Donald Trump will turbocharge his campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination this weekend, with two campaign stops in key early-election states.
The move comes as Meta Platforms Inc said it will reactivate its Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks following a two-year suspension following the deadly Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
He has 34 million followers on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram, platforms that are important tools for political outreach and fundraising.
His Twitter account was restored by new owner Elon Musk in November, although Trump has yet to post there.
Free speech advocates say it’s appropriate for the public to have access to messages from political candidates, but Meta critics have accused the company of having a lax moderation policy.
Meta said in a blog post it had “put in place new guard rails to deter repeat offenders.”
While the decision was widely expected, it drew sharp reprimands from civil rights activists. “Facebook has policies, but they don’t enforce them,” said Laura Murphy, a lawyer who led a two-year audit of Facebook that ended in 2020.
“I worry about Facebook’s ability to understand the real damage Trump is doing: Facebook has been too slow to act.”
The Anti-Defamation League, NAACP, Free Press and other groups also expressed concern Wednesday about Facebook’s ability to deter future attacks on the democratic process, with Trump still repeating his false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election .
Others said it was the right decision. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s appearances in New Hampshire and South Carolina are an opportunity to address complaints from some Republicans that his proposed rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden has been slow to get off the ground, but they may also illustrate a weaker influence on the party.
South Carolina’s key allies, US Senator Lindsey Graham and Gov. Henry McMaster, are expected to join Trump at an event in the state capital, but several other prominent Republicans are staying away.
They include two with potential White House ambitions of their own, former Governor Nikki Haley and US Senator Tim Scott.
It’s a sign that some key Republican donors and activists are looking for other options to challenge an expected Biden re-election campaign, including Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to interviews with a dozen party officials, donors and strategists this week .
“I don’t hear from any state elected official or big donor getting too excited for Trump,” said a person who has played a key role in Trump’s past campaigns in South Carolina. “The names I’m excited to hear them mention are DeSantis and Haley.”
About a year into the parties’ nomination contests, Trump is bringing some powerful advantages to his campaign. Polls consistently rank him as the leading pick among Republican voters, and his tumultuous four years in the White House give him a tremendous advantage in getting his name out there.
Since leaving office, he’s been an amazing fundraiser, although his primary fundraising vehicle is registered Save America to fund Trump’s political allies but not his own campaigns. Watchdog groups have already accused Trump of illegally using his Save America war chest to support his presidential bid.
The bipartisan Campaign Legal Center in November asked the Federal Elections Commission to investigate Save America’s money transfer to Make America Great Again Inc, known as MAGA Inc, which is registered as an independent super PAC but is staffed by former Trump aides and expected to spend money to support Trump’s campaign.
https://www.independent.ie/world-news/north-america/president-trump/donald-trump-set-to-turbo-charge-election-campaign-as-facebook-lifts-his-ban-from-social-media-platform-42315075.html Donald Trump set to speed up election campaign as Facebook lifts its ban from the social media platform
