Trump Returns to X Before Elon Musk Interview. What Does it Mean?

Former President Donald Trump (R) has returned to X for the first time in about a year since posting the picture of his mugshot on the platform. Today, President Trump released a campaign ad alongside another post with just text. This is the first time he has posted a tweet with only text since declaring he would not be attending President Joe Biden’s (D) inauguration in January of 2021.

The ad (posted first) and his post with text can be seen below:

“Are you better off now than you were when I was president?” said Trump. “Our economy is shattered. Our border has been erased. We're a nation in decline. Make the American Dream AFFORDABLE again. Make America SAFE again. Make America GREAT Again!”

Why is this notable news?

Trump will join Elon Musk on Monday night (tonight) at 8 pm for an interview on the platform. With a considerable amount of money gained ($1.2 billion since going public) in his own social media platform – Truth Social – Americans were not sure whether the former president would return to X.

Is it the right business decision? Perhaps not. However, from a campaign perspective, it’s a no-brainer. Trump has 88 million followers on X compared to 7.5 million on Truth Social and can reach a much wider array of political perspectives on the former platform. Trump has maintained these 88 million followers despite not regularly posting on X for three and a half years. Moreover, X has approximately 250 million active daily users while Truth Social has about 2 million. In his first post back on X, Trump received 13 million views in two hours, nearly three times the amount of monthly active users on Truth Social.

His textual post from above on X appears to be exclusively on the platform as well. It does not appear on Truth Social at the time of writing. He is sending out a lot more textual posts on Truth Social with text compared to his one post on X. A bit of a balancing act it seems.

With the Elon Musk interview and the first sign of life from Trump’s X account in quite some time, could this signal a permanent return to X for former President Trump?