Trump Returns to X With Several Posts Ahead of Musk Interview
(Bloomberg) -- Former President Donald Trump posted several times on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, after more than three years of virtual silence on the platform as he gears up for an interview with owner Elon Musk.
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Trump, who posted on Twitter at all hours during his presidency, was banned for life from the network following his role in encouraging rioters at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. After Musk purchased Twitter in late 2022, later renaming it X, he reinstated Trump’s account. But the former president had posted just once since then — a photo of his mugshot after being booked at a jail in Atlanta in August of last year.
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Now, Musk has publicly endorsed Trump and committed funds to helping his candidacy for a second presidency. The politician’s posts could bring attention to X, which has been losing advertisers and users.
Trump posted five times to his account on Monday, including several campaign messages and a promo for his interview with Musk, scheduled for 8 p.m. New York time.
Trump’s absence from the network is partly due to his contract with his own platform, Truth Social, where he has a commitment to post non-political things first and has a controlling financial stake. There, he still regularly shares the rant-style emotional observations that used to show up on his Twitter account, just to a smaller audience.
Some users saw another post from his account that did not appear on his profile page — sometimes a sign that the post is a paid promotion. That post did not include any label indicating whether was an ad, which is usually required for promotional messages. X did not respond to a request for clarification.
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