Former U.S. President Donald Trump made a comeback to the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, where he shared his police mugshot with his 86.8 million followers. This mugshot was taken during his surrender in Georgia on charges related to the 2020 presidential election. It is the first-ever police mugshot of a former U.S. president. Trump used this post to reiterate baseless claims of a conspiracy against his re-election. It is worth noting that Trump had been banned from Twitter in 2021 following the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Elon Musk, the CEO of X, had previously stated that he would reverse the ban on Trump once he acquired the company. After conducting a poll on X, which resulted in favor of Trump’s return, Musk reinstated his account. However, Trump had refrained from posting on X until August 24 and instead used his own social media platform, Truth Social. Musk shared Trump’s X post and referred to it as “next level.” He also used his personal account to promote Trump’s interview with Tucker Carlson, a controversial former Fox News anchor. This interview, which was streamed on X and garnered over 250 million views, took place after Trump skipped the first GOP presidential debate.
In addition to his return to X, earlier this year, Trump also rejoined Meta-owned Instagram, where he promoted a collection of NFTs featuring his image. Despite his presence on multiple social media platforms, representatives for Trump did not provide immediate comments on the matter.