On Jan. 25, Meta announced that former president Donald Trump’s accounts on Instagram and Facebook would be reinstated in the coming weeks. In November, Trump’s Twitter account was reinstated, but the former president has yet to use it. Instead, he has only been active on his own social media network, Truth Social, which he founded after he was suspended from major social media platforms in the aftermath of Jan. 6, 2021.
This may seem inconsequential–if Trump didn’t opt to return to Twitter, why would he return to other social media–but an article from the Associated Press pointed out how advantageous this is given Trump’s upcoming 2024 election bid. The advertising potential that sites like Facebook offer is vital to a political campaign. Through Facebook, Trump and other candidates can gain access to emails and addresses. Both of those things make aggressive campaign advertising that much easier, and were integral to the strategies of the 2016 campaign that got Trump elected.
While Trump signed an exclusivity clause with Truth Social’s network, it’s evident that appealing to a wider audience beyond the right wingers who populate that site will be necessary in order to have a shot at the Republican nomination.
While we’re a year out from any voting taking place at the Republican National Convention, 169 Republicans met in South Carolina on Wednesday in order to select a leader. According to polling done by the New York Times, a significant number of them are less enthusiastic about the idea of nominating Trump.
Some quotes include:
“This isn’t 2016,” said Mac Brown, the chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky. “People have moved on.”
Jonathan Barnett, an R.N.C. member from Arkansas who claims to have been the first member of the committee to endorse Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign, said the party would benefit from its nominee being forced to navigate a crowded primary field.
“I’ve been a supporter of Donald Trump in the past,” Mr. Barnett said. “I just think that we need choices this time. We’ve got to look at all of our options.”
“Did I vote for Trump in 2016? You bet. Did I vote for him in 2020? You bet,” said Hank McCann, who joined the R.N.C. from Delaware in 2020. “Now, I don’t know. I think we’ve got probably 10 candidates that can win.”
These are all very preliminary interviews, and the tide could change easily. But for now, it appears that alternate candidates–like Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is currently campaigning against AP African-American studies in between bids against LGBTQ+ rights–may be early frontrunners. It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out. Would a younger, similarly right-wing but less…Trump-like candidate be what the Republican party needs to succeed? I fear that if the Republican party abandons a candidate like Trump, who is so entrenched in scandal and wrongdoing that it’s almost easy to dunk on him from a liberal perspective, 2024 will be a much more painful battle.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/us/politics/rnc-trump-2024-election.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/18/michigan-republicans-draft-desantis-2024-00078244
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/22/trump-south-carolina-campaign/
6 comments:
I feel like Trump not immediately using his reinstated social media accounts is definitely a strategy to gain a larger following for his 2024 campaign. We've seen how much conversation and controversy he can cause through a quick Instagram post or Tweet, so I think this is definitely some sort of PR strategy. We are seeing that him running for the 2024 election isn't bringing the Republican party to his favor as Carolyn quoted from Mac Brown how they've "moved on". I think he is quietly strategizing over impulsively posting now that there are significantly less people supporting him. Which too me is scary because we've already seen the amount of damage he has caused by twitter posts. The possibility of a calculated social media blast is quite concerning.
I agree with Jordan; this is probably a PR strategy. Trump's influence on Twitter from 2016-2020 was crucial to his presidency. When Trump was banned on various social media platforms following the January 6th attack, Trump became somewhat "invisible." If Trump was to run for the 2024 elections again, there is no way that he would not use the influence of social media such as Instagram and Facebook for his campaign, especially for the votes of independents. However, how much of an influence will his social media campaign have is also dependent on whether the Republican Pary chooses to nominate a different candidate, or will they nominate Trump again.
After Trump's ban, a lot of people sort of forgot about him and moved on after 2020. His own followers started to abandon him as they saw the many wrongs he was faced with. With the Mar-A-Lago raid, people now see Trump as secretive and unwilling to coorporate with officials. Although he hasn't begun his new twitter era, I feel it will happen soon with the 2024 elections coming up. This will spark some controversy but all in all, I do not think he will gain as much traction from his own party. If Trump wants a chance, he needs to prove to his own followers that he is dedicated and someone to trust.
Trump probably won't come back to these platforms for a while, as he doesn't want to look like he's groveling to Meta. However, as the 2024 presidential election gets closer and closer, he'll probably start using it again for advertising at the very least, as according to CNN his campaign sent a letter to Meta requesting they lift the ban since he's a candidate for the 2024 presidential election. Despite Trump's misdeeds on the platform, Meta doesn't want to be seen as interfering in politics, which could result in retaliation against the company from conservatives and lawmakers. However, with Meta's layoffs of over 10,000 people this month, the possible revenue that Trump's account may drive was possibly another factor in deciding to reinstate Trump's account, as his tens of millions of followers would likely lead to greatly increased use on the platform.
Donald Trump's use of social media has been a hallmark of his political career. Facebook's advertising potential is crucial for political campaigns, allowing for easy access to email addresses and aggressive advertising strategies. This will be crucial for Trump's upcoming 2024 election bid as he aims to appeal to a wider audience beyond his right-wing followers. Compared to his initial bid for election in 2016, many Republicans are less enthusiastic about the idea of nominating Trump for the 2024 election but it remains to be seen how he will utilize social media in his campaign strategy.
To Andrew's point--I hadn't even considered that profit may be at the center of Meta's reinstatement of Trump's accounts. That makes a lot of sense! I read another article from Politico that says about as much. According to it, Trump posted on Truth Social (his platform) that Facebook has lost billions of dollars in revenue since his supsension/account deactivation. Similarly, it claims that Trump's fundraising committee spent $113 million dollars taking out ads on Facebook from May 2018 to January 2020. That's a staggering amount of money, and given Meta's current financial straits, they may be seeking a similar payout in the upcoming election season.
Here's the Politico article I referenced: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/25/meta-to-reinstate-donald-trumps-facebook-account-00079537
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