Truth Social is a weird place.
The social media site started by Donald Trump (or, really, by tech-savvy people working for him) is not formally oriented around Trump, but it is in practice. It is largely populated by Trump fans and allies who use the site to orbit Trump like asteroids circling the sun. Trump uses it differently, injecting rhetoric and framing into the national conversation.
Nearly every one of his posts triggers the same response from the site’s users: a flurry of pro-Trump, anti-Biden memes tacked on to Trump’s missive. It’s feudalistic; when the king emerges from the castle, the serfs compete to offer him their wares in the hopes that — glory be! — he might lackadaisically bless them with a reshare.
All of that, the context for the site, offers insight into how Trump approaches power. But one post in particular, offered up by Trump on Wednesday evening, was even more revealing.
What grabbed the most attention was Trump’s announcement that he was excommunicating donors to former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley’s campaign from his political circle.
“Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to [Haley], from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp,” he wrote with his idiosyncratic punctuation and capitalization. “We don’t want them, and will not accept them, because we Put America First, and ALWAYS WILL!”
It wasn’t hard to see this coming. Trump wants to be done with the primaries and understands that Haley, his only remaining opponent, needs financial contributions to press on. So he imposes what costs he can on doing so, a “permanent bar” from “MAGA camp.”
Such promises are often illusory in Trumpworld; Haley herself went from criticizing him forcefully in 2016 to being tapped to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations. It’s also an easy threat to issue when you’re running out the clock in a primary season. When the general election campaign begins and Trump is trying to raise nine figures to defeat President Biden, the apostasy of giving cash to Haley will be easy to forgive.
But step back a bit. This is Trump attempting to impose a penalty on those who defy him, to make democratic expression something for which one can be punished. He could simply wait for Haley’s inevitable concession. Instead, he’s lashing out at the insolence of not falling in line.
If you think he wouldn’t be happy to scale this up, you haven’t been paying attention.
Again, though, that was just part of the social media post.
Haley, he declared at the outset, “is very bad for the Republican Party and, indeed, our Country.”
Why?
Because, the former president wrote, “Her False Statements, Derogatory Comments, and Humiliating Public Loss, is demeaning to True American Patriots.”
If there is one thing Donald Trump will not abide, it is false statements, disparaging people or refusing to accept a humiliating public loss. When one thinks of the things that are least Trump-like, it’s dishonesty, rudeness and a failure to concede elections.
One would be forgiven for marveling at the lack of self-awareness in that phrase or to assume that he is being intentionally ironic. We might also wonder if this is another example of Trump trying to redirect criticism he faced against someone else, either to dilute the criticism or to “what about” it. Either way, it stands out.
In his post, Trump went on to suggest that Haley should be angry not at him but at her consultants. (Unlikely, given that Haley has outperformed every other challenger to the quasi-incumbent Trump.) And then one more insult.
“I knew Nikki well, she was average at best, is not the one to take on World Leaders, and she never did,” Trump wrote. “That was up to me, and that is why they respected the United States.”
We’ve been through this before, too. Someone who worked for Trump and received praise when hired or appointed is transformed, once they defy him, into a bumbling buffoon who relied on Trump to backstop their ineptitude.
Haley was picked to represent the country at the United Nations in November 2016. At the time, Trump’s team put out a statement praising the South Carolina governor.
“Governor Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country,” it read. “She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage.”
“You’ve been fantastic,” Trump said when she eventually resigned the post. “You’re my friend. And I just — on behalf of the country, I want to thank you for a great job.”
As hollow a sentiment as his more recent one.
But this is Trump in a nutshell. No permanent friends, only permanent interests: specifically, accruing power for Donald Trump. It’s all familiar — the disparaging of former allies, the threats, the complaints about things he does.
This, not any policy, constitutes Donald Trump’s politics.
That is exactly right. And his appeal has nothing to do with policy either. I don’t think most of his followers could name one except maybe “the wall” which he failed to build. That’s not why they love him. They love him because they love a man who dominates. And just like him, they are infuriated that half the country is refusing to be dominated.
Trump cultists know on some level that they are patsies which is one reason they are so mad at the rest of us. We make them look bad.
