Since the reactivation of Donald Trump’s account on November 19, all of Twitter has been wondering if the former US president will tweet. Elon Musk even tries to lure him in by posting messages about him, like memes, as bait.
What is Elon Musk playing? After betraying his promise by deciding himself to restore Donald Trump’s account on November 19, when he had made believe that an independent council would oversee this hot topic, the billionaire is now having fun provoking the former American president.
Donald Trump’s last message dated January 8, 2021, shortly after the insurrectionary movement in Washington of the supporters of the ex-president, who refused the victory of Joe Biden in the presidential election, and Elon Musk wants to change that. To force Donald Trump to tweet, Elon Musk does not hesitate to exceed the limits with very daring publications.
Tweeting Donald Trump could pay big dividends for Elon Musk
Why encourage Donald Trump to return to Twitter, when it is likely that the tweets of the former American president will regularly arouse controversy? For Elon Musk, this situation could be advantageous in several respects:
- If Donald Trump returns to Twitter, everyone will be talking about Twitter. The media will no longer be focused on the management of Elon Musk, while some users will return to the platform to see what the social network’s most controversial ex-user has to say.
- Today, Donald Trump is the head of TRUTH Social, a competing Twitter platform dedicated to conservatives. If Donald Trump returns to Twitter, Elon Musk could kill, or at least weaken, one of his competitors.
- Elon Musk has promised that his Twitter will be that of absolute freedom of expression, but regularly leans to the right. Bringing Trump back would further improve his popularity rating among American conservatives, whom he regularly addresses.
- Elon Musk can also have fun with this situation, by putting Donald Trump in a funny situation (they had a violent argument this summer). If Trump does not come, he is depriving himself of a large audience. If Trump comes, he will lose face.
- Finally, Donald Trump could serve as bait for the $8 Twitter Blue subscription. His presence could encourage some users to pay, for example, to be able to answer him. For some, Trump is an absolute star.
On Twitter, billionaire Mark Cuban describes the reactivation of Donald Trump’s account as a “intelligent marketing decision”, terrible for Trump, but good for Musk. The boss of Tesla and SpaceX himself shared this message, which suggests that he shares this opinion. Mark Cuban also sees it as a way for Twitter to sell subscriptions, which Musk does not deny.
Since the controversial announcement of the reactivation of Donald Trump’s account, which seems to have come straight out of Elon Musk’s head (there was a poll among his fans, but Elon Musk gave his personal opinion), the billionaire amused by the situation. He notably responded to Trump fans presenting him as a genius while mocking the left and the media. Elon Musk has also repeatedly criticized the press.
Will Donald Trump tweet? For now, nothing is guaranteed. The former White House tenant says he favors Truth Social, even with Elon Musk at the helm of Twitter. But in the future, Elon Musk could well succeed in his bet.