A little dispatch from inside Donald Trump’s purple place, Truth Social, where everything looks more or less like an emptied-out Twitter: https://t.co/zPCeYhQHsh
— Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) March 5, 2022
Trump’s latest ‘social media’ venture, like every Trump enterprise, remains ten pounds of manure in a three-pound sack. Because cutting corners is his hallmark, not that stupid logo.
… Jimmy Carter built houses with Habitat for Humanity. George W. Bush learned to paint. Barack Obama hung out with Bruce Springsteen. And Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States, created his own alternate online universe for the MAGA-loving, Big Tech-hating common man. After months of hype, the site was here — and it looked a lot like the thing it’s supposed to replace.
Inside Truth Social, everything once blue was now a bright, jewel-toned purple. Tweets, a.k.a. posts, were now “Truths.” Retweets were now “ReTruths,” capital T. And above my username, I saw the site’s default avatar: Twitter’s cream-colored egg icon, the image given to all new users, had apparently given birth to a proud purple eagle. The rest of the site appeared familiar: Replies were still replies. Likes were still likes. Direct messages, still in development, were still direct messages. And Donald Trump was still @realDonaldTrump — followed, as of this writing, by 140,000 people, a tiny fraction of his onetime total audience on Twitter. Only one Truth appeared on his page: “Get Ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!” he wrote two weeks ago, before the app’s launch. The Truth displayed 7,750 ReTruths, 30,500 likes and 4,700 replies. (Inexplicably, unlike replies on other user posts, none of the responses to Trump’s message were visible to me.)…
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. Republican lawmakers like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy already have accounts and appear to be posting similar or identical content to both Truth Social and Twitter, along with right-leaning platforms like Gettr and Parler. (Apparently, no one is quite ready to turn their backs on an actual audience yet.) But when they do finally get their welcome emails, the thousands of regular 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.
Put simply, there isn’t much happening on the site…
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. The site is the marquee offering of Trump’s tech venture, Trump Media & Technology Group, founded last year as part of a SPAC deal, with $1 billion from undisclosed investors, according to the company (which is now reportedly under investigation by federal regulators). 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…
…given the massive amount of money (and cult-figure political celebrity) behind the supposed attempt at a right wing social media empire
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) March 5, 2022
War for Ukraine Update 13: Ukraine Is Still Holding
Villago Delenda Est
“Favorite President”. What a terrible, unfunny joke that is. William Henry Harrison was more accomplished than TFG.
RaflW
One sees a parallel between what Russia spent on armaments and what was delivered vs. what siphoned (by oligarchs and run of the mill diesel ‘entrepreneurs’), and what will later turn out to have been a billion dollar burn pile for Trump’s ‘investors’.
Though Nunes I think is too stupid to even know how to steal from these idiot money men. The leaky lucre is in the contracts dumbass Devin signed.
Dangerman
Nothing says Tech CEO more to me than a dairy farmer.
Too bad “Fucked Company” isn’t still around. The stories from the inside woulda been legendary.
MisterForkbeard
Look, taking what someone else did and copying the look and feel while advancing grift and corruption is ENTIRELY standard operating procedures for conservatives. This is on brand for the whole damn party.
I mean, look at framing “CRT” as “protecting kids”. Or advocating for white supremacy under “voter protection” laws. The left and other groups actually do these things, but the GOP wants to profit off of them and use the marketing approach that has already proven successful by people who actually did the work.
Elizabelle
Truth Social.
George Orwell wept.
mrmoshpotato
@Elizabelle:
You sure he’s not laughing at how much more of a loser the orange shitstain is now?
prostratedragon
@MisterForkbeard: Not only mere copying, but often deliberately malicious copying. They get the added benefit (or the main point for some of them) that vocabulary and meanings that others have built up in making their arguments are now obscured. This gives them a nice way to lie and try to fool people about their own objectives and those of others. Who doesn’t want to protect kids?
matt
Unpopularity is going to be the only thing keeping that site up. Twitter has solved a lot of very hard engineering problems, which a Trump and Nunes run organization won’t be able to do.
Villago Delenda Est
@prostratedragon: It’s like how they co-opt music without bothering to negotiate with the artists, or the copyright holders, for royalties. They just steal any intellectual property they want to use that they come across.
HumboldtBlue
Comic relief: We don’t talk about Tracy Ullman enough.
Dangerman
@matt: Full Con (job) and the Showman. I’m not sure which is which.
Given that Boyce/Dalton were Soviet owned, the name seems even more apropos.
Dangerman
@Dangerman: Oops. Second Dudes last name was Lee.
Brachiator
I suppose that right wing grifters will be happy if this Truth Social thing takes off. Not only will conservatives have a custom made echo chamber, but all the suckers will be in one place, ripe for the plucking for fund raising, etc.
Do the rubes have to pay to sign up for this thing? That would keep a lot of them away.
I also presume that Trump has not put any of his own money into this thing. Fools and suckers from top to bottom.
NotMax
Word on the street is that people are Russian to sign up.
//
bjacques
@HumboldtBlue: she was the best Angela Merkel. I especially liked her starstruck assistant.
JWR
Good interview with Craig Unger on today’s Background Briefing.
I’ve only listened to the Unger segment so far, so can’t vouch for the other two interviews.
Good to see Seth Meyers up there. Tonight’s A Closer Look was good, also, too. ;)
HumboldtBlue
@bjacques:
So smart. So funny.
p.a.
Since tRump knows no loyalty, as everything around him turns to shit, how long before he turns from attacking his support group/parasites to actually bad-mouthing his MAGAt followers? Is even he stupid enough to publicly bad-mouth his fawning supporters?
ETtheLibrarian
I am surprised that tRump isn’t on it more. The site likely needs him to be active for the whole thing to be active. Of course we always knew much of his following were bots but still, him posting would generate activity from his cult followers. He can pretty much do/say anything there and he isn’t.
We all assumed that this was all just grift and that seems to be true because he’s done nothing to make the thing a success.
Frankensteinbeck
Trump is far less popular than he is portrayed. People mistake “Fuck you, libs, we will never admit you won!” and the screaming fury of his remaining fan base for general enthusiasm. The GOP power structure doesn’t give a shit about what he wants or listen to him anymore. THEY want rigged elections and claiming Democrats cheat. They haven’t given him squat else lately. He is popular at the trolliest events and absent elsewhere. The base will never say he wasn’t perfect. That would be giving the libtards a victory. They just have no investment anymore.
JoyceH
@Frankensteinbeck: well, someone sure has an investment in the guy! – one billion dollars worth. It astonishes me that investors were willing to spend that kind of money on a guy who’s failed at absolutely everything he’s done in his long life.
Frankensteinbeck
@JoyceH:
Conning people out of money has always been his biggest talent. One billion dollars is a strangely large number. At their most frothing and numerous, hoping to overturn the election, his fans could only raise a quarter of that. Where DID it come from? Who is throwing away such a vast fortune, and since almost none of it will be spent on the platform, who is taking this money?
JAFD
Good morning, jackals and gentlebeings !
Here is your WQXR playlist for today:
We asked four contemporary female composers who have upcoming premieres with major symphony orchestras what International Women’s Day means to them. Reflecting on their careers and achievements, they echoed the importance of amplifying women’s voices, the necessity of representation, and, above all, the value of mentorship.
READ THE INTERVIEW
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Thanks for being a WQXR member!
Here’s your exclusive preview of today’s playlist.
Tuesday Music on WQXR
Jeff Spurgeon – [email protected]
6:00 AM
Luise Adolpha Le Beau
Cello Sonata in D Major, Op. 17: I. Allegro molto
Helena Munktell
Dala Suite, Op. 22: III. Scherzo. Danses Rustiques
Germaine Tailleferre
Harp Sonata: III. Perpetuum mobile
Alice Mary Smith
Symphony in C Minor: IV. Allegro maestoso
Undine Smith Moore
Afro-American Suite: IV. Allegro Molto
Jana Obrovska
Sonata in modo antiquo: Allegro leggiero
Hildegard von Bingen
Ordo Virtutum: Anima processional
Valborg Aulin
String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 17: IV. Finale. Allegro Vivace
Mel Bonis
Suite en forme de valses, Op. 35
Isabella Leonarda
Magnificat, Op. 19: Magnificat
7:00 AM
Amy Beach
Four Sketches, Op. 15: No. 4 Fireflies
Maddalena Sirmen
String Quartet No. 6 in E Major
Louise Farrenc
Overture No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 23
Florence Price
Symphony No. 3 in C Minor: III. Juba: Allegro
Elena Kats-Chernin
From Anna Magdalena’s Notebook: Aria
Anna Amalia, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel
Erwin and Elmire: Overture and Entre Acte
Anna Segal
Suite for Harp, Oboe and String Quartet: II. Danza
Rita Strohl
Great Dramatic Sonata “Titus et Berenice”: II. Vivace: Molto movimento
Ethel Smyth
The March of the Women
8:00 AM
Francesca Caccini
Ciaccona
Rachel Portman
Chocolat: Main Titles
Eleni Karaindrou
Eternity and a Day: Eternity Theme
Dora Pejacevic
Piano Quintet in B Minor, Op. 40: IV. Allegro moderato
Valerie Coleman
Umoja
Leonora Duarte
Sinfonia No. 2
Ingeborg von Bronsart
Jery und Bately: Overture
Anne Chmelewsky
Amber
Teresa Carreno
Gottschalk Waltz, Op. 1
Fanny Mendelssohn
Song of Praise: My soul waits quietly on God
Marie Trautmann Jaell
Cello Concerto in F Major: III. Vivace molto
9:00 AM
Agathe Backer Grondahl
Fantasy Pieces, Op. 45: Summer Song
Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre
Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major
Joan Tower
Fanfare No. 2 for the Uncommon Woman
Clara Schumann
Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7
Caroline Shaw
and the swallow
Clayelle Dalferes – [email protected]
(Filling in for Annie Bergen)
10:00 AM
Florence Price
Dances in the Canebrakes
Amanda Rontgen-Maier
Piano Trio in E-flat Major: IV. Finale. Allegro con fuoco
Ruth Gipps
Song for Orchestra, Op. 33
Katharine Parker
Down Longford Way
Helena Munktell
On the Threshold of Spring, Op. 24
Barbara Strozzi
L’usingnolo
Debbie Wiseman
Wilde: Main Theme
Cecile Chaminade
Provencal Poems, Op. 127: In the Moor
11:00 AM
Emilie Mayer
Symphony No. 2 in E Minor
Zenobia Powell Perry
Tawawa House Suite: Sunday Dance Tune; Jumping Over the Broom
Elena Kats-Chernin
Pitter Patter
Henriette Renie
Harp Concerto in C Minor: IV. Final: Allegro con fuoco
Alice Mary Smith
Symphony in C Minor: III. Allegro ma non troppo
Imogen Holst
Mass in A Minor: Agnus Dei
Amy Beach
3 Shakespeare Choruses, Op. 39/2: Come unto these yellow sands Zara Aleksandrova Levina 3 Klavierstucke: No. 2 Tanz
12:00 PM
Marianne Martines
Sinfonia in C
Louise Farrenc
Nonet in E-flat Major, Op. 38
Clara Schumann
Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 17: II. Scherzo: Tempo di menuetto
Alma Mahler
Five Songs: With You it is Pleasant
Lili Boulanger
D’un matin de printemps (Of a Spring Morning)
1:00 PM
Anna Bon
Flute Sonata in G Major, Op. 1/6: Allegro
Augusta Holmes
Overture for a Comedy
Emma Kodaly
Valses Viennoises
May Aufderheide
The Thriller
Anna Clyne
DANCE: III. In the middle of the fighting
Fanny Mendelssohn
Overture
Fanny Gordon
Bleeding Heart
Dana Suesse
Swamp-Bird
Hedwige Chretien
Quintet
2:00 PM
Florence Price
Adoration
Ethel Smyth
Serenade in D
Isabella Leonarda
Sonata No. 9, Op. 16/9
Emily Tulloch
Our Lovely Star
Emilia Giulilani-Guglielmi
Preludes, Op. 46: No. 1. Moderato; No. 6. Allegro
Paul Cavalconte – [email protected]
(Filling in for Elliott Forrest)
3:00 PM
Paule Maurice
Tableaux de Provence: Farandole des jeunes filles (Dance of the Young Girls)
Elfrida Andree
Fritiof Suite: Prelude
Margaret Bonds
Hold On
Xenia Erdeli
Prelude
Hildegard von Bingen
Ordo Virtutum: Instrumental Dance I
Alice Mary Smith
Symphony in A Minor
Teresa de Rogatis
Divertimento
Ethel Glenn Hier
Dragon-flies, Op. 10
Phyllis Tate
London Fields: St. James’ Park
4:00 PM
Tamar-kali
Mudbound: Land; Hap Recuperates
Luise Adolpha Le Beau
Piano Concerto in D Minor, Op. 37
Barbara Strozzi
Che si puo fare
Nora Morrow
Rose Moon
Grace Williams
Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes
Pauline Garcia Viardot
The Last Sorcerer: Romance of the Queen
5:00 PM
Florence Price
Symphony No. 1 in E Minor
Nadia Boulanger
Lux aeterna
Johanna Muller-Hermann
String Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 6: I. Moderato
Stefania de Kenessey
Spontaneous D-Combustion, “Piano Concerto No. 1”: Vivace e giocoso
Emmy Lindstrom
Song About Em
6:00 PM
Ethel Smyth
Overture to “The Boatswain’s Mate”
Clemence de Grandval
Oboe Concerto, Op. 7: III. Finale: Moderato maestoso
Guadalupe Olmedo
String Quartet in A Major, Op. 14: I. Adagio
Sulpitia Cesis
Motetti Spirituali: Hodie gloriosus; Io so ferito si; Benedictus Dominus
Dora Bright
Piano Concerto in A Minor
Terrance McKnight – [email protected]
7:00 PM
Elena Kats-Chernin
Dance of the Paper Umbrellas
Fanny Mendelssohn
String Quartet in E-flat Major
Lou Koster
Suite Dramatique
Maria Hester Park
Piano Sonata in C Major, Op. 7: III. Rondo: Allegramente
Alla Pavlova
Thumbelina Suite: V. Meeting With The Prince
Susan Spain-Dunk
Cantilena, Op. 51
8:00 PM
Florence Price
Piano Concerto in One Movement
Claudia Francesca Rusca
Sacri concerti: Canzone seconda
Mademoiselle Duval
Suite from “Les Genies”
Ina Boyle
The Magic Harp
Jennifer Higdon
blue cathedral
9:00 PM
Amy Beach
Symphony in E Minor, Op. 32, “Gaelic”
Maria Szymanowska
Danse polonaise
Errollyn Wallen
Chorale
Anna Amalia of Prussia
Sonata for Flute and Basso Continuo in F major
Jessie Montgomery
Break Away: III. Smoke
10:00 PM
Judith Weir
Love Bade me Welcome
Isobel Waller-Bridge
Emma: Suite
Hazel Scott
Idyll
Rosalind Ellicott
Piano Trio No. 1 in G Major: I. Allegro con grazia
Shirley Thompson
New Nation Rising, A 21st Century Symphony: Marshes, Hamlets and Roaming Cows
Gena Branscombe
A Memory
11:00 PM
Laura Mvula
Sing to the Moon
Louise Farrenc
Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 35
Julie von Webenau
L’Adieu et le Retour, Op. 25
Dora Pejacevic
Piano Quartet in D Minor, Op. 25: III. Allegretto grazioso
Have great day !
Ken
Who gets to explain to him about what the Russia sanctions have done to the real twitter’s numbers?
Morzer
@jhollymc
Geminid
@Morzer: From her Twitter profile, Robin T. Smith is the representative from a Tennessee House district and former chair of the Tennessee Republican party. Also a weekly contributor to @Patriot Post.
SFAW
@JAFD:
Those are all cricketers, Bruce
ETA: Joking aside, nice list. Thanks, ‘QXR.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Hey wait, you mean there was no Truckpocalypse on the DC Beltway today like we were promised? Were are the thousands of enraged hardworking REAL American workers screaming “What do we want?” “Nothing!” “When do want it?” “Now!” “Go to Freedom-Convoy.Com to make your’ donation!” during a work day bring rush how traffic to a still?
Other MJS
What fun is your own Twitter without libs to piss off?
Mai Naem mobile
Has anybody verified that a billion dollars was actually invested in Truth Social or if its just another of TFG’s ‘bigliest evah inauguration crowd’ boasts? I find it hard to believe that even conservative business people gave him that kind of money. A million here and there from different folks who saved way more from his tax cuts but not a billion.
SFAW
@Mai Naem mobile:
“Well, a billion cents is the same as a billion dollars, right, Devin?”
“Yes, Master!”
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Short thread.
Yup. It helps to fight everywhere, but we have to be smart about it. (I.e., run candidates and participate, but don’t spend millions on unicorns.)
Eyes on the prizes.
Cheers,
Scott.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I may have said it before, but in my ranking of favorite presidents, TFG doesn’t make it into the top fifty, and the only way he avoids last place is if the list includes Jefferson Davis.
Daoud bin Daoud
@Villago Delenda Est: hey, it’s not theft if you’re wealthy and white!
Chip Daniels
It shows a fundamental truth about contemporary conservatism, that they exist only to torment their hated outgroup.
They don’t want to be left alone to discuss things, they want to troll liberals.
They don’t want to be free to go to church, they want the power to force YOU to go to church.
They don’t want to be free to manage their own sexual life or reproductive choices, they want to manage and control YOUR sexuality and reproductive choices.
WaterGirl
@Chip Daniels: Truth. You should repost this comment on a thread that isn’t dead. :-)