I believe that what we saw during the Trump Administration was not a display of exceptionalism but the result of a government headed by someone not afraid of the media and who maintained a rather conventional, commonsense approach to answering governance questions.
His path was conditioned by his ego-centric desire to self-aggrandize and avoid looking bad. Truth be told, the results may have been somewhat of a fluke rather than a preplanned outcome.
Throughout Trump’s career, we can find massive failures, papered over by public relations, court settlements, or simply a lack of shame that kept Trump moving forward.
He was transactional in that he would associate with the dodgiest of characters as long as they presented the possibility of fast, easy money, fancy credentials, or looked good and presented themselves well. Vetting was sketchy. Likewise, he could abandon these individuals in a heartbeat if things turned sour or they were no longer useful.
His modus operandi was open-door confusion that kept himself at the center of power – even to the extent of setting individuals and groups against each other to produce results. Most of Trump’s ventures featured a secretive culture ruled by non-disclosure agreements which Trump was quick to enforce. Titles were illusory in a culture where the only sin was to take credit for an accomplishment or assign blame to Trump or his children.
Perhaps this is what was needed at that point in time. But, will it be sufficient to lead the nation on a path to recovery starting in 2024?
From what I can see, the perfidy of the progressive communist democrats and the lack of decent – non-corrupt and competent – candidates on the other side make him look like a shoo-in. Assuming he will even run at an advanced age and there are no seriously suitable candidates who have managed a state like Ron DeSantis.
Why am I growing increasingly pessimistic?
The pattern and practice are repeating. It appears that Trump’s over-hyped communications platform, Truth Social, appears to be a massive failure and largely inaccessible to a large group of potential conservative users such as myself.
According to former Republican congressman Devin Nunes who gave up his seat to head the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) as its Chief Executive, the Truth Social site was scheduled to be fully operational by the end of March following its February 22nd launch. The Truth Social platform uses a custom (crippled) version of the free and open-source social network hosting software Mastodon. One would think that this well-tested platform would convey certain stability and scalability to the enterprises. Gab, a controversial conservative social network with a large user base became the largest Mastodon node in July 2019. Truth’s hosting provider is Right Forge.
Even after experiencing a large number of downloads from the Apple Store, we find the platform, available only for iPhone and not Android or PC devices, remains largely unavailable for massive numbers of users who would like to participate. Even Trump has not joined the platform as a full-time poster.
Daily downloads declined nearly 95 percent since its alleged February 2022 launch. And, despite the hype, downloads never approached those of TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Messenger, Google Maps, Gmail, ZOOM, or Amazon Shopping.
The excuse that the platform is being rolled out slowly to ensure no capacity issues is both stale and lame. With an alleged billion-dollar investment, adding Right Forge's hardware capacity to scale robust Mastodon software should present few significant problems. Moreover, periodic “growth outages are accepted as normal during a site’s beta test phase.
It appears that key “influencers” were given preferential access and possibly paid to add the platform to their normal distribution channels.
But the most problematic indicator is that two top Truth tech executives are leaving.
Like most Trump enterprises, the leadership is largely unknown, and operations are hidden behind a veil of secrecy.
According to Reuters, Josh Adams, the technology chief, and Billy Boozer, the head of product development, have resigned.
Adams and Boozer are said to have worked at a level just below Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky, who were said to be the senior day-to-day managers. Both men were contestants on Season Two of Trump’s hit reality TV show, “The Apprentice,” but neither man won the coveted “Apprentice” title, which went to West Point graduate Kelly Perdew.
Moss, a talk radio show host, author, and investment advisor, and Andy Litinsky, a Harvard-trained nationally syndicated radio talk show host, seem unlikely to be candidates thoughtfully chosen to manage a high-profile tech enterprise.
Bottom line…
As far as Truth Social, we will have to wait and see if it succeeds or turns into another fail like Mike “The Pillow Guy” Lindell’s Frank Speech platform, which morphed into Lindell TV.
There is a glimmer of possibility on the horizon. Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter stock could see Trump return to his favored platform as the tide turns against censorship and cancellation. Or, with heavy investors, TMTG could buy and expand the already successful GAB.
As far as a viable Trump candidacy in 2024, again, we will need to wait and see.
I am pessimistic, and my faith is conditioned on potential Durham revelations that demonstrate the election was rigged, the exposure of shenanigans at the CDC and NIH, a grassroots movement to bring commonsense to local government, and reform in corporate media as they realize their audience has gone online and never to return. I literally cannot remember when I last used my TiVo-equipped TV.
As my best friend Al often reminds me, I am not living in the real world.
We are so screwed.
-- steve