Experts Reveal The Two Things Donald Trump Might Want But Doesn't Need For 2024 Campaign
While Donald Trump still claims the 2020 election was rigged and many of his supporters believe he is still the president of the United States, he also keeps hinting that he will run again in 2024 without explicitly saying he will. The fact that he held a rally in Iowa in October 2021, the state where the first caucus takes place during a presidential election year, seems to be more evidence to some that he is indeed planning to run (via NPR).
When Trump first announced his initial run for president on June 16, 2015, taking his fateful descent down his golden escalator in Manhattan's Trump Tower that's etched in so many minds, he had access to two of the most popular bully pulpits in the world. Through social media, he reached billions of people across the globe with his populist message, making Americans believe a reality TV star who inherited millions from his father's real estate business was their true champion. If he does run again in 2024, Trump will not have Twitter to amplify his message, as he was permanently banned from the social media platform after the January 6 insurrection. He also won't have Facebook until at least January of 2023, as he was banned from that platform, as well (via Insider).
Does Donald Trump really need Twitter and Facebook?
While Donald Trump has already sued Twitter to get his account back, according to The Washington Post, experts don't believe he will need Twitter and its social media counterpart, Facebook, to get his message across during a 2024 campaign.
"Trump doesn't have to tweet something or post something on Facebook to effectively use both platforms as the conveyance belt to frame the discussion and the narrative about whatever stupidity of the moment has come out of his mouth," former GOP strategist Steve Schmidt told Insider.
Experts have also told Insider that Trump already has a legion of "loyal soldiers" who will get his message out on social media whether the man himself has accounts or not. Indeed, many media personalities, whether Democrat or Republican-leaning, often retweet or tweet screenshots of his statements posted by his communications manager, Liz Mair, amplifying his message without him having to type a thing.
Could not having Facebook and Twitter help him?
Former GOP strategist and co-founder of The Lincoln Project Steve Schmidt said that the absence of Donald Trump's social media accounts can just add to his image as the martyr many of his supporters believe him to be, saying this would allow him to run a "grievance campaign." Schmidt also believes Facebook groups that spread his message throughout the platform aren't going anywhere, which will also help Trump should he decide to run (via Insider).
It also looks like Trump will have his own personal platform by the time 2024 rolls around, as he announced the formation of a new media company on October 20, 2021, called Trump Media & Technology group, which would have its own social app, Truth Social, according to The Associated Press.
"We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American president has been silenced," Trump said in a statement after announcing the company's launch. "This is unacceptable."
With the former president planning to launch Truth Social nationwide in 2022, it remains to be seen whether spreading the same messages he has been spreading since 2015 will add to his popularity or not.