In a somewhat surprising move, former President Donald Trump has joined the popular — and possibly doomed? — video-sharing app TikTok.
Trump’s debut on TikTok came Saturday night with a video showing his arrival at UFC 302, accompanied by UFC CEO Dana White and popular podcaster Joe Rogan.
“The President is now on TikTok,” White said at the start of the video, which features Trump walking out to Kid Rock’s “American Bad A**” as he enters the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey for UFC 302.
“It’s my honor,” Trump responded.
“That was a good walk on, right?” Trump remarks at the end of the montage-style video showing crowds cheering the former president as he walks through.
@realdonaldtrump Launching my TikTok at @UFC ♬ original sound – President Donald J Trump
Trump’s nascent TikTok account has already garnered over 4.4 million followers in the two days he has been on the app, and the video itself has over 70 million views and over 4 million likes.
By contrast, President Joe Biden, who has been on the app since February, has less than 350,000 followers.
Will Trump’s support continue to increase?
A cursory glance at the content on Biden’s TikTok page shows a series of videos in which a young person says some variation of,”You have to watch what Donald Trump just said.”
Occasionally, you have a video of Vice President Kamala Harris saying, “You have to watch what Donald Trump just said.”
If you have to keep telling people that they “have” to watch something, it means they don’t really feel much like watching it.
Trump’s TikTok arrival is a change from his stance as president when he signed an executive order in 2020 seeking to ban TikTok in the U.S. over national security concerns about the app’s Chinese ownership. The order, which never took effect after being blocked in court, alleged TikTok threatened to allow China to surveil millions of American users, according to Time magazine.
However, the former president recently signaled a change of heart, telling CNBC in March: “Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it. There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it.”
Trump’s change in heart came about a month before Biden signed a law that requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its primary stake in the video app within a year, according to NPR.
ByteDance has fought back, arguing that it’s a violation of the company’s First Amendment rights to be forced to sell its ownership in TikTok.
But while the real world may be in turmoil over TikTok, the users of the app itself were thrilled with Trump’s first foray onto it. Comments on Trump’s first-ever TikTok video showed quite a level of enthusiasm and excitement — certainly not the kind you’d find on Biden’s page.
“THE GOAT [Greatest Of All Time] HAS ARRIVED,” one user wrote.
“Never followed someone so fast,” another wrote.
While concerns about the safety and security of TikTok are still very valid, one can still see the clear strategy behind Trump joining the popular app.
With almost one-third of adults under 30 regularly getting news from TikTok, a figure which has more than quadrupled since 2020 per Pew Research data, the video-sharing app has become an increasingly powerful political tool due to its instantaneous reach.
Trump’s TikTok presence allows him to potentially reach and galvanize the crucial younger demographic as the November general election draws closer.
The stakes of the 2024 election are too high, not just because of the failing economy and overtaken borders, but because if Trump doesn’t win, Democrat lawmakers and judges will feel empowered to escalate their unconstitutional attacks on conservatives.
If they can get away with unconstitutionally convicting the most powerful Republican in the nation on 34 bogus charges, and not face anything resembling consequences, then they’re likely to feel unstoppable.
So, if Trump being on TikTok is another weapon in his arsenal to reach out to voters and build his following, so be it.
And, as his 4 million followers prove — when Trump gets on a platform, even TikTok, it’s epic.
