Let the baby have his bottle
The case for letting you-know-who back on Twitter.
Every once in a while some veteran rock band washed-up pop star who once filled venues like Madison Square Garden will tour a region the country by bus, playing small clubs and theaters to dwindling numbers of fans who'll patiently sit through their new material until they play their big hit at the very end.1
And they’ll never say it sucks and how much they miss their time on top of the pop culture world. Heavens, no. It’s always spun as the artist “getting back to his roots” or giving dedicated fans the chance to get “up close and personal” for a truly “intimate” experience.
That’s what I thought about when I read that Donald Trump is reportedly very happy posting at his Twitter knockoff site even though his actual Twitter account has been reactivated:
Donald Trump on Saturday said he had no interest in returning to Twitter even as a slim majority voted in favor of reinstating the former U.S. president, who was banned from the social media service for inciting violence, in a poll organized by new owner Elon Musk.
Slightly over 15 million Twitter users voted in the poll with 51.8% voting in favor of reinstatement.
"The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated," Musk tweeted.
Trump's Twitter account, which had over 88 million followers before he was banned on Jan. 8, 2021, began accumulating followers and had nearly 100,000 followers by 10pm ET Saturday. Some users initially reported being unable to follow the reinstated account on Saturday evening.
Trump had appeared less than keen earlier in the day.
"I don't see any reason for it," the former president said via video when asked whether he planned to return to Twitter by a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual leadership meeting.
He said he would stick with his new platform Truth Social, the app developed by his Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) startup, which he said had better user engagement than Twitter and was doing "phenomenally well".
Yeah, he’ll be back. This man is no more likely to settle for posting to Troof Social any more than he was content to have a franchise in a second-tier spring football league.
And, honestly? I’m cool with it.
You know my feelings about the man, and I think suspending his account in the wake of the Beer Belly Putsch was a perfectly defensible move. But as bad as January 6 was - really, as bad as January, 2017 to January, 2021 was - it still didn’t quite compare to invading and carrying out war crimes in the country next door, nor killing anti-government demonstrators by the hundreds.
But the governments of Russia and Iran? Still welcome to defend their atrocities on Twitter. Indeed, I can’t help but notice how many people threatening to leave Twitter if Trump is reinstated were perfectly fine sharing a platform with this:
They’ll be back, just like Trump.
There are other reasons to support - well, tolerate, anyway - Trump’s return to Twitter. It could be the final nail in the coffin for Truth Social and Parler and Gettr, and while Trump himself won’t suffer financially - the master con artist always knows where the exits are - the collateral damage will include the likes of Devin Nunes and Kanye West and Jason Miller. You’d need a heart of stone not to laugh.
More importantly, if you’re worried about Trump once again returning to the spotlight, I must ask you where you’ve been for the past two years.
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