U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the September Jobs Report at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 6, 2023.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
Not a joke, folks.
Former President Donald Trump’s social media company is promoting President Joe Biden’s campaign account on the platform, as the two politicians gear up for a possible election rematch.
“Dear Friend, Recently, Joe Biden’s presidential campaign joined Truth Social. You can find their account @BidenHQ here,” Truth Social said in an email sent to users Wednesday.
The email also noted that Trump’s campaign account is on Truth Social. As of Wednesday, Biden’s account has more followers than the Trump campaign’s, sitting at more than 22,000 followers, despite only joining the site Monday. Trump’s campaign account has gained 19,000 followers since its creation in February 2022.
“Well. Let’s see how this goes. Converts welcome!” said @BidenHQ in its first post Monday. The account follows just one other account: the GOP former president’s personal account.
Trump, who has 6.4 million followers himself on the site, uses his Truth Social feed as a platform to routinely attack Biden and others he perceives as enemies. Trump, who lost to Biden in 2020 and is the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination, has largely avoided using X, formerly known as Twitter, even after owner Elon Musk reinstated his account late last year. The service banned him from the site in early 2021 over his tweets regarding the violent, pro-Trump invasion of the Capitol on Jan. 6 that year.
Truth Social, meanwhile, is still waiting to become part of a public company under Trump Media and Technology Group. Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company that intends to merge with Trump Media, has run into several difficulties, including accusations of fraud, while repeatedly delaying the business combination. Last week, DWAC said it would return the $533 million raised for the deal back to investors.
The Biden account’s profile picture on Truth Social is a depiction of “Dark Brandon,” a meme generated by the president’s supporters in response to Trump backers turning “Let’s Go Brandon,” a misheard vulgar chant about Biden, into an insult. “Dark Brandon” merchandise has driven over half the Biden campaign’s online store revenue, CNBC reported earlier this year.
Yet, despite Biden’s apparent popularity on Trump’s own social media platform, he faces a tough climb to reelection. Even as Trump contends with four criminal cases, polls show he’s very much in the running to return to the White House.
CNBC’s All-America Economic Survey, which polled 1,001 adults over the phone during five days earlier this month, showed that Biden’s approval rating had fell to 37%. In a potential head-to-head matchup, Trump would top Biden 46% to 42%, according to the survey.
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Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/18/trump-truth-social-promotes-biden-campaign-account.html