With Truth Social, Trump Has Official Mouthpiece and a Channel for Revenue
The New York Times
The president’s company, Trump Media & Technology Group, represents a clear mingling of his official duties and his business interests.
Anyone who wants to keep up with President Trump’s views knows to go to his Truth Social account. There, one finds his reasoning on a panoply of issues, including military strikes in Somalia, tariffs on Canada and Mexico, relations with Russia, the causes of a deadly aircraft collision, American ownership of the Gaza Strip and a budget bill now before Congress.
On Wednesday, for instance, after initial cease-fire talks between the United States and Russia over the war in Ukraine, he employed the account to attack Ukraine’s leader. “Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start,” the president’s post said. “Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
In some ways, such statements are akin to how Mr. Trump turned Twitter, now called X, into his megaphone in his first term, when administration officials declared his posts to be official White House communications.
But one major difference stands out: Mr. Trump is the biggest shareholder in Trump Media & Technology Group, the company that owns Truth Social, and so stands to benefit directly if his posts drive traffic to the site. Even though he has put his Trump Media shares in a trust controlled by his oldest son, the president remains the main draw to the platform that is the company’s signature product.
His Truth Social posts are only one example of the intersection of Mr. Trump’s official role and Trump Media. On Wednesday, in an extraordinary move, Trump Media sued a Brazilian Supreme Court justice who is overseeing multiple criminal investigations of Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president whom Mr. Trump has described as a one of his “great friends.”
The lawsuit, which accused the judge of illegally censoring right-wing voices on social media, appeared to be an effort to pressure the foreign judge as he considered whether to arrest Mr. Bolsonaro.
The president made his power to shut down the tolling system sound absolute. But legal experts say the law may not be in his favor.
The Trump administration has said little about the Venezuelan men who were transferred from Texas to the U.S. military base in Cuba.
After 20 percent of the World Trade Center Health Program staff was terminated last week, Democratic lawmakers were outraged. On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers joined them.
The S.S. United States, the largest passenger ship ever built in America, left Philadelphia under tow on Wednesday, eventually to be sunk off the Gulf Coast.
Dale Ho, who will decide whether the Justice Department can drop corruption charges against Eric Adams, argued successfully against Trump policy in a 2019 Supreme Court case.
The cuts affected five probationary employees, a relative said. The Trump administration has targeted such workers for firing across the federal government.
Corrections officers, without their union’s approval, refused to show up for work to protest what they say are hazardous conditions and severe staff shortages.
Mr. Peltier was convicted in the killing of two F.B.I. agents. An order from former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will allow him to serve his remaining time under home confinement.
The covert program, begun during the Biden administration and stepped up by President Trump, is hunting for the location of fentanyl labs.
Representative Mike Lawler, Republican of New York, is contemplating running for governor next year. Beth Davidson, a Democrat, hopes to win his swing seat in the Hudson Valley.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights warned that it would penalize schools that consider race in scholarships, hiring and an array of other activities.
Storms have overwhelmed the state in recent years. On top of the floods, snow is expected soon.