OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump had a ton to say at the Conservative Political Action Conference, but one thing of note was his return to social media.
The 45th President of the United States spoke to Fox News during the event about his new, Truth Social, app that has launched but still is not fully active.
It came when he was asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ability to use social media during the war whereas he was removed from Facebook and Twitter.
“There’s death in Ukraine, and he’s able to use the power of very sick people,” he said of the executives in Big Tech. “These are very bad people that control it.”
He said, “what they are doing is so bad for our country.”
“Legal or not, I’m not sure,” he said. “And it gets a lot of people, we will tell you that what they’ve done is terrible, and we’re doing TRUTH Social.”
“Truth,” the 45th President of the United States said. “It’s about the truth and I think it’s going to be very big, and if you look at it now, how well it’s doing—people are amazed—it’s trending like, number one all over the place, and it’s going to be great, and we need it.”
He argued that his new app would give “a voice,” to people who can not say what they want to on other apps.
“Because these people, there’s something wrong with them,” he said. “They’re almost, perhaps, they’re sick. Perhaps they’re deranged.”
He criticized Facebook, Twitter and others for giving a platform to “stone-cold murderers and thugs and dictators at a very dangerous level” but “the President of the United States and other people are not allowed to be on.”
“It’s a disgrace,” the former president said. “And you know, I had hundreds of millions of people, but I think that TRUTHSocial is going to be a way of getting out our voice.”
“It’s going to be very powerful,” he said and he confirmed, “I’ll be using it. Yeah. I’ll be using it.”
He also had some words about the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
“It is a horrible thing. It would never have happened under any circumstance, and it is what it is,” Trump said. “But there’s great bravery being shown, and I think they’re doing one hell of a job—much more so than anybody would have thought possible.”
Asked if he had a message for Putin, the 45th president responded flatly: “I have no message.”
“I just think it’s a shame that this is going on. It’s something that should not be going on,” Trump said.
“Thousands of people, I mean, this can lead to much bigger than this one area,” Trump warned. “This could lead to a lot of other countries and can lead to world war.”
He then said, “you never know how it starts, in a world war.”
“You never think a war is going to come out of it,” he added. “All of a sudden, you end up in a world war. This is a very dangerous period for our nation, for the country.”
Just prior to the interview, the U.S., Canada, and some European allies announced they would be placing additional sanctions on Russia, and in particular, “selected” Russian banks to be kicked out of the SWIFT financial system.
That did not impress Trump, however.
“They’re going to have to do more than just sanctions, I suspect,” he added.
“But sanctions are not, you know, Putin—he understands how to avoid sanctions, and he goes through other countries,” Trump told Fox News. “He goes to China as an example.”
Trump, though, said the sanctions “have to be strong, and they have to be swift, OK, to use a word, because that is a very powerful sanction, as you know, SWIFT.”
“And if they’re not, I can’t imagine—it’s just going to be a question of time,” Trump said. “It’s a very ugly thing that’s taking place. Should have never happened.”
