Return of the Donald? Verified Trump account appears on Rumble video platform
Former President Donald Trump has opened an account on Rumble, a rival video platform to YouTube. Trump remains blacklisted by every major social media outlet after his supporters rioted on Capitol Hill in January.
An account named ‘Donald J. Trump’ appeared on Rumble on Saturday bearing the site’s green and white verification checkmark. The only video posted by the account is a livestream of Trump’s campaign-style rally in Wellington, Ohio, due to kick off later on Saturday evening.
A screenshot of Donald Trump's Rumble account, June 26, 2021
The authenticity of the account was confirmed by Dan Scavino, an adviser to the former president.
Though it was launched in 2013, Rumble exploded in popularity last year as conservatives banned by YouTube or tired of the platform’s restrictive speech rules looked for an alternative. Conservative pundits Dinesh D’Souza, Dan Bongino, and Sean Hannity have Rumble accounts, and Trump has already amassed 35,000 subscribers there in a few hours.
Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski told Fortune last year that while he never set out to create a platform for right-wingers, he’s happy enough to host them. “The way I look at this is we’re neutral,” he said. “We won’t discriminate against anyone or any group.”
Trump’s appearance on Rumble comes amid a broader return to public life, six months after he left the White House, alleging that Joe Biden had cheated him out of victory in the 2020 election. Trump has issued frequent press releases since departing Washington for Florida, mostly scathing criticism of the Biden administration and endorsements for friendly Republicans.
However, Saturday marked the first of his signature campaign-style rallies since leaving office, and a second is already planned for July 3 in Sarasota, Florida.
Trump is widely suspected to be planning another run for the presidency in 2024. He has dropped several obvious hints at another campaign, most recently calling into Dan Bongino’s radio show earlier this month and telling Bongino that “we are going to make you very happy and we’re going to do what’s right,” after Bongino told Trump “we need you.”
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