The following op-ed is by Dana Milbank in The Washington Post:
There is almost nothing I wouldn’t do for you, dear reader, and this week, in your behalf, I made a painful sacrifice: I joined Truth Social so you don’t have to.
I endured weeks on the waiting list for the Donald Trump-created, Devin Nunes-run attempt at a Twitter killer, and I suffered through a series of technical glitches. But eventually I gained access. As a result, I have come to be in possession of the following new pieces of information about the war in Ukraine:
Hunter Biden is involved in building and running biolabs in the country.
The CIA and National Institutes of Health are both “deeply involved” in the Ukrainian biolabs.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was set in motion by a CIA false-flag operation that was funded by George Soros.
The covid-19 pathogen originated not in China but in Shpyl’chyna, a village in Ukraine.
The bioweapons developed in Ukraine specifically target the “Abrahamic Bloodline.”
Neo-Nazis from Ukraine joined with the FBI to infiltrate the Capitol on Jan. 6 and participated in the insurrection.
Ukraine was planning to use drones to attack Russia with pathogens from the U.S.-funded bioweapons labs.
President Biden has been using Ukraine to launder money.
Ukrainian neo-Nazis controlled the Ukrainian city of Mariupol before Russians invaded.
Russia’s alleged war crimes were staged.
I also found many posts calling President Biden a pedophile (or a “groomer” in the new parlance of QAnon). I found badly photoshopped images of Vice President Harris in sexualized situations. I found ceaseless attacks on trans people, an edited video of a cat attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, attacks on Disney for opposing Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, references to satanic sacrifice by the “deep state,” a few racist epithets and endless accusations about Hunter Biden’s laptop and drug abuse.
I signed up for Truth Social, which launched its attack on Twitter soon after Vladimir Putin launched his attack on Ukraine, on March 3. “Due to high demand,” my “waitlist number” was 986,565.
I promptly forgot about Truth Social. Apparently, so did everybody else. The Wrap, an entertainment news website, reported this week that the app has seen a 93 percent drop in sign-ups (weekly installs on the Apple App Store have fallen from 872,000 at launch to just 60,000, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower) and a “similarly steep decline in traffic.” Truth Social had almost 1 million daily visits at launch, but that has fallen to fewer than 300,000 — well below Gab, a social media site that attracts white supremacists, according to SimilarWeb, another analytics firm.
Seems Trump’s social media venture is headed the way of Trump University, Trump’s Atlantic City casinos, Trump’s charities, Trump mattresses, Trump steaks, Trump clothing, Trump perfume, Trump lighting, Trump floor coverings, Trump eyewear, the Trump presidency and American democracy.
But this week, I got the coveted email welcoming me to Truth Social, with the caveat that “we are still fixing many bugs.” Sure enough, I clicked on the provided link to my profile — and got an error message. Eventually, I followed all the accounts Truth suggested for me, including Kyle Rittenhouse, Maria Bartiromo, the Epoch Times, Hot Chicks Golfing, Dr. Fauci Sucks, Sean Hannity, Eric Trump, Fake Hunter Biden, Dan Bongino, Breitbart News, Donald Trump Jr. and Donald Trump. House Republican leaders are on the platform, with red checkmarks instead of Twitter’s blue. In fact, the whole thing looks similar to Twitter, with “Truths” instead of tweets; the only differences are the lack of functionality and users.
I searched for the hashtag #Ukraine, hopped into the rabbit hole and was quickly swimming in a cesspool.
There were posts from Russian state propaganda. There was a doctored image of Trump holding a sign saying “Zelensky is the Avenatti of leaders.” There was a doctored video of Putin saying “Let’s go, Brandon.” There were posts about Ukrainian leaders being corrupt. There was a claim that Ukraine is “defending the NWO” — New World Order.
I scrolled on: Ukrainian soldiers are “white supremacists and neo-Nazis,” the “globalists” are backing Ukraine, the United States has “no business in this fraternal conflict,” a U.S. undersecretary of state paid $5 million to elect Volodymyr Zelensky, sanctions on Russia are hurting the U.S. dollar, Ukraine attacked Russia. Oh, and the Democrats (“Demon Rats”) “did not want Trump to know that they were creating a CIA colony in Ukraine,” so “they paralyzed his administration with two fake ‘impeachment’s and ultimately stole the election.”
Busted!
I did find the occasional pro-Ukraine “Truth.” And — who knows? — if I searched long enough, I might have found something accurate. But I didn’t. Instead, I found a small clump of angry people shouting into a void. And that’s the sad truth.