What would you expect if an outsider enters the political fray and shocks the entire political landscape by using social media as a digital bullhorn to dispense self-aggrandizing fictions, skewer his rivals with false accusations and fabricate narratives to replace facts with convenient lies? You’d be drawn to him. Maybe because he shocks you and you wonder what he’ll say next. Or because you’re scared that he’ll actually come to power. Or because he’s entertaining and you can’t wait to see what he’ll do next. Or maybe you’re angry at your government and you want a leader who will shake it up. or maybe you’re just inherently angry and he’ll serve up the government as your target. No matter which, he’d draw a flood of followers.
Enter Donald Trump who spread most of his false rhetoric to American voters through social media. His bold, unfiltered messages drew enough attention to pepper voters with misinformation unworthy of the mainstream media except for Fox News, Breitbart and NewsMax, all of which rode Trump’s social media popularity to attract viewers and ad revenues. These messages were embraced mostly by his angry, uninformed, non-college-educated and gullible Americans.
His tweets and messages through Truth Social and TikTok dispensed convenient fictions. This aggressive attack was contagious and infected many other Republican politicians because it worked for and pleased Donald Trump, whose criticism they feared and support they needed to win elections. His messages were so disquieting and, at the same time, entertaining that they let him control enough of the political narrative to be reported in headlines by traditional print and digital news outlets, demonstrating the extent to which misinformation in social media invaded political news.
As President, Trump relied heavily on tweets to announce policies, fire officials, and attack rivals, including excoriating the “fake news” press, which helped him stay in the spotlight.
Twitter’s unprecedented ban of Trump cut off his access to millions and rocked the digital landscape. In response, he launched Truth Social in early 2022 to replace Twitter. However, it fell short of Twitter and Facebook in influence; although partisan media attention to his Truth Social activity in 2022 exceeded 2016. A study from the University at Buffalo found that, the positive ratio that Trump’s engagement on social media bears to the entire media landscape demonstrates that, through Truth Social and X, Trump occupies the center of gravity in American politics. In the 2022 midterms, Truth Social gave Trump more coverage than Twitter did in the 2016 primaries. Yet, journalists referenced his posts less.
Trump’s social media use reshaped political communication. He showed that Twitter could influence voters and news and build a personal brand. His approach also exposed the effectiveness of spreading misinformation and expand political divisions.
Trump’s social media strategy has left a lasting mark on politics. His controversial methods highlighted social media’s growing role in political discourse. As technology evolves, future politicians will likely gravitate towards it, and facts and truths will take a back seat to political fictions.
I would be remiss to credit social media with all the credibility of Trump’s claims. Trump started building his brand during his 2016 campaign when his son-in-law Jared Kushner made a deal with Sinclair Broadcasting. Trump agreed to make himself available to Sinclair for interviews on the 294 television stations it owns or operates in 89 U.S. markets to attract viewers on the condition that they would lob softball questions at him and there would be no comment or criticism allowed in response to his answers. Kushner highlighted that Sinclair, in states like Ohio, reaches a much wider audience — around 250,000 viewers — than networks like CNN, which reach around 30,000. So Trump became the most trusted source of news in rural America, which contributed to the believability of his the misinformation and false claims social media.
