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France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
How Trump turned his Truth Social app into a megaphone
To mark his first six months back in power, Trump unloaded around 40 posts Sunday on the app he owns and can use unfettered by moderators, censors or fact-checkers. The deluge was characteristic of the way he has transformed Truth Social, despite being a minnow in the social media world, into the White House's primary means of communication. AFP analyzed over 2,800 Truth Social posts by @realDonaldTrump from his inauguration on January 20, 2025 up to July 20 to get a better idea of how the Republican communicates. Sidelining the White House press office, the president speaks straight to his hardcore base, posting an average of 16 messages a day, many in all-caps rants peppered with exclamation marks and the odd expletive. Although Truth Social is tiny compared to X, Trump can post to 10.5 million followers knowing that he is being followed by the media and political establishment, with much of what he says quickly being reposted to rival platforms. Trump repays the favor, helping to create a right-wing media ecosystem that invariably circles back to him. Since January 20, he has shared Fox News articles 101 times, and the New York Post and Breitbart News 51 times each. "The minute he puts something on Truth Social, others pick it up and echo it," said Darren Linvill, a social media and disinformation specialist at Clemson University in South Carolina. Alternative to Twitter In his first term, Trump relied in a similar way on what was then known as Twitter -- renamed X on being purchased by Elon Musk. But after Trump's attempt to overthrow his loss in the 2020 election, he was banned by Twitter and Facebook and briefly persona non grata in Washington. Although once more present on the bigger alternatives, Trump continues to prefer Truth Social. The posts vary wildly in content, all part of Trump's brand of mixing politics with entertainment. And the style deliberately mimics Trump's verbal ticks -- the bombast, salesmanship and exaggeration. "Vladimir, STOP," he posted on April 24, after Russia launched an especially heavy bombing of Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not stop, but Trump's two-word plea earned heavy media coverage. Half of his posts used at least one exclamation point and 155 were written in all-caps. One post on March 23, promoting his cryptocurrency $Trump, read: "I LOVE $TRUMP -- SO COOL!!! The Greatest of them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Controlling the narrative Trump's posts are a way for him to keep the public on its toes and to change the narrative by giving journalists a new "rabbit hole" to follow when needed, said presidential historian Alvin Felzenberg. The leader of the world's biggest economy knows investors are paying equally close attention. As markets plunged following Trump's tariffs announcements, he used Truth Social on March 10 to pump out articles predicting optimistic economic outcomes. On April 9, just as stock prices were tanking, he posted: "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!" And hours later, he announced a 90-day suspension of additional tariffs against dozens of countries, triggering the best day for the S&P 500 index since the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. The timing led to accusations from Democrats of an insider trader scheme. "Truth Social doesn't quite have the firepower that I think Twitter had..., but it's still impactful enough that it can at times move the market," says Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
US, Germany agree to deliver five Patriot defence systems to Ukraine
Germany and the United States have agreed to deliver five Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine, Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Monday. Speaking during the 29th Ukraine Defence Contact Group, Pistorius said he reached the agreement with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth during a recent trip to Washington. That announcement comes as Russia ramps up its campaign of long-range strikes on Ukraine, including using ballistic missiles that only the Patriot system can shoot down. Overnight into Monday, Russian strikes pounded Ukraine's capital Kyiv, killing one person and injuring at least six, according to authorities. The large-scale drone and missile attack caused several fires to break out across the city, including in residential buildings, a children's day care, outdoor kiosks and a metro station, local officials said. The announcement from Pistorius also comes after US President Donald Trump said on 11 July that Washington would send advanced weapons, including Patriots, to Ukraine via NATO, marking a sharp 180-degree turn after a brief pause in arms shipments by the Pentagon. "We're going to be sending Patriots to NATO and then NATO will distribute that," Trump told US TV channel CBS News, adding that the alliance would pay for the systems. The Patriot missile system can detect and intercept a wide range of oncoming air targets, high-end ballistic missiles in particular, and is regarded as one of the world's best, at a time when Moscow is increasing its nightly missile and drone attacks amid its all-out war against Ukraine, now well into its fourth year. Coordination with partners on the systems' delivery will continue in the coming days, Pistorius said. Speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome last week, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Germany would pay for two of the systems, while Norway has agreed to supply one. On Monday, Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said his country stands ready to help fund Patriot systems for Ukraine. One of NATO's founding member countries, Norway has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine, pledging both to donate F-16 fighter jets to the country as well as a $7 billion (€5.9 billion) aid plan spread across five years. The US-built Patriot missile systems are a vital part of Ukraine's air defences and can intercept both ballistic and cruise missiles, providing protection against large-scale strikes on urban settlements. Trump said on 16 July that Patriot shipments to Ukraine had already started, but the German Defence Ministry initially denied any knowledge of the transfers. Washington has already sent three Patriot batteries to Ukraine, with Germany providing a further three. An additional battery has come from a European coalition, though not all of the systems are currently operational due to routine maintenance rotations. On 17 July, Switzerland said the US Defence Department had informed it that Washington is diverting a Swiss order for Patriot air defence systems to help Ukraine, which it badly needs to improve its response to increasingly heavy Russian aerial attacks. It was not immediately clear whether the Swiss-ordered Patriots would go directly to Ukraine or would replace units in other European countries that may be donated to Kyiv. Delivery to Switzerland of the systems, worth billions of dollars, was scheduled to begin in 2027 and be completed in 2028. But the Swiss government said Washington informed it of the delay on Wednesday, adding that it was unclear how many systems would be affected. The need to adequately arm Ukraine's military is pressing as Russia looks to drive forward its summer offensive and pounds Ukrainian cities with hundreds of drones and ballistic and cruise missiles.
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
France's Minister in Ukraine for high-level talks amid strikes
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