Sunday, November 20, 2022

Trump back on Twitter

Every leftist's nightmare has come true: the Creature is back. Yes, Poison Girls, Donald Trump has had his Twitter account reinstated. There's been a lot of discussion as to whether Elon Musk's rather selective reinstatements of formerly banned people (including Kathy Griffin: she's also back!) indicates a lack of enthusiasm for true free speech. Much of this discussion has focused on Donald Trump and Alex Jones. One school of thought that seems fairly prominent says that reinstating Trump while not reinstating Alex Jones makes sense: Trump never said anything that violated Twitter's TOS whereas Jones made inflammatory claims that got him into huge legal trouble. To reinstate Jones would be for Musk to invite that legal trouble into his foyer, hence Musk's hesitation. So bringing back Trump while keeping Jones in the dog house is neither unjustified nor inconsistent. 

In truth, I don't actually know much about the particulars of Alex Jones's legal woes: I've never listened to Jones except for a random YouTube clip here and there. He strikes me as a loudmouth blowhard. I do know that he once claimed the relatives of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre were only "crisis actors," which is probably what led to the billion-dollar decision against him. Is that amount excessive? Yes, but it is what it is. That said, I think most leftists, right now, are far more concerned that Trump has regained his original platform.

Will Trump use the platform? Trump said pretty clearly, long ago, that if Twitter invited him back, he'd say no. His own site, Truth Social, seems to be humming along nicely, and in a recent video, Styx noted that Trump just reaffirmed his original "no" answer. Styx also suggested—and I've seen the same suggestion on Instapundit—that Trump should simply use Twitter as a place to post duplicates of whatever he posts on Truth Social. Whether Trump goes with this idea is up to him. If I were in his shoes, I'd simply give Twitter another polite "no" and stick with Truth Social.

For the moment, even with Trump having posted nothing new on Twitter, the very thought of Trump's being back on Twitter is enough to send frothing leftists into a tizzy, proving yet again that the man lives rent-free inside their empty skulls.

ADDENDUM: PJ Media commented on the original circumstances of Trump's banning from Twitter, and it's something I've noted before, too:

Twitter originally banned Trump in January 2021, following the events of Jan. 6, claiming there was a “risk of further incitement of violence.” But Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, 2021, specifically urged a protest done “peacefully and patriotically.” Trump later tweeted another call for peace and an end to rioting during the Capitol events. So his words both on and off Twitter that day were anything but an “incitement of violence.”

The claim of "incitement" has always been a lie.



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