No critics, please — Though Trump already had a truly massive fanbase on Parler by January 2021, he still hadn’t joined the platform himself. Most of his family hadn’t, either, a continued absence that definitely turned heads. The family held back because it wanted — what else? — a cut of Parler’s profits. By January, Parler had actually agreed to Trump’s request for his deal to include a 40 percent stake in the company.
Wolff’s narrative reveals the sticking point of these talks was actually related to Trump’s critics. Though
much of Parler is filled with hate speech, misinformation, and blind praise for Trump, there are some anti-Trump users on the platform — and Trump wanted Parler to ban all of them.
“Parler was balking only at this last condition,” Wolff writes of the proposed silencing.
It’s never too late — Though Trump’s talks with Parler stalled at this stipulation, we aren’t yet counting out the possibility that he’ll still come to the platform in the future. Trump’s access to mainstream social media platforms
has been all but cut off since January, and
his silly attempt at creating a self-hosted blog went nowhere fast.
