Elon Musk reinstated Trump on Saturday night after a 24-hour poll. His account and previous tweets are now visible but he has not sent any tweets since being reinstated.
Trump confirmed today that he will not return to Twitter now that his account has been reactivated.
“I don’t see any reason for it, they have a lot of problems at Twitter, you see what’s going on. It may make it, it may not make it,” Trump told the Republican Jewish Coalition during a virtual appearance at their annual leadership meeting.
The statement confirms what he said on his Truth Social account while the poll was active.
“Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!”.
Truth Social is a social media site similar to Twitter that was created by Trump Media & Technology Group a few months after Trump was suspended. Trump’s Twitter account was shut down two days after his supporters stormed the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021. At the time, Twitter called the suspension "Permanent" .
Before he purchased Twitter last month, Musk called the suspension a mistake. He indicated that would restore Trump’s account when he became the owner of Twitter. After taking control, Musk decided against making the decision unilaterally and instead put it to a poll.
More than 15 million Twitter users voted and Trump’s suspension won the poll with 52% of the vote. Trump was reinstated later that night.
Musk spent $44 billion purchasing Twitter and the first weeks under his control have been chaotic. In his first week as owner, he fired roughly half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees. That was followed by another 1,200 staff members resigning after Musk told them to commit to a “hardcore” work environment or leave.
Trump’s account became visible again on Saturday, including his past tweets.
The former president suggested in a Truth Social post on Saturday that he wouldn’t return to Twitter.
“Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!” Trump wrote.
The people have spoken.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2022
Trump will be reinstated.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei. https://t.co/jmkhFuyfkv
The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted, using a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people, the voice of God.”
The Trump Media & Technology Group social media platform, TRUTH Social, formally launched last month and has been up and running under its brand-new cloud services for four days, after having beta-tested since February. Former Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is the company’s CEO.
He added: "The bottom line is, no, I am not going back to Twitter."
Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat following the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Twitter deemed a number of his tweets connected to the violent protests as inflammatory and warned of "the risk of further incitement of violence."
When asked whether a Musk-owned Twitter could be competition to TRUTH, Trump said that he feels it would be a positive development in the social media space.
"I think it is good. We want liberty and justice and fairness in our country, and the more we can have open, the better," Trump said. "But no, I don’t view that as a competition for what I am doing."
"This is a platform for my voice. TRUTH is a platform for my voice and for my supporters," Trump said. "But I want everybody to come over to TRUTH—conservatives, liberals, whatever."
The former president said Twitter "became very boring because conservatives were thrown off or got off the platform when I left."
"TRUTH Social will be a voice for me," Trump continued. "And that’s something nobody else can get."
The former president would not comment on whether he has been in contact with Musk.
A source familiar told Fox News that Trump and Musk have a very good relationship and are friendly. The source cited Trump coming to Musk’s defense in 2018 after the Tesla CEO was charged with securities fraud over misleading tweets about a potential transaction to take Tesla private.
Musk, on Monday, tweeted:
"I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means," Musk tweeted.
I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
Meanwhile, TMTG CEO Devin Nunes told Fox News Monday that TRUTH Social has an "uncancellable architecture now that is working flawlessly and lightening-quick."
"What President Trump started with this company really is a movement, that has led us to a point where now Elon Musk is saying, hey, this is a problem," Nunes said. "And we're glad he is saying it is a problem."
The topic of content moderation has come under scrutiny from critics on the right, who have argued that tech giants should no longer benefit from protections of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act if they censor certain viewpoints.
Trump Media & Technology Group first launched in October. The company said last month that the partner has agreements for $1 billion in capital from institutional investors.
TMTG's plan is to become a publicly listed company through a merger with the publicly traded Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company whose sole purpose is to acquire a private company and take it public.
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