app only for conservatives?

It heavily swings to the right. I saw two recent top posts that weren’t politicized. One was from a travel account and another from a historical account.

Although, the comments on the post from This Day In History devolved into a discussion over who is really in charge of the country since some of the commenters don’t think it’s Biden. Someone suggested former President Obama is still controlling things, and Biden is his puppet.

Trump’s sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, are active users of the site, although there is no sign of his daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany. The sons’ posts are about what you would expect. Attempts at cleverness and wit that fall flat. Unlike on Twitter, where their tweets might be widely mocked, I only saw a few dissenters among the comments.

What will I do now that I have access to the app?

I don’t know. I could lurk on there and watch what’s going on. I could comment on the misinformation currently being spread by the former president. I already have one follower, even though I haven’t set up my profile or posted a single thing.

But, to be honest, my test drive of the app turned out to leave a sour taste in my mouth.

It’s all the same players, riling up their bases to believe the election was stolen, when there has never been a single shred of evidence otherwise. It’s a depressing reminder of when Trump used to show up all day long, tweeting his misinformation to the world.

Trump has said he won’t go back to Twitter, even if Elon Musk invites him. At this point, I believe it. He’s found his like-minded audience on Truth Social, much like at his rallies. Why enter into the fray of Twitter and be barraged with different opinions?

Instead, he can hang out on Truth Social, and just like he’s at a rally in a cornfield in the Midwest, he can shout his same nonsense to the same group of people that always believe everything he says. But this time, I don’t have to witness it. I think I’ll be heading back to Twitter, no matter who owns it.

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