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A story about a pathetic man's downfall


Francisco 2.0

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3 hours ago, 'stache said:

This. I just do not understand why so many people think he can't win. Have you seen the last decade or so? He had no basis to be taken seriously in the first place, and yet here we are having him in office for 4 years, and was not that far from reelection in the electoral college after two impeachments. Remember that gop'ers who say they don't like him will still vote for him when they are convinced that the dem opponent is socialist/communist/woke/librul literally anything that scares them without having to think even a little bit critically. 

i don't get it either.  Trump is not "done for," or anywhere close to it.    every single Republican and regular Republican voter will vote for him.  sure, many of them will lie about it and say they didn't, because Republicans and the people who vote for Republicans are dishonest people.   the more Trump lies, and the more that he is clearly shown to be a criminal and a complete and utter fraud, the more they will dig in on their support.  the idea that anyone who is still voting for any Republican candidates, for any office, won't vote for Trump, is laughable.   

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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/technology/trump-truth-social-ads.html

 

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Between posts about conspiracy theories and right-wing grievances was an unusual advertisement: a photo of former President Donald J. Trump holding a $1,000 bill made of gold, which he was apparently offering free to supporters.

But there were a few catches: The bill was not free, it was not made of gold, and it was not offered by Mr. Trump.

The ad appeared on Truth Social, the right-wing social network started by Mr. Trump in late 2021, one of many pitches from hucksters and fringe marketers dominating the ads on the site.

 

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Ads from major brands are nonexistent on the site. Instead, the ads on Truth Social are for alternative medicine, diet pills, gun accessories and Trump-themed trinkets, according to an analysis of hundreds of ads on the social network by The New York Times.

The ads reflect the difficulty that several far-right platforms, including Rumble and Gab, have faced in courting large brands, preventing the sites from tapping into some of the world’s largest ad budgets. It could be particularly problematic for Truth Social. Although the site has gained influence among the far right, becoming a vibrant ecosystem brimming with activity, its business is in need of cash.

 

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Truth Social raised about $37 million, mainly from Republican political donors, but it is burning through about $1.7 million each month, according to William Wilkinson, a former executive at Trump Media & Technology Group, the social network’s parent company. And two federal investigations have put about $1.3 billion of much-needed funding in jeopardy.

Devin Nunes, the chief executive of Trump Media, said in an announcement last year that the company’s ad strategy would help it “displace the Big Tech platforms” as a major way to reach Americans.

 

Spoiler

But ad experts say the wariness from prominent brands on far-right social networks, which have positioned themselves as free-speech alternatives to Silicon Valley giants like Meta and Google, is driven by the kinds of conspiracy theories and hyperpartisan politics often found on the sites.

In addition, they say, Truth Social has a relatively small user base and many older users, who are less desirable for the brands. Marketers have complained that Truth Social’s ad-serving technology, run by Rumble, a right-wing video streaming website, offers limited tools for tracking an ad’s performance or for showing ads to users based on their demographic profiles. Those tools, now standard among larger ad networks operated by Google and Meta, are vital for determining an ad’s success.

“The more you stray from that safe center, the more you become the fringe or the extreme on anything, then the less money you’re going to get,” said Tom Denford, the chief executive of ID Comms, an advertising consulting firm.

Truth Social and Trump Media & Technology Group did not respond to requests for comment.

 

Some ads echoed conservative talking points.


These ads include a series of children’s books about the dangers of communism, an “anti-woke” life insurance company and a vaccine exemption card.

 

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Some ads pushed coins, bills and gold-plated bars.


These ads often used Mr. Trump’s portrait. While the items are often described as “gold,” the checkout pages describe them as gold-plated, meaning they may have a patina of real gold. Mr. Trump’s supporters have been inundated with the ads since before his electoral victory in 2016

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Many ads offered Trump-themed merchandise.


Hats, T-shirts and other items often feature Mr. Trump’s slogan or portrait, though the merchandise was never sold through the former president’s official storefronts.

 

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Some ads drifted into outright fabrication.


One ad for a $2 bill showed a fake tweet from President Biden calling for the Federal Reserve to outlaw the bill.

 

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Many ads focused on guns and survival.


The ads targeted gun enthusiasts and so-called survivalists with knives, ammo and tactical gear.

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But the bulk of ads used disturbing images.


Most of the ads from Truth Social reviewed by The Times used images designed to catch a user’s attention, like grotesque eyeballs and skin abnormalities, typically selling alternative medicines and miracle cures.

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Companies can typically use tools offered by digital ad services to prevent their ads from appearing near words or phrases that might upset customers — like war, assault or suicide. In a reflection of the wariness that brands have over Mr. Trump and his politics, the word “Trump” ranked as the 11th most common blacklisted term provided by advertisers in 2019, according to data from Integral Ad Science, a company focusing on brand safety.

“It’s really dangerous for major advertisers to be closely associated with a political figure and also a political movement,” said Bob Hoffman, an advertising industry veteran and the author of The Ad Contrarian, a newsletter critical of the industry. “It’s not in their best interest to get involved in that quagmire.”

Similar challenges faced Twitter after Elon Musk bought the company and said he would create a more permissive environment for free speech. Advertisers fled that platform or paused their campaigns in response, causing a significant drop in revenue.

“They pulled off Twitter because they are not sure that Twitter can fulfill their brand safety guidelines, and they will stay off until they are reassured,” Mr. Denford said.

Mr. Musk also welcomed Mr. Trump back on Twitter, reinstating his account in November. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, announced this week that it would reinstate the president’s accounts after he was barred in 2021 from the social media services, which said Mr. Trump’s posts ran the risk of inciting more violence after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Mr. Trump is obligated to make his posts available exclusively on Truth Social for six hours, and he has not posted to other social networks since Truth launched. That deal expires in June but can be renewed.

Rumble, the video streamer that manages ads for Truth Social, earns $15 million to $25 million annually, according to estimates from Similarweb, a company that analyzes websites. Rumble did not respond to requests for comment.

When ads launched on Truth last year using Rumble’s platform, marketers complained that it offered limited ways to target ads to people based on their demographics — like age, gender or interests. It also offered no way to track whether the ad resulted in a sale, a feature coveted by advertisers and offered by large ad networks like Google.

Maxwell Finn, an online marketer, said in a YouTube video that he was one of Truth Social’s top advertisers, spending more than $150,000 on ads, including those for Trump-themed hats, shirts, coins and novelty bills.

In the video, he called the ad platform “frustrating” and “bare bones,” adding that it lacked even basic functionality, forcing his company to manually track ad performance — a method that would prove impossible for advertisers with larger budgets.

“Do I think this is a platform where you can be spending tens of thousands of dollars a day, especially if you only have a few products?” he said in another video. “No, probably. The audience is just too small.”

Over time, the low-quality ads on Truth Social have irritated its own users, who have complained to Mr. Trump after repeatedly seeing the same disturbing images or after falling for misleading gimmicks.

“Can you not vet the ads on Truth?” asked one user in a post directed at Mr. Trump. “I’ve been scammed more than once.”

 

 

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“Can you not vet the ads on Truth?” asked one user in a post directed at Mr. Trump. “I’ve been scammed more than once.”

Trump: Wait, you're susceptible to scams? Let me tell you a little about how you can help me Make America Great Again for a very small, most people say the smallest, little bit of money. I can then follow up with you in 30 days on how just a little bit more can help me Save America.

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This. I just do not understand why so many people think he can't win. Have you seen the last decade or so? He had no basis to be taken seriously in the first place, and yet here we are having him in office for 4 years, and was not that far from reelection in the electoral college after two impeachments. Remember that gop'ers who say they don't like him will still vote for him when they are convinced that the dem opponent is socialist/communist/woke/librul literally anything that scares them without having to think even a little bit critically. 

i don't get it either.  Trump is not "done for," or anywhere close to it.    every single Republican and regular Republican voter will vote for him.  sure, many of them will lie about it and say they didn't, because Republicans and the people who vote for Republicans are dishonest people.   the more Trump lies, and the more that he is clearly shown to be a criminal and a complete and utter fraud, the more they will dig in on their support.  the idea that anyone who is still voting for any Republican candidates, for any office, won't vote for Trump, is laughable.   

Y’all get it.
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Trump's stranglehold on the GQP isn't loosening any time soon. Ron's fucked. He makes Ted Cruz look charismatic by comparison, and no matter how "anti-woke" he wants to try and be he's not going to be crazy enough to take away Trump voters, or moderate enough to appeal to more sensible voters (if they even exist in the GQP anymore).

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1 minute ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Trump's stranglehold on the GQP isn't loosening any time soon. Ron's fucked. He makes Ted Cruz look charismatic by comparison, and no matter how "anti-woke" he wants to try and be he's not going to be crazy enough to take away Trump voters, or moderate enough to appeal to more sensible voters (if they even exist in the GQP anymore).

The rank and file love Trump. The “establishment” and party bosses lean DeSantis, but they don’t decide primaries. 

Until the base turns on Trump, he is the front runner 

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On 1/26/2023 at 8:39 PM, Pato del Muerto said:

I hope all the rejection gives him a perfect hemorrhagic stroke that leaves him alive but unable to move or communicate in any way.  The best hemorrhagic stroke, all the best doctors would be saying so. 

Well at least one would be saying so…

Thinking Hector Salamanca with even worse expressive aphasia…chef’s kiss!

Edited by ChiTownDoc
Pescado beat me to it…
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51 minutes ago, Red Five said:

I don't think Ron will run this cycle. He'd get Jeb Bush'd by Trump, badly. 

If DeSantis thinks he can wait out Trump, he may fall into the same trap of all of the 2016 gop contenders.  You don’t repeat the same mistakes of others.

DeSantis should announce, start up the contribution/donor machine, and hit back at Trump.

regardless, I’m looking forward to trump and DeSantis battling. Whenever that is.

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48 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

If DeSantis thinks he can wait out Trump, he may fall into the same trap of all of the 2016 gop contenders.  You don’t repeat the same mistakes of others.

DeSantis should announce, start up the contribution/donor machine, and hit back at Trump.

regardless, I’m looking forward to trump and DeSantis battling. Whenever that is.

Think he’ll move on trump like a bitch?

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1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

If DeSantis thinks he can wait out Trump, he may fall into the same trap of all of the 2016 gop contenders.  You don’t repeat the same mistakes of others.

DeSantis should announce, start up the contribution/donor machine, and hit back at Trump.

regardless, I’m looking forward to trump and DeSantis battling. Whenever that is.

Running for president is 100% timing and taking your shot. There’s no guarantee 2028 is going to be open for him. He‘d also have 2 years without a major platform since he can’t run in 2026 for re-election, giving someone elected in 2022/2024 more time to build recent credentials 

If Trump wins, his VP is likely to be the front runner in 2028. 

Worse for DeSantis is if Trump dies in office or resigns and then he has to primary the sitting VP turned President.

What if someone else emerges as the anti-Trump, wins the primary and beats Biden?

Now you’re waiting until 2032/2036

Edited by Js1
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4 hours ago, Js1 said:

Running for president is 100% timing and taking your shot. There’s no guarantee 2028 is going to be open for him. He‘d also have 2 years without a major platform since he can’t run in 2026 for re-election, giving someone elected in 2022/2024 more time to build recent credentials 

If Trump wins, his VP is likely to be the front runner in 2028. 

Worse for DeSantis is if Trump dies in office or resigns and then he has to primary the sitting VP turned President.

What if someone else emerges as the anti-Trump, wins the primary and beats Biden?

Now you’re waiting until 2032/2036

If Trump wins, there won't be an election in 2028 or any time after that.

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That poll says 3500 potential primary voters, but didn’t break it down by state.   Don’t know how likely it is to over represent a candidate by having too many respondents from one state that he’s overly popular, but could it happen?  Or some other variable either not accounted for or purposefully some to skew results?

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11 minutes ago, Red Five said:

It really should be stunning that the guy who attempted a coup last time around is not in jail and is the current republican frontrunner. I think some things should be automatically disqualifying. Like say a president attempting a coup in order to stay in power. 

Animated GIF

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1 hour ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Lulz. Trump making a deal. That’s a good one. You’re funny. 

I know. It's totally beyond belief. I mean, he used money from Russian oligarchs to get elected in 2016. 

He's a bankrupt fool with debts owed to the dirtiest of dirty people around the globe. And yet he floats.

Because he doesn't care who he sells out. As long as some money ends up in his pocket.

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