CNN commentator and New York Times reporter, Maggie Haberman said Donald Trump is willing to lie to himself and his supporters about Truth Social to make it appear as if the failing social media platform is a success.
“We have seen him over and over again refuse to accept external reality and to continue to try to paint things as he wants them to be seen, and this is one of those times,” Haberman told CNN in an interview on Thursday, according to a clip shared by Mediaite.
Haberman continued: “However, the objective reality is the fact that the stock tumbled earlier this week. You know, what was initially adding to his net worth – at least on paper by several billions – is no longer that he is getting a lot of headlines around this and he is just trying to will it into some kind of a different reality.”
Trump launched Truth Social in early 2022, after he was banned from major social media sites for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. The company went public last week and since that time shares have surged then plummeted.
The decline worsened after the company reported a $58 million net loss in 2023 in a regulatory filing with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company made just over $4.1 million in revenue last year.
As the company’s major shareholder, Trump suffered a loss of $1 billion as Truth Social stock tumbles.
“All of the competitors to TRUTH SOCIAL, especially those in the Radical Left Democrats Party who are failing at every level, like to use their vaunted ‘disinformation machine’ to try and convince people, and it is not easy to do, that TRUTH is not such a big deal and doesn’t ‘get the word out’ as well as various others, which they know to be false,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social Thursday.
Despite the company’s filing, Trump insisted in another post on Truth Social that the company has over “$200,000,000 in cash and zero debt,” and said it was “very good for a start-up and growing fast.”
“I THINK TRUTH IS AMAZING! First of all, it is very solid, having over $200,000,000 in CASH and ZERO DEBT. More importantly, it is the primary way I get the word out and, for better or worse, people want to hear what I have to say, perhaps, according to experts, more than anyone else in the World,” he wrote.
He continued: “Look, using TRUTH, I became the Republican Nominee for President of the United States, and in record time! When I ENDORSE a politician on TRUTH, they almost ALWAYS WIN. If it didn’t work, or properly get the word out, I wouldn’t use it – But it does work, and work really well – And the fun is just getting started!!!”
Despite Trump’s comments, Haberman said privately they acknowledge that “this is not the week they were hoping to have, certainly, with Truth Social.”
