Donald Trump doesn’t seem too down and out about being found guilty on felony charges — at least not to the point that he can’t enjoy yet another social media platform or a night out. On Saturday, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate launched his TikTok account while at an Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view event.
The video, which has already garnered nearly 3 million likes on the platform, opens with UFC President Dana White introducing Trump by pointing and declaring, “The president is now on TikTok.” Trump then tells the camera, “It’s my honor,” before walking out in front of the fans. At the end, he asks, “That was a good walk-on, right?”
@realdonaldtrump Launching my TikTok at @UFC ♬ original sound – President Donald J Trump
By Sunday afternoon, Trump had nearly 3 million followers — a number that has far outstripped the Biden campaign’s 340,000 follower count.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said, “We will leave no front undefended … this represents the continued outreach to a younger audience consuming pro-Trump and anti-Biden content. There’s no place better than a UFC event to launch President Trump’s TikTok … he received a hero’s welcome and thousands of fans cheered him on.”
In May, the New York Times noted that the app, which has long been considered a source for left-leaning political movements and messaging, has experienced an increase in right-wing influencers since the 2020 election. This coupled with backlash following President Biden and legislators’ TikTok ban has resulted in “nearly twice as many pro-Trump posts as pro-Biden ones on the platform since November: 1.29 million pro-Trump posts versus 651,000 pro-Biden posts.”
As president, Trump attempted to ban TikTok and WeChat via executive order. The ban supported by Biden has received bipartisan support, passing both the Republican-led House and the Democrat-led Senate.
The UFC bout was Trump’s first public appearance since a New York jury found him guilty of 34 charges of falsifying business records in an effort to influence the 2016 election. He also received support at the event from both conservative fighter Sean Strickland and NFL star Aaron Rodgers.
