There’s disastrous vocational changes, and then there’s what Devin Nunes did back in December. For 11 years, he had a cushy job as a far right member of the House of Representatives. Then he abruptly resigned from his position to become CEO of the still new Trump Media & Technology Group, aka the company behind Truth Social, the former president’s attempt at a Twitter clone. That venture has, shall we say, not gone well. But by gum, Nunes is still trying to spin it as a secret win.
Less than a week after embarrassing himself on Fox News by hilariously claiming Truth Social was somehow “beating Twitter,” he was back with some more unconvincing spin. The last time he was there, even host Maria Bartiromo, herself no stranger to unhinged conspiracy theories, ruthlessly grilled him over his strange claims. While discussing Elon Musk buying $73.1 million, which gives the controversial entrepreneur a 9.1% stake in the company, Bartiromo gave Nunes a second chance, but he failed again.
Devin Nunes is back: “Twitter is a press release wire, it’s a place where celebrities go and put out a press release. … You know, compared to what we're doing at Truth, where we’re building a community, we’re not a place for celebrities to put press releases — I mean, you can.” pic.twitter.com/zKohfWQhrr
— Eric Kleefeld (@EricKleefeld) April 13, 2022
“What is Twitter? Most Americans don’t use Twitter,” Nunes said, which is probably not a great way to start a convincing argument. “Twitter is a press release wire, it’s a place where celebrities go and put out a press release. It’s nothing more than that.”
Nunes then wondered why Musk would want to invest in arguably the world’s most popular social media service when he could be pouring money into one that not even its founder uses.
“So I don’t know why you’d want to invest that much money unless you’ve got some grander plan for it,” Nunes said. “You know, compared to what we’re doing at Truth, where we’re building a community, we’re not a place for celebrities to put press releases — I mean, you can.”
He then all but begged Musk to use Truth Social, saying he’s “more than welcome” to sign up, saying he was “allowed to come on free of charge,” as opposed to, you know, giving them a small chunk of his unimaginable wealth, which it could probably use right now. He then reminded people, a little desperately, that the Truth Social app is waiting to be downloaded, while unwittingly reminding people that it’s still only available on iPhones.
Will Nunes’ plea to Musk work? Or will Truth Social wind up yet another failed Trump product, like his steaks, his airline, his university, his cycling tour, etc., etc., etc.?