Michael Humphrey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Any speculation about whether Donald Trump will return to Twitter after his permanent suspension in 2021 must begin with two caveats. First, we do not know for sure if, or when, the presumed new owner of the social media platform, Elon Musk, will lift the ban. Second, Trump has said he will not come back.
“I was disappointed by the way I was treated by Twitter,” Trump told CNBC on April 25, 2022. “I won’t be going back on Twitter.”
But if Musk, Trump and social media have taught us anything, it is that the half-life of such caveats can be seconds. It is worth at least considering the premise: What’s at stake for Trump, Twitter and politics if he does return.
The pull of Twitter might be irresistible for Trump. Before being kicked off the platform for what Twitter described as “the risk of further incitement of violence” after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, Trump was a prolific user of the site. I know this firsthand: Between 2017 and 2021, I collected and analyzed all of his tweets – some 20,301, excluding retweets and links without comment.
Trump was a potent narrator-in-chief on Twitter. Reaching nearly 89 million followers by the time of his suspension was only the beginning. In analyzing his use of...
A video shows the Green Party celebrating an election win in a foreign language. False. This video was posted before the election. It is a Bengali language campaign video posted by the Green Party ...