Donald Trump launched Truth Social in 2022 to have a megaphone to speak directly to his delusional cult followers after being banned from all major platforms following his attempted coup against the US government. And Trump’s social media platforms are getting weirder by the day as he loses his mind completely with the realization that Kamala Harris might win the November election.
Harris formally accepted the party’s presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday, and Trump live-tweeted her speech, a fascinating glimpse into just how weird things have gotten for Trump, who is clearly frustrated by how Harris has energized a broad cross-section of the American public in a move that could determine the turnout needed to win the election.
“There is no future with Comrade Kamala Harris as she will lead us into Nuclear World War III! She will never be respected by the tyrants of the world!” Trump yelled in a post typical of the night.
There’s obviously a lot going on in this post, from the absurdity of Harris starting World War III to suggesting mainstream Democrats are communists. But the last sentence may be unintentionally the funniest. Trump seems to believe that the President of the United States needs to be “respected by the tyrants of the world,” which is not a fitting qualification for the presidency. In fact, being respected by tyrants probably means you’re doing tyrannical things, which makes sense considering the 45th president has had romantic relationships with dictators like Kim Jong Un of North Korea.
Trump made dozens of posts on Thursday night, each one more confusing than the last. For example, Trump seemed to believe Hezbollah was somehow involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel that killed about 1,200 people.
“She caused the October 7 attacks. Iran is bankrupt. It can’t fund Hezbollah!” Trump wrote, clearly very confused about the whole thing.
There were also numerous messages written in all capital letters, including lies used to distance themselves from the Heritage Foundation’s infamous Project 2025, which claims to create a far-right government bureaucracy that would disenfranchise Americans.
“She’s lying again about Project 2025, which she knows and the Democrats know, but I have nothing to do with it!” Trump wrote.
Trump also appears to be fixated on Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, who has become a source of controversy among Fox News viewers in recent years as he has been embroiled in legal trouble over taxes and gun issues.
“Where’s Hunter?” Trump wrote, seemingly forgetting that he’s no longer running against Biden or his son. He’s now running against Harris, a fact he clearly dislikes.
An interesting thing to remember about Trump’s social media posts is that he truly understands that the world revolves entirely around him. As a narcissist, Trump only thinks about himself and how the rest of humanity can benefit him. And it shows in the way he writes disjointed sentences on Truth Social, taking for granted that everyone is watching exactly what he is watching on TV. It would be interesting if he wasn’t highly likely to become the most powerful man in the world again.
Social media wasn’t the only place where Trump unleashed his hateful and vicious rhetoric on Thursday night. He called into Fox News and had a deeply awkward conversation with hosts Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier, in which Trump rambled on about immigration and got defensive about the surge that Harris was experiencing. McCallum and Baier eventually tried to pull Trump off the call, but were unsuccessful.
This may be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.
President Trump called into Fox News to vent his anger at Kamala’s speech, but was interrupted by Bret Baier and directed to Gutfeld’s show. pic.twitter.com/wCUiVYbYyw
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 23, 2024
Trump then called Newsmax and continued his bizarre and vulgar rant about immigration and the jobs report, claiming that the government’s most recent revisions to the employment report (which are made monthly) were the result of some nefarious process rather than a normal part of the system that’s in place to make the jobs report as accurate as possible.
By Friday morning, Trump was back on his usual schedule on social media, which was basically just lying. The biggest lie of the day so far? Trump, who is responsible for appointing the Supreme Court justices that overturned Roe v. Wade and overturned 50 years of abortion rights for millions of women, has said he is an advocate for reproductive health.
“My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights,” Trump wrote.
Of course, Don. You’re a really great guy.
Though Harris is gaining a little more ground in the polls every day, there’s no guarantee she’ll win. On Friday, the FiveThirtyEight national polling average showed the vice president’s approval rating against Trump rose to 3.6 points, her highest since Harris entered the race a month ago. But in the United States, elections aren’t decided by who gets the most votes nationwide. There’s the Electoral College, and Harris needs to win majorities in very specific states to win.
Thankfully, Harris is also leading in the polls in battleground states: According to FiveThirtyEight’s latest polling average, she’s leading by 3.9 points in Wisconsin, 3.4 points in Michigan, and 1.8 points in Pennsylvania. If she can win those three states, she’ll be all but guaranteed the win.
No one knows who will win in November, but Harris has a strong chance of winning, and Trump knows it. As the former president realizes that Harris has no chance of winning, he will get weirder and weirder. And Truth Social will be the place to watch the fireworks. Let’s just hope he doesn’t stage another coup. Historically, people who try to overthrow governments like Trump don’t give up after failing once. They try again and again until they succeed, and they end up in jail or worse.
With the strong possibility that Trump will lose, a return to power on January 6th may be his only chance to regain power. Let’s hope that’s not the case.