Despite actively attempting to get the app banned while in office, former president Donald Trump joined TikTok over the weekend. After sharing only one post, he gained over 3.6 million followers . The video, which was taken on June 1 while he was at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Newark, New Jersey, has received over 143,000 comments and 3.5 million likes, Newsweek reported.
President Trump has joined TikTok 🔥🔥 That’s my President!! pic.twitter.com/ytLtgmXc3y
— KᗴᒪᒪᗴY ✰ (@Patriotmom717) June 2, 2024
Trump teams up with UFC CEO Dana White in his debut TikTok video. Podcaster and UFC color commentator Joe Rogan was also present at the fight and was spotted shaking hands with Trump, per TIME Magazine . Trump claimed it was his “honor” to appear on the social media site as White introduced him to the site in the clip. In a montage showing the crowd’s responses to Trump’s entrance, fans can be seen waving and pointing at the former president as he poses for a picture with one of the spectators.
NEW He tried to ban TikTok during his presidency, but now he’s joined it. Donald Trump now has a verified TikTok account. President Biden doesn’t have a personal TikTok account, but his campaign’s rapid response team has an official account there. pic.twitter.com/iyuKse6lVZ
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) June 2, 2024
These are quick clips that appear to have been taken with a digital phone camera, while Kid Rock’s song American Bad Ass is playing in the background. Trump entered the venue to the same music that he walked out to. At the end of the 13-second clip, Trump concludes the video by saying, “That was a good walk on, right?”
The increasing number of followers on Trump’s account coincides with the potential Republican nominee for president in 2024 experiencing a decline in shares of his own social media platform, Truth Social, after he was found guilty last week in his New York hush money trial. He was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to pay Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about their 2006 affair, in an attempt to sway the 2016 presidential election, which he ultimately won.
Given that during his time in office, Trump expressed worries about TikTok regarding national security and called for its ban, there was a lot of intrigue around his presence on the platform. Back in 2020 while signing an executive order banning the app, he said that apps owned by companies in China “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
However, it appears that Trump has now changed that opinion. “Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it,” he told CNBC. “There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it.” Trump undoubtedly cares about younger voters, and according to a recent Pew Research study, many young voters get their news from TikTok.
Donald Trump weighs in on the possible TikTok ban: “There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it… The thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people.” pic.twitter.com/2Fhg1p8VTk
— Pop Base (@PopBase) March 12, 2024
The youth vote was a significant component in President Joe Biden ‘s win over Trump in the 2020 election. In contrast to Trump voters, who make up 39% of the electorate, nearly half of Biden voters are younger than 50, according to a different Pew Research Center research. The analysis reports that among all American adults, the percentage of people who routinely acquire news via TikTok has more than tripled, rising from 3% in 2020 to 14% in 2023.
