I Went Undercover On Truth Social, And What I Saw Was Disturbing

Truth Social is a social media platform that Trump founded in February of 2022.

Trump likened the platform to Twitter, and it’s billed as a non-discriminatory place, but for the Republican party, it became a space to freely express racist, sexist, and homophobic beliefs. Unfortunately, Truth Social gives people with dangerous beliefs the opportunity to spread them and receive validation from others. The rhetoric on this platform could incite another “January 6” type of riot — that’s how harmful it is.

I’m a biracial woman with a disability and a passionate Democrat, so I’m not the typical Truth Social user.

Still, I was curious about how dangerous the platform really is and why Trump’s supporters love him so much, so I decided to go undercover on Truth Social and try to look for some answers.

First, I developed a character. I pretended that I was “Nancy G.,” a 40-something Michigan native and mother of three who works as a nurse. I made it clear that Nancy’s all about Trump — my profile had a Trump banner, and my profile picture was a Trump 2024 logo. Sadly, I’d heard enough of Trump’s rhetoric to play the part really convincingly.

After I set up my profile, I explored the site to see what exactly I got myself into.

The platform had a variety of groups for the members to join, including a group for gun-lovers, a “Leftist Tears” group to “expose liberal hypocrisy with memes,” and, of course, numerous groups praising Trump himself. All of the groups had tens of thousands of members each. As disturbing as this all felt, I joined a group called The Donald and got ready to make my first post.

I realized early on in this process that the more that I sounded like the other Truth Social users, the better the reaction these people would give me. In my first post, I mentioned that “I can’t wait to hear some truth and not some woke BS” and added “@realDonaldTrump is the greatest.”

Shortly after posting, a few people started following me, and I started chatting with a man who I’ll call “Rich.” “Rich” said that he’s in his mid-30s, and he joined Truth Social shortly after Trump opened it. Then, I asked him if he thought that Trump’s 34-count conviction would affect Trump’s ability to win the upcoming election. He said that Trump would win by a landslide regardless but couldn’t give me a reason for his opinion.

I also asked if he had voted for Trump in the past, and he said that he had voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020 and would vote for Trump again this year. He also mentioned that he used to be an Independent voter, so I asked him why he switched his voting preferences. He said, “I like how Trump handled himself while in office — how he was willing to give up EVERYTHING for me! I like how he was all about our troops.”

My undercover Truth Social experience didn’t teach me much that I didn’t already know.

Still, it did reinforce how scarily passionate many Trump voters are and how much they prioritize issues like gun rights over treating all people with respect. Trump voters are everyday people, but many of them have some dangerous beliefs, and they give our former president so much power that he shouldn’t have. Truth Social enables those people to continue thinking in harmful ways, and the platform needs to close soon.

Featured Photo by Natasha Hall on Unsplash.