In an effort to see how things are going after the launch of Donald Trump's social media platform "Truth Social," Politico's Ruby Cramer signed up and found out not much seems to be happening at all, with a distinct lack of engagement among the few fellow subscribers she found.
With the Daily Beast reporting that Trump is furious and screaming obscenities at aides as his signature alternative to Twitter flounders, Cramer reports that the president might have a point about the platform that seems like a ghost town.
As Cramer explained, "The site promises a safe space for 'free expression,' encouraging of 'all viewpoints,' according to the welcome email, 'as we do not discriminate against political ideology.' But inside the app, digital tumbleweeds blew through my feed. The site is a bit slow, and a bit empty. Its stalled roll-out, led by Devin Nunes, the Trump supporter and former Republican congressman from California, has become a source of frustration and confusion in MAGA-world, according to my colleague Meridith McGraw."
The Politico journalist notes that some pro-Trump heavyweights like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) have set up accounts -- but they are just putting up the same commentary that they are offering at the far more popular Twitter.
The report also makes mention that those who are waiting for an email saying their account has been approved will likely be disappointed at what they find.
"Trump fans still waiting in line, eager for their chance to search for truth, will find a Twitter knock-off with no immediately discernible improvement on the original — a vanity project that has yet to prove its utility," she wrote before pronouncing, "Put simply, there isn’t much happening on the site."
According to Cramer her account was notified about some like-minded users with names like "@CreepyJeffBezos, @HypocriteTrudeau, @FakeHunterBiden"
Cramer adds that she followed some users back, hoping for engagement and nothing happened.
"On Truth Social’s own account page, @truthsocial, site administrators advised users to please be patient as the platform continued to move through its waitlist and address tech bugs and inconsistencies," she wrote. "Truth Social’s page is filled with memes: a car veering off the highway, away from a sign for 'Big Tech' to an exit ramp for 'Truth Social'; two doors, one for Twitter, showing a vacant room, another for 'Truth Social,' with dozens of people trying to get in. But from the inside, Truth Social feels empty."
"Dan Scavino, Trump’s former deputy chief of staff, appears to be one of the most active users on the site, with 74 Truths and counting. At the bottom of his feed, his first post on the site, published about two weeks ago, showed a picture of a blood-red wave crashing violently on the sea. Above a row of emojis — red heart, white heart, blue heart, American flag, flying eagle — Scavino wrote, 'THERE ARE MORE OF US — THAN THERE ARE OF THEM!' the report continued.
However, to make her point about how desolate the social media platform seems, Cramer wrote, "Around 10 a.m., I Truthed my first Truth. 'Anybody out there?' I wrote," before adding, "By the end of the day, no one had responded."
You can read her whole piece here.