Trump is Reportedly Plotting His Return to Twitter and Facebook — With a Team Already Crafting His First Tweet

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File

Former President Donald Trump might be bringing all his quirky capitalization and prolific insults back to your social media feeds very soon.

According to a report by NBC News’ Marc Caputo and Jonathan Allen, the ex-president — who was banned from most social media platforms in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol — is plotting his return to the online platforms that were unquestionably an asset to him during his previous presidential campaigns.

Trump’s Twitter account was reinstated by new owner Elon Musk, but he has yet to tweet. His agreement with his own platform, Truth Social, sets some restrictions for how he is allowed to post on other accounts, and the interpretation of such language may end up getting argued in court. As Mediaite reported in November:

The agreement governing the proposed merger does set some parameters for how Trump would be allowed to use a rival social media platform, and yet another issue that could be part of a lawsuit by aggrieved shareholders if the planned merger goes through but the stock tanks.

Trump “is generally obligated to make any social media post on TruthSocial and may not make the same post on another social media site for 6 hours. Thereafter, he is free to post on any site to which he has access.” He is also “may make a post from a personal account related to political messaging, political fundraising or get-out-the-vote efforts on any social media site at any time.”

In other words, if Trump tweets anything that he hasn’t already posted on Truth Social at least six hours in advance, it’s going to come down to the exact interpretation of what is considered “political messaging.”

Still, Trump’s inner circle expects him back on the bird site soon, according to Caputo and Allen:

“Trump is probably coming back to Twitter. It’s just a question of how and when,” said a Republican who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations with Trump about returning to the platform. “He’s been talking about it for weeks, but Trump speaks for Trump, so it’s anyone’s guess what he’ll do or say or when.”

Another Trump confidant who also didn’t want to be identified speaking about conversations with him said that Trump has sought input for weeks about hopping back on Twitter and that his campaign advisers have also workshopped ideas for his first tweet.

Regarding Facebook, Trump’s campaign is “formally petitioning” Meta, Facebook’s parent company, to reinstate his account.

“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” the letter to Meta said, requesting a meeting between representatives from the campaign and the company but not (yet) threatening a lawsuit.

Facebook previously announced that Trump’s ban, which was originally announced as permanent, would be reviewed after two years, a date that passed on Jan. 7, 2023.

Reached for comment by NBC News, a Meta spokesperson said that the company “will announce a decision in the coming weeks in line with the process we laid out,” but declined to comment further.

Trump has repeatedly touted Truth Social as his new favorite platform, but the appeal of the other sites is obvious, tied to their much larger reach for the opinionated ex-POTUS. He currently has just under 5 million followers on Truth Social, as compared to almost 88 million on Twitter and 34 million on Facebook.

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