If you were anywhere near the internet yesterday you likely heard Twitter approved a deal for Tesla CEO Elon Musk to buy the platform for $44 billion and do away with its supposed limitations on free speech.
If you're like many people, your first thought was:
"Oh God, this means Trump's coming back, doesn't it?"
But according to the former Republican President himself, that won't be happening.
In a Fox News interview in the wake of Musk's deal, Trump said he has no intention of rejoining Twitter and will instead stick with his own beleaguered Truth Social platform.
But given the former President isn't exactly known for being a man of his word, you can probably guess how most of the internet reacted.
Translation: Trump will join Twitter the second Musk lets him back on.https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-will-not-return-to-twitter-even-if-elon-musk-purchases-platform-will-begin-using-his-truth-social\u00a0\u2026— Julia Ioffe (@Julia Ioffe) 1650916384
Many have presumed Trump's account will be reinstated following Musk's purchase because the Tesla CEO has repeatedly joined right-wing voices in casting Twitter's content moderation moves as violations of free speech.
Musk nodded to this sentiment in his announcement of the purchase.
Yesss!!! pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1650915802
Twitter's policies have resulted in many right-wing accounts being banned for amplifying COVID-19 misinformation and right-wing extremism. Most notable among them is Trump's account, which was banned following the January 6 insurrection.
But Trump claims he isn't interested in having his account back.
He told Fox News:
“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on Truth..."
“We’re taking in millions of people, and what we’re finding is that the response on Truth is much better than being on Twitter."
But there is absolutely no available data to back that claim up.
Truth Social's launch has been a disaster, plagued by data security breaches and steadily declining sign-ups. And its stock price has also cratered since Musk's purchase amid concerns Truth Social can't compete against a post-Musk Twitter that will surely draw the extremist voices that are Trump's bread-and-butter back to the platform.
Even Trump himself has only posted on Truth Social one time and issues all of his public statements via his spokesperson on—you guessed it—Twitter.
Take all that together and it should come as no surprise people's response to Trump's statement was a collective "yeah right."
Dammit.\n\nTrump has just promised America he will not return to Twitter and will begin posting on Truth Social in seven days\u2014which 100% means that he will be back on Twitter within seven days. Remember: always take the opposite of what he says as the truth.https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-will-not-return-to-twitter-even-if-elon-musk-purchases-platform-will-begin-using-his-truth-social\u00a0\u2026— Seth Abramson (@Seth Abramson) 1650925587
Sure, Jan.https://www.cnn.com/videos/tech/2022/04/25/elon-musk-buys-twitter-dnt-tsr-todd-vpx.cnn\u00a0\u2026— Michelle Kinney (@Michelle Kinney) 1650935366
Trump says he won't return to Twitter even if Elon lets him. Says he's staying on Truth Social. People apparently believe him. MINDBLOWING.— Don Lewis (@Don Lewis) 1650921262
Trump says he won't return to Twitter even if Musk allows it. Good thing Trump is a man of his word....— Buddy Winston (@Buddy Winston) 1650935531
Meaning of course he\u2019ll rejoin Twitter and say he did it because all of his fans begged him to.— Positive Peace (@Positive Peace) 1650918047
If Trump's account were reinstated, the over/under on his returning to at least 10 tweets/retweets a day is 14 days.https://www.reuters.com/technology/trump-says-he-wont-return-twitter-if-account-reinstated-after-musk-takeover-2022-04-25/\u00a0\u2026— Philip Bump (@Philip Bump) 1650920659
We have no reason to think he's being dishonest.https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1518694605167935492\u00a0\u2026— Whack, with a silent 'H' (@Whack, with a silent 'H') 1650948348
Though some did take him at his word.
The consensus among them was similarly solid.
Good.https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1518679448668852228\u00a0\u2026— Vicki Campbell, Candidate for PM of Canada (@Vicki Campbell, Candidate for PM of Canada) 1650925389
*unclenches entire body*https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1518679448668852228\u00a0\u2026— Ashley Winter MD || Urologist (@Ashley Winter MD || Urologist) 1650924238
@RonHall46/Twitter
The deal isn't even official yet and we're already winninghttps://twitter.com/CultureCrave/status/1518675196223262720\u00a0\u2026— Gary at the Speed of Force (@Gary at the Speed of Force) 1650917208
Trump's platform's stock price dropped 13% yesterday following news of Musk's Twitter purchase after having already cratered by 40% since Musk announced his mere interest in buying Twitter earlier this month.