Last Call For Speaking, Truth To Sour

As I predicted last year when Tang The Conqueror announced his own social media platform and that former GOP. Rep Devin Nunes was going to run it, "Truth Social" is neither, and just another failed Trump business venture that he'll use for a tax write-off.

The two Southern tech entrepreneurs had the two qualities that Donald Trump’s Truth Social startup needed: tech-industry expertise and a politically conservative worldview aligned with the former president, a rare combination in the liberal-leaning industry centered in San Francisco.

Josh Adams and Billy Boozer - the company’s chiefs of technology and product development - joined the venture last year and quickly became central players in its bid to build a social-media empire, backed by Trump’s powerful brand, to counter what many conservatives deride as “cancel culture” censorship from the left.

Less than a year later, both have resigned their senior posts at a critical juncture for the company’s smartphone-app release plans, according to two sources familiar with the venture.

The departures followed the troubled launch of the company’s iPhone app on Feb. 20. Weeks later, many users remain on a waiting list, unable to access the platform. Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) Chief Executive Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman, said publicly that the company aimed to make the app fully operational within the United States by the end of March.

The company has an app for iPhones but no app for Android phones, which comprise more than 40% of the U.S. market, though the company has advertised seeking an engineer to build one.

Boozer declined to comment and Adams did not respond to a request. Representatives for TMTG and Trump did not respond to requests for comment.

This account is based on Reuters interviews with eight people with knowledge of Truth Social’s activities, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

Truth Social is part of a growing sector of tech firms catering to conservatives and marketing themselves as free-speech champions. The platform promised to give Trump unfettered communication with the American public more than a year after he was kicked off Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for allegedly inciting or glorifying violence during the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol.

The exit of two executives critical to the app-launch efforts could imperil the company’s progress as it tries to prove it can compete with mainstream platforms such as Twitter, said two people familiar with the company. Like Twitter, Trump’s platform offers users the chance to connect and share their thoughts.

“If Josh has left… all bets are off,” one of those sources said of tech chief Adams, calling him the “brains” behind Truth Social’s technology.

 

Don't worry, Trump more than made his money back off of selling "Truth Social" as a subscription service and charging users $10 a month to play in his mudhole. Remember, the deal to create Trump's media company is already under FEC investigation, and still hasn't closed yet.

The publicly traded company that plans to merge with former president Donald Trump’s media company is under investigation by two federal regulators, which have asked for stock trading information and communications.

Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that it had received “certain preliminary, fact-finding inquiries” from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in late October and early November regarding stock trading tied to the merger agreement announced Oct. 20.

Separately, the SEC asked for information related to meetings of the company’s board of directors, information on investors, and communications, according to the filing.

The company said the filing should not be construed as an indication that either agency has concluded anyone violated the law. Spokespeople for DWAC and Trump did not immediately respond Monday to requests for comment.

 

I don't think it ever will, meaning people will be out millions. Trump will make a mint though...and blow it on his next deal to fleece his voters.

The Republican Mask Slips Again...

...And a GOP politician accidentally tells the truth.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) indicated on Monday that Senate Republicans wouldn’t have accepted Ketanji Brown Jackson as a Supreme Court pick if they controlled the Senate and sent a warning shot about how Republicans will treat any Supreme Court nominees in 2023 or 2024.

“If we get back the Senate and we’re in charge of this body and there is judicial openings, we will talk to our colleagues on the other side. But if we were in charge, she would not have been before this committee. You would have had somebody more moderate than this,” Graham said during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting.

Graham’s comments come as he’s set to vote “no” on Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination — the first time he’ll oppose a Supreme Court pick since joining the Senate.

Republicans previously refused to move Merrick Garland’s 2016 Supreme Court nomination, arguing that it was in line with how Supreme Court nominees had been treated in a presidential election year when the White House and the Senate were controlled by different parties. If Republicans had kept control of the Senate after the 2020 election, that would give them the ability to similarly have refused to take up whoever President Biden nominated to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer.

If Republicans had kept control of the Senate, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was expected to be chairman of the committee, and he’s likely to become chairman if Republicans win back the Senate in the November midterm elections.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that he would not let President Biden fill a Supreme Court seat in 2024.

 

There is nobody Biden could have nominated that would have been acceptable to Graham.

 

Expecting a Republican to vote for an extremely well-rounded and well-qualified person, especially a Black woman, is laughable. Everyone knows the GOP are racists, and that's why their voters vote for them. 

As I've been saying for years now, Donald Trump's open bigotry, racism, and antisemitism was not a dealbreaker for 72 million people six years ago, and it's certainly not a dealbreaker now for the people who remain in the party six years later.

The Big Lie, Moose Lady Edition

Again, the Republican Party is dedicated to two things in 2022: Putting Donald Trump back in the White House as Maximum Leader of the American Regime, and doing so over the broken democracy that America used to be.

 

Donald Trump's supporters give him credit for lots of things, but a Michigan member of Congress went way beyond reality in falsely claiming that Trump "caught" Osama bin Laden.

"Caught Osama bin Laden and Soleimani, al-Baghdadi," said Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., during a Trump rally Saturday in Washington Township, Mich., in a speech in which she attacked President Joe Biden's foreign policy.

Trump was a private citizen in 2011, when President Barack Obama authorized the mission that killed bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader and architect of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Biden was vice president at the time, and opposed the raid during internal deliberations because of uncertainty over whether bin Laden would be at the location of the raid.

During his presidency, Trump authorized military operations that led to the deaths of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Iranian military commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and accused terrorist Hamza bin Laden – the son of bin Laden.

 

Of course this is a huge lie, and everyone applauded anyway.  Fact don't matter to Trumpies, and they haven't for a long time. The people he endorses are bound to him by falsehoods, the latest of which is Moose Lady, up for the now late Don Young's Alaska House seat.

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed Sarah Palin in the upcoming Alaska House special election.

Calling her a “wonderful patriot” and “tough and smart,” Trump said the former governor had been “a champion for Alaska values, Alaska energy, Alaska jobs, and the great people of Alaska.”

Referring to her time on the 2008 Republican ticket alongside the late Sen. John McCain — a longtime foil of the former president — Trump said, “Sarah lifted the McCain presidential campaign out of the dumps despite the fact she had to endure some very evil, stupid, and jealous people within the campaign itself. They were out to destroy her, but she didn’t let that happen.”

“I am proud to give her my Complete and Total Endorsement, and encourage all Republicans to unite behind the wonderful person and her campaign to put America First,” Trump added.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate and conservative firebrand announced Friday that she was running to fill the House seat held by the late Rep. Don Young, following recent talks with Trump.

“Public service is a calling, and I would be honored to represent the men and women of Alaska in Congress, just as Rep. Young did for 49 years. I realize that I have very big shoes to fill, and I plan to honor Rep. Young’s legacy by offering myself up in the name of service to the state he loved and fought for,” Palin said in a statement Friday.

Some 51 candidates are presently running to replace Young, including several state lawmakers, and Palin is no shoo-in. The special election’s primary is scheduled for June 11, with the top four candidates advancing to the general election on Aug. 16.

 

This is the biggest test so far of Trump's Dear Leader powers. If he can't get Palin into the race on June 11, his endorsement may not mean as much as previously.

 

Then again, if we see dozens drop out now that Trump has endorsed Moose Lady, well, we'll see.

 

Who are the Democrats running here?