Former President Donald Trump is reacting to the news Twitter has a new owner.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform officially closed on Thursday night, capping a months-long saga.
On Friday morning, Trump reacted to the news in a post on his Truth Social platform, writing, “TRUTH SOCIAL has become somewhat of a phenomena. Last week it had bigger numbers than all other platforms, including TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and the rest.”
“It also looks and works better to my eye. I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs that truly hate our country,” he continued.
Finally, the former president wrote, “Twitter must now work hard to rid itself of all of the bots and fake accounts that have hurt it so badly. It will be much smaller, but better. I LOVE TRUTH!”
After it was reported Musk’s deal was complete, he tweeted, “the bird is freed.”
the bird is freed
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
Bloomberg News cited a source familiar with the matter and reported Musk “intends to do away with permanent bans on users because he doesn’t believe in lifelong prohibitions.”
“That means people previously booted off the platform may be allowed to return, though it was unclear if that included former president Donald Trump,” it added.
Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter in 2021 after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In May, Musk said he would “reverse the perma-ban” for Trump, as IJR reported.
However, Trump has not signaled he would return to Twitter.
During an April interview with Americano Media, he said, “We’re doing a big platform right now, so I probably wouldn’t have any interest.”
“You know, Twitter’s become very boring. They’ve gotten rid of a lot of their good voices on Twitter — a lot of their conservative voices,” Trump added.
After Musk first announced his plan to buy Twitter, Derrick Johnson, the head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), urged him not to let Trump back on the platform.
“Misinformation, disinformation and hate speech have NO PLACE on Twitter. Do not allow 45 to return to the Platform. Do not allow Twitter to become a petri dish for hate speech, or falsehoods that subvert our democracy,” Johnson said in a statement.
He added, “Protecting our democracy is of utmost importance, especially as the midterm elections approach. Mr. Musk: lives are at risk, and so is American democracy.”