The former president has returned to a platform that is little more than a circus.
After a two-year hiatus, Donald Trump made his return to the platform formerly known as Twitter last week, posting his mugshot, which instantly garnered around 250 million views (and counting), according to the platform’s metrics. This figure speaks to Trump’s magnetic pull on social media, a force that helped define his presidency.
However, if Trump decides to stay, he’ll quickly discover that Elon Musk’s version of Twitter — now rebranded as X — offers a much less pleasant experience than the one managed by Jack Dorsey. For all their ideological rigidity, the former leadership of the platform somehow managed to maintain a more vibrant digital public square. In contrast, Musk’s Twitter is a chaotic mix of opaque algorithmic changes, monetized services, odd content no one asked for, and an abundance of marijuana ads.
Musk’s insistence on inserting himself into every aspect of the platform’s operation only adds to the confusion. The circus-like atmosphere is not just about the content but about Musk himself, who seems to be at the center of the drama at all times. For Trump, who thrived in the earlier, more direct format of Twitter, this new version may prove more distracting than beneficial.
While Trump’s return may generate initial buzz, the platform he’s rejoined is fundamentally different. It no longer represents the digital battleground it once was. Instead, X now feels like a sideshow, with Musk as the ringleader, pulling all the strings in a way that draws attention but risks alienating both users and influencers alike.
Trump’s return to a now-unstable platform may reinforce his position as a media spectacle, but it also suggests he’s stepping into an arena that’s increasingly difficult to navigate. Musk’s leadership of X might be less about free speech and more about maintaining constant, sensational engagement, which may not serve Trump’s political ambitions as well as his previous social media presence did.
The ultimate question is whether the turbulence of X’s new direction will still allow Trump to maintain his grasp on the platform, or whether the circus will consume even the greatest of its performers.
