Maggie Haberman Says Trump Will ‘Refuse to Accept’ Truth Social’s Shortcomings and Is ‘Trying to Will’ It into ‘A Different Reality’

CNN commentator and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said Donald Trump is hellbent on making his Truth Social platform appear to be a successful social media company – “external reality” be damned.

Last week, Truth Social began publicly trading under the ticker DJT (as in Donald John Trump) and since that time its shares have tumbled markedly, wiping out billions in paper assets belonging to the former president.

Truth Social launched in February 2022 – 13 months after Trump was banned from Twitter for inspiring the Jan. 6 2021 Capitol riot. While the platform is popular among some conservatives, it is still a relatively small site. Last year, it notched a paltry $4.1 million in revenue while losing $58 million.

Haberman joined Thursday’s edition of The Source on CNN to discuss the state of Trump’s company.

Guest host Brianna Keilar noted that the former president has tried combatting unfavorable press about the platform by bragging about his ratings when he appears on TV.

“How hard is this for him to accept that Truth Social isn’t the Twitter killer or just a success of a sort in its own right that he’d hoped it would be?” she asked.

“I think we have seen him over and over again refuse to accept external reality and to continue to try to paint things as he wants them to be seen,” Haberman responded. “And this is one of those times. However, the objective reality is the fact that the stock tumbled earlier this week. You know, what was initially adding to his net worth – at least on paper by several billions – is no longer that he is getting a lot of headlines around this and he is just trying to will it into some kind of a different reality.”

She added that Trump is nonetheless “keenly aware” of the negative press surrounding Truth Social. Haberman also delivered some bad news for those hoping Trump – who has since been reinstated on Twitter/X by Elon Musk – would return to that platform.

“I still think that this is going to be where you see him focus his energy – is Truth Social,” Haberman continued. “I think he is not likely to return to Twitter anytime before the election, but this is not– this is not the week they were hoping to have, certainly, with Truth Social.”

Watch above via CNN.