In his first two years in office, Joe Biden surprised and delighted the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. He previously passed the American Rescue Plan, a nearly $2 trillion economic stimulus bill aimed at alleviating the pandemic. He signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package and the first gun control law in decades.

But recently, President Biden has taken a number of steps that run counter to the liberal narrative. He approved a major oil drilling project in Alaska. He ran a large deficit budget and helped Congress repeal a crime bill passed by the Washington, D.C. City Council.

None of these latest moves should come as a surprise, longtime Biden watchers say. For decades a Washington regular, both in the Senate and as Vice President, he was a creature in the middle, often willing to work through the aisle and make deals.

“He always manages to find what is the center of the Democratic Party and how to be there,” says Seth Musket, a political scientist at the University of Denver.

Now, Mr. Biden appears to be gearing up for an expected 2024 re-election campaign, and since there is no sign that he will face significant opposition for the Democratic presidential nomination, he can focus his messages directly on core voters. general elections.

In his first two years in office, Joe Biden surprised and delighted the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

He previously passed the American Rescue Plan, a nearly $2 trillion economic stimulus bill aimed at alleviating the pandemic. He signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package and the first gun control law in decades. He is undertaking a massive student debt relief initiative now before the Supreme Court, and last August he signed into law the historic Climate Change and Public Health Act.

“Biden went to the left flank,” the conservatives essentially shouted from behind the scenes.

Against this backdrop, President Biden recently took a number of steps contrary to the liberal narrative: he approved a major oil drilling project in Alaska. He deployed a budget heavy in deficit reduction. He helped Congress repeal the crime law passed by Washington, D.C., countering the city’s move for statehood. And he is reportedly considering restoring the Trump-era practice of detaining families of migrants who cross the southern border illegally.

What gives? In fact, none of these latest moves should come as a surprise, longtime Biden watchers say. For decades a Washington regular, both in the Senate and as Vice President, he was a creature in the middle, often willing to work through the aisle and make deals.

• Donald Trump is back on Facebook and YouTube and is extending his campaign for the 2024 Republican Party presidential election.
• This may be bad news for his own social network, Truth Social.
• Trump may use other social media, such as Twitter, to connect with supporters and raise money for his campaign.

Former President Donald Trump’s return to Facebook could pose problems for his social media platform Truth Social as the Republican ramps up his campaign for the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination.

Trump announced his official return to Facebook on Friday, writing in all caps the message “I’M BACK!” but he continued to use his own social media to connect with supporters.

The former president’s new Facebook post comes ahead of his first 2024 campaign rally in Waco, Texas on March 25, when he will begin his fight to win his party’s nomination for a third time.

YouTube also reinstated Trump’s channel on Friday, and his suspension from Twitter was lifted in November 2022 following its purchase by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

While Trump has so far given no indication that he will start tweeting again, his reinstatement could pose problems for Truth Social, and the former president could be tempted by more established social media reach and potential fundraising benefits.

Some on social media speculated that he would return to Twitter and predicted a disaster for Truth Social.

“No wonder Trump’s return to all major social media platforms, given his looming felony indictment…he’s desperate. He knows Truth Social is a failure,” tweeted entrepreneur William LeGate.

Rick Wilson, founder of the conservative Lincoln Project, wrote that “Donald Trump is secretly happy about the collapse of TruthSocial.”

“Why bother with it when all the major networks allow it to come back without any real repercussions, costs or restrictions,” Wilson said.

Trump currently has an exclusive agreement with Truth Social, which means he must first share all of his social media posts on the platform and “may not post the same post on another social media site for 6 hours,” according to SEC filings. .

However, reports say Trump is considering not re-signing the deal, which is set to expire in June. This would mean that he could first publish what he wants on other sites.

The termination of this agreement, along with the opportunities provided by other platforms, may create problems for Truth Social.

Facebook and Fundraising

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheng told Fox News Digital in January that the return to Facebook will be “an important tool for the 2024 campaign” and noted that the social media platform can help with “publicity, grassroots mobilization and fundraising.”

Joshua Tucker, director of the Center for Social Networking and Politics at New York University, said this. Newsweek said in February that “Trump’s ability to raise funds will be an important signal of his viability in the Republican primaries.”

“And from that perspective, the return to Facebook is vital to recreate the magic of the old campaigns, when it brought in tons and tons of money from small donors that could play a major role in developing these kinds of signals,” Tucker said.

Mark Shanahan, Associate Professor at the University of Surrey in the UK and co-editor Trump Presidency: From Campaign to World Stagesaid Newsweek on Saturday: “Right now, Trump seems to need all the help he can get his lackluster 2024 presidential campaign to get the same attention he did in 2016.”

Shanahan said that Facebook and YouTube will “definitely boost his messaging and will no doubt get the dollars coming into his campaign from his US aides.”

“Grumpy Echo Chamber”

Former President Trump has used Truth Social to express his views, promote his campaign, and criticize his opponents.

On Saturday morning, Trump took to the site to call for protests and said he would be arrested Tuesday in connection with the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation.

However, his recent use of Truth Social may not be an indication that he will continue to make it his primary social network.

Shanahan said Newsweek that “Truth Social failed for the 45th president: a failure far beyond the levels of Trump’s vodka, Trump’s airline, and Trump’s board game.”

“It was a platform that was supposed to crush the mainstream social networks and strengthen the community of power around their beloved president. Instead, she has become a rather grumpy echo chamber of the weird — and not even weird enough to make it relevant. ,” He said.

Return to Twitter?

While Twitter gave Trump what the site called a “permanent suspension” following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, the former president has now regained access to his account following Musk’s purchase of the site.

However, Trump has not yet returned to Twitter in the same way that he returned to Facebook. When asked about returning in November, Trump said, “I don’t see any reason for that.”

Trump was a heavy Twitter user before it was banned in 2021, and Shanahan suggested Newsweek that a return to the platform could benefit the former president’s campaign.

“If Trump is to become a story that others have to react to the way he did in 2016, he needs to get back on Twitter, the perfect brain-fingers-millions tool he used to bypass editorials and engage with the public.” . seven years ago,” Shanahan said.

“He can’t say anything new, but Musk’s Twitter is more like the Wild West than the City Square. If Trump can come back unfiltered, he may still have a chance to suck the oxygen of publicity out of his rivals,” he said.

Shanahan added that Truth Social would “never put him in the spotlight again as he was on his way to the White House. Facebook and YouTube can fan the flames of a campaign, but it will take a return to Twitter to light the fire.”